As the mortgage industry continues to slide and the real estate market on a roller coaster ride, sellers are suffering.

I have heard stories of sellers lowering prices on their homes for sale as much as $100K just to get out of their home. People who are having trouble refinancing in order to keep their payments stable. Others who are just ready to walk away from their homes as they see no other choice.

Attention sellers: try a few of these ideas before you walk.

1. Consider taking a second mortgage as a part of your negotiating strategy with your buyer. The buyer gets a first mortgage with a lender and you take back a second (for your equity) which will allow you to sell your property. And if you are stuck and still need cash, you can always sell the note.

2. Consider renting the property so you have the mortgage, taxes and insurance covered so you can move on.

3. Consider a lease with option (check your state law to see if lease options are a marketable strategy) so at some point the property would sell. Make sure your option agreement and lease are two separate agreements. Email me if you want to know why.

There are other, more complicated strategies such as selling on a contract or agreement for deed, equity share arrangements and more. Start with these three strategies above and hopefully your selling days on the market will shorten. Good luck with your sale!

This entry was posted on Friday, September 28th, 2007 at 5:06 am and is filed under Investing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.