I’m sorry you are having difficulties. This is a rough time for many of us. Generally, there is not any long term benefit to defaulting on a loan and allowing foreclosure proceedings. Your question is common in that sense. It will wreck you credit and could set you back decades. I would not trust anyone who advises you otherwise. On the other hand, it happens to lots of good people.

You mention that this is a rental house loan this suggests that you are asking about commercial income producing property. Also, you mention homesteading your primary residence which gives the impression that there are two properties that you are asking about.

Homestead exemptions vary widely by jurisdiction because each state constitution or statutory law is different. Your local statute will lay out the steps that need to be taken and requirements for claiming the exemption.

Without knowing more detail it is hard to discuss the topic. However, the Federal Trade Commission is a good source to research and gain more information that may be applicable to your situation. It would be a good idea to read the information here: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/homes/rea04.shtm

There are lots of options including selling the home, loan modification, forbearance, bankruptcy, and others. The right fit will depend on the details of you particular circumstance. Workouts are becoming common and I know several real estate attorneys that have shifted their areas of practice to this area of the law. Hope that helps get you started.

Feel free to post again if you want to you discuss anything further.

http://www.finance-investment.co.cc

Just around the corner in Tampa Bay (could you change that to Tampa Real Estate Blog

and also, could you add my website as a link
http://www.findmyfloridahome.net and name it Tampa Real Estate
I would greatly appreciate it.

thanks and keep up the good work

rob

- Jason.

You are absolutely correct that some people who bought at the height are now left holding the bag. The problem was that they were not buying the right property.

True flip homes are those that are between 20% and 30% under market value of comparables for the mean home in the area. The target home most likely will be distressed by being a foreclosure, short sale, or in disrepair. My wife and I have always looked for the home in disrepair. Considering my background we know what we are buying and we could negotiate a deal without concern of another party buying it out from under us. We also live in them simply because we couldn’t afford to do it any other way. Aside from the economic benefit there are many other reasons to do so including ease of management, certain tax benefits, and the margins are higher.

For example, our current home was purchased 31% under market value. Putting 10% of our purchase price into renovations would bring the home back to marketable condition at the mean home price for our area. Our improved home including the purchase price and improvements is still 24% less than the mean home at the time of purchase. So even if the market fell by 24% we would still break even. We could also just live in it if things got worse.

Finding these homes does take patience. Our current project took over six months to find. We were looking while finishing the last one. We ended up living in an apartment for three months because of the timing but that is the way it works sometimes.