Literally millions of people all across America are facing financial difficulties. One of their biggest hurdles is that they need mortgage relief while they try to recover. On top of losing a job, many are in homes that were hard to pay for even when they were gainfully employed. Losing your job means you lose your ability to pay for your basic needs, even your home. You home is one of the biggest investments you will ever take on but there are times when paying it off is just impossible.

One choice that is better than foreclosure is a short sale. Short sales will give you mortgage relief and gets you out of a home you can not afford. While it will have some repercussions to your credit, it will be less damaging then a foreclosure. Short sales work by allowing you to sale your home for what it is worth in the current market, not how much is owed. Solving the issue of being upside down on your mortgage

Short sales have been an available option for mortgage relief since 2007 when the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act was passed. It allows you to get the amount of your home that was forgiven to be removed from your obligation of taxes that year. If you want to use this option you need to act fast, however. The act only allows short sales under these terms until 2012.

The provision has given financial lenders incentive to work with you on providing mortgage relief through a short sales. It is a little know fact that lenders can make money not only on foreclosures but short sales as well. It is even possible, but rare, that in extreme cases you may be able to essentially short sale your home to yourself. You do this by purchasing your home for less.

If your over all credit score is not too bad and you have income, it is possible that your lender will work with you by way of another lender to get you a new mortgage at the lower price. This is a riskier option though because it is not really an option until you get far behind on your mortgage. This means you will be in high risk of foreclosure should a short sale not work out.

Since short sales do not have the same negative effects on your credit, it is possible your score may still be high enough to qualify for a new loan through a different lender. Because this solution for mortgage relief is time sensitive, you need to act fast to make it work. Short sales only show badly on your credit for eighteen months while a foreclosure can stay for ten years or more.

Before choosing which mortgage relief option is best for your housing, credit, and over all financial situation, you need to be sure you have educated yourself on all the pros and cons of each. Regardless of which one you choose you need to do some serious planning of your finances to make sure you do not bite of more than you can chew again. This means having enough left over each month to save enough that should you lose your job, you can cover your basic bill for several months.

Author Bio: Andrew Allen is a top debt solution researcher who offers a variety of alternatives to debt relief on his site. You may also want to check out his 100% Free Get Out of Debt Course and Newsltter, click here.. That particular course provides answers to take many of your debt related questions. If you are currently more than 10,000.00 in debt you can call 1-877-768-2856 for a FREE debt analysis.

Category: Finances
Keywords: mortgage relief, foreclosure, short sale, debt solutions, mortgage loan modification