What happens when you sell your home for less than you paid?

josh8kanswers: What happens when you sell your home for less than you paid?
My wife and I bought a condo for about 96k in 2006. Since then, the other units are selling for about 86k. There are plans still to build an additional 48 units, in our association, but because of the housing market, things have slowed down. We do not need to move right now but would like to have single family home in the next 2 to 3 years. What happens when you sell your home for less than what you paid?

Answers and Views:

Answer by v b
You have a non-deductible loss.

Answer by starrfyrre
You have to come up with the difference between the selling price and the balance on your mortgage at closing. If your balance on your mortgage is $ 90,000 and you sell for $ 85,000, you owe your bank at closing $ 5,000.

Answer by Ballerina
You will have to come up with the difference by closing. Also, don’t forget to take into consideration realtor’s fees and other closing costs. Realtor’s fees in America would be around $ 5160 for a $ 86,000 home (not sure where you are) and then there are other fees associated with selling.

Answer by mortgagequeen
You either bring the difference in to the closing, or you request a short sale from your bank.
You didn’t say what your loan amount was..only your purchase price, so for example sake I’ll assume you had 100% financing.
If you pick the first option, and sell for 86,000 and now owe 93,000 on your loan, you would have to bring a check to closing for 7,000 plus seller’s closing costs which are generally about 8% of the purchase price so another appprox. $ 6400 for a total of $ 13,400
If you pick the second option, the bank agrees to accept less than what is owed on the mortgage and you don’t have to bring anything to the closing. However, with this option, you would be precluded from getting a mortgage for a new house for (based on current guidelines) at least one year for an FHA mortgage and I believe off the top of my head that it’s at least three years for a Fannie Mae mortgage.
Your best bet is to wait out the market before you try to sell or start saving money now to sell or start aggressively paying down your mortgage so you don’t owe more than your house is worth.