You’ve gotten some very solid answers. Just to add…

Keep in mind there are two different things going on. There is a loan, and there is a lien.

When the home went under contract, the buyer’s people started doing things like an appraisal and title search. When these results come back, they’ll find the lien and the contract will cancel. You cannot execute the contract if there is a lien that cannot be satisfied unless the lienholder agrees.

If the lender agrees to release the lien, that does not impact the note. You’re still on the hook for the full amount borrowed. But many lenders, if the borrower is under hardship, will allow a short sale, where they release you from the financial obligation when the home sells. But this will basically make it impossible for you to purchase a home for two years and hard for seven. So, if possible, work out an agreement to keep paying until the short amount is repaid as an unsecured debt. If you’re talking a small amount of money, this will be very doable. And this will not hurt your credit.

Jason is correct. However, if the amount is low, see if your agent can reduce their commission to make it possible for this deal to go through. I’m sure they’re willing to take a hit than let the deal fall out of escrow or wait for a short sale.

Regards

you sold at a loss and still owe bunch of money?

file for bankruptcy

Jason is closest to accurate in his answer. I assume you really mean that you are simply under contract to sell the property. It has not closed yet.

If you are not netting enough to pay your mortgage there may be a few different explanations:
1) You had an FHA or VA mortgage or other 100% financing.
2) You had a home equity second mortgage eating up most of your equity.
3) You are delinquent in your payments.
4) You are in a market in which the value of homes has dropped.

Even the seller has closing costs, at least in some markets, although typically most costs are the buyer’s. Of course the biggest cost of all is the real estate commission, which would be the seller’s.

If you go the “short sale” route your lender will be asking for a lot of financial information. Allow a fair amount of time, as such approvals are never granted quickly.

If I am understanding your situation correctly, you sold your house and the mortgage payoff and related expenses of selling the home exceed your expected proceeds.

If you do not have the money to come up with the difference you should immediately contact the lender who holds the mortgage on your home, explain your predicament (I assume you are in some type of financial hardship it you are in this situation) and request that they consider a “short sale”. Under this arrangement, the lender would accept less than the full payoff balance to release the mortgage on your home. You will not be allowed to profit (i.e. your bottom line net proceeds will be zero), but it will allow you to sell the home. Depending on the real estate market in your area, your pay history, and most importantly how much you are requesting the payoff be reduced, your current mortgage holder may be inclined to accept this “short sale” in lieu of what may turn into a foreclosure with you defaulting on the home.

Good luck.

You can not sell a house that has a mortgage on it for less than the amount owed on the mortgage, they are the first lein holder on the property so your not telling us something.

In order for the house to be sold the first lein holder must sign off, that didn’t happen so your house IS NOT SOLD.

If they did sign off, they would have explained to you that you owe that balance, but why would they do that, you now owe them money and have no collateral… newp somthings not quite right here.

- addendum – I stand corrected after checking, if this happened then thier was a huge failure on the Title companys part to advise properly – I would have NEVER allowed this but it could potentially happen – end of the day both seller and buyer will have law suits filed – what a mess.

Sorry then you did not sell it you gave it away…

And why are you paying closing cost? that’s up to the buyer.

sorry babe you got burned big time.

unless you sold it for less than you paid for it, you will have enough to pay the mortgage off. YOU do not have to pay the closing costs, the buyer usually pays them all. You are responsible for the broker fees. need more info here, you sound confused.