Question about an underwater property in Florida. I have seen similar questions but they are few years old and was curious if the answers may have changed. Like many others here in Georgia I bought a lot in Florida that has lost considerable value. I had a 3 year interest only loan. It was obviously upside down so I got a 5 year extension. I have been paying the interest however I finally come to the realization that the value will not come back in 5 years and I will be getting forclosed on then. I bought the lot for 275k, borrowed 245k and it is probably worth roughly 50-60k hard to tell exactly nothing has sold. The neighborhood did get finished (amenitites, streets, etc) but it took much much longer than I was told because of a land dispute. By the time the neighborhood was finished there was the crash.
Looking to advice as to the best course of action. I have heard short sale but I think they can be hard to get and the tax implications would be huge I think. I have friends who have been forclosed on down there and they seem OK but I don't know about suits. I know Florida is a judgement state and I do have equity in my current home, so I don't want be sued for that. Curious as to what some have done. I see a lot of the properties in the development for sale as bank owned so others are in the predicament. Were all these people sued? How could I tell? If they short sold will they pay taxes, I thought there was a law signed about not being 1099'd for that, was it primary residence only. Would the bank allow me to trade the lot for a forclosed condo that I could at least rent and keep? Looking for ideas
Thanks

I doubt you will find a short sale for 80 K if you owe 200 plus.
I just have not known any of them to do so low.
As for law suit, what are the terms of the loan, what does it allow when in default.

But many are not, but some are.

And I have never heard of a bank "trading" property.

I bought a foreclosed property and the hoops that had to be doe just to buy one, I doubt any trade would happen

First, the foreclosure protections are for your primary home, not investment property.

Bottomline is you made a bad investment and now have to take your losses.

Loan was a standard 3 year interest only with Suntrust. I didn't put any collateral against it other than the 10 percent down. I was just thinking maybe banks would prefer some kind of a deal to a foreclosure. Maybe they make my loan principle only till I pay it back or they take a short sale and some cash. I have seen a bunch of questions about people asking what to do but I haven't seen many people saying "here is what I did and this is what happened". I realize a bank has a responsibility to its shareholders but if I owned a bank and someone said "This guy will give us the property with 60 and he will give us 30k or he will let us forclose. I would think some banks would prefer the 90k with no lawyer fees than an expensive foreclosure process and a cross state judgement litigation