My hisb and I purchased a home in Florida as investment in 2006. Currently it is being rented but for much less than our mortgage. We are in negative and we live in California. We hae 3 small children and as of sept 2008 my husb and I filed for divorce. He is now paying rent for another home and we still pay mortgage on our CA home. We simply can not afford to pay the FL home any longer. What will happen to us if we stop paying the mortgage on FL home. We need to keep payment on our primary residen in CA. What are the laws in FL with regards to this if we stop paying the mortgage. What is the recourse if it goes to short sale or foreclosure? Please help!

Where is the house? How big is it? How much would it sell for?
I have been looking for a house in Fl .
I have also noticed a lot of foreclosures while I have been looking.

Hello,
I am rogersl13 and own the home in Florida. It is Lehigh Acres and is about 1700 sq ft a 3 bedroom, 2 bath with garage and lanai. Are you interested in it?

If you default on the loan, the lender will foreclose. Because this was investment property and not a personal residence, it is less likely to be given the consideration that people who are in danger of losing their residence are.

Likely the lender will foreclose, sell the house at auction and then go after you and your husband for any shortfall.

Have you asked the renter if they are willing to purchase?

Thanks for the info.. what would happen if we try to short sale it.. what are our consequences.. its worth a lot less than we owe.. obviously...

Yes, most likely if you foreclose the lender will expect you and husband to pay the balance of the loan not covered in the sale ( and they sell for a lot less at auction than you will normally get if you sell it.

They may or may not accept a short sale, but you can try, you basically put it on the market, and try to get the best offer you can get, you submit that to the lender to see if they will except that as payment in full

Whomever holds the motgage will forclose. If you can keep paying the difference between the rent and the mortgage do so and wait until prices on real estate rise again. Rent the house with an option to buy. Tell the renter that you will pay back some of the rent according to the month they close for one year. You can walk away from the house and the bank will forclose, but first make a deal with the bank that you don't want to pay any balance on the mortgage. I think they will go for it, they don't want to tied up in litigation.