My son has a Florida condo close to the beach. His mortgagecompany will not assist him with a loan modification, and he owes close to $100,000 more than it is valued. Could I, as his mother, be a candidate for a short sell purchase, then let him have it back and make the payments? If so, how should I go about it?

That would be up to the lender. But I would think that being a relative they would probably not allow it. If you wanted to purchase it for the balance of the mortgage, they would probably go along. But to ask them to take a loss for you to help out your son may be asking too much.

There are no laws compelling them to accept your offer of a short sale or prohibiting them from doing so, its solely up to them.

Most Mortgage companies have the Seller & Buyer sign as part of an addendum to the Purchase Contract and later a notarized affidavit at Closing/Settlement that the Seller & Buyer of the property are not related and that the Seller will not be leasing the property back from the Buyer. Short sale transactions need to be what is termed an "arms length" transaction... No favors... No back-end deals... No additional money exchanging hands... No fraud.

Nothing prevents you from buying the property at the county steps. Just make sure you have 24-hour financing in place, wear sun glasses, and remember to bid in small increments $50-$75-$100 (the more you frustrate the competition the better). Usually the bank will bid what is owed on the first but if there is a 2nd mortgage you can sometimes get a deal and keep the home in the family. Good luck!