Sell
Short Sale
Sell for less than you owe with the lender's written approval. Avoids a foreclosure on your record.
Best for
- ✓You owe more than the home is worth (or close to it after costs)
- ✓You can't sustain the payment and don't want to keep the home
- ✓You want to protect your credit relative to a foreclosure
Watch-outs
- !Approvals take 30–120 days — buyer pool needs to be patient
- !Multiple lien holders mean multiple approvals (mortgage, HOA, IRS, judgments)
- !Tax treatment of forgiven debt — 1099-C and Form 982 — needs a CPA, not a guess
Arizona-specific note
Arizona's anti-deficiency statute (A.R.S. § 33-814) protects most owner-occupied 1–2 family homes on 2.5 acres or less from a deficiency judgment after foreclosure — a powerful negotiating point in short-sale lender approvals.
A short sale isn't a discount sale — it's a coordinated three-party transaction (you, your lender, your buyer) where the lender agrees in writing to accept less than the full payoff. Done right, it ends the foreclosure, releases you from most or all of the debt, and protects your credit relative to a foreclosure.
This is a specialty I run separately — full process, lender desks, AZ tax treatment — at ShortSaleAZ.com.