Got an offer on my house....but below value of mortgage balance, feedback needed

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Thoughts?

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You are exhibiting the strong bias of "anchoring".

You need to forget about what your equity once was or "breaking even" on the mortgage. Mr. Market is harsh and he doesn't care at all about that.

You need to figure out the highest price you can get for the place. If that's palatable, then sell it and accept the economic consequences.

If it's not palatable, then you could look into other options like a short sale - which could save you some money, but which will also impair your credit.

I'm in the same boat, almost to the dollar.

Sell, sell, sell.

Good luck.

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So if I sell as is, lose down payment + 10k toward mortgage. I think i can possibly counter and recoup 5k, but not much more. I have also looked into property management services route, and this would yield a break even on rental income vs mortgage payment.

Should I just cut my loses and fork over the 5k-10k? Or rent this house for a year or so and try selling again??

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I would sell it, especially if you are out of market. Assuming you are factoring in the prop mgt firms cut on rental income and coming to break even you have zero excess rent to pay maintenance, potential vacancies, damage to property by renters, etc. This could cost you much more than $10k. You would gain some depreciation tax bennies on the property, but if it is offset by rental losses its a moot point.

Don't know what % you put down on the house, but if you are at 5% it is water under the bridge. Don't be like my friend and his wife from TX, their house has been on the mkt for 18 months and it is costing them $2500/mo as the wife won't agree to a significant price drop although she has already cost them $45k. The mindset of some people on these matters can be hard to fathom.