There are alternatives to bankruptcy or foreclosure for home owners who can no longer afford to keep mortgage payments current – It’s called a “short sale”. A short sale is when a property is sold for less than its remaining mortgage principal balance, and executed as a way for both the existing homeowner and mortgage lender to cut their respective losses.
Typically, although not always, short sales are reserved for situations of extreme financial hardship; just prior a bank beginning foreclosure proceedings.
According to the Federal Reserve’s quarterly Senior Loan Officer Survey, it’s getting easier to get approved for a home loan.
With mortgage rates at all-time lows, purchase and refinance activity is climbing. And with guidelines tight, and pipelines full, you will want to be properly prepared up front to mitigate some of the horror stories you have probably been hearing about.
Sometimes, things just have a way of working themselves out. My wife hates when I say that, but in this circumstance it is true. If you read my blog a few days ago, 
I get this question daily from my prospective buyers. “Do you have to pull my credit? I don’t want you to hurt my score that I have worked so hard to maintain.” A great question for today’s home buyers and refinancing households, the value of “good credit” has never been higher.