Advice on steps to take if tenant vacated second home - The Bills.com Blog

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Advice on steps to take if tenant vacated second home

Question: I owned 2 houses. My 2nd house was rented and the tenant just left unexpectantly. I am current on the mortgage but wondering what steps to take to avoid a negative credit score impact. The market is slow. I owe about 90% of the value.

Answer: The obvious way to prevent the mortgage on the second home from negatively affecting your credit rating is for you to continue makingyour monthly mortgage payments in a timely manner. You mention in your question that you are current on the mortgage on the second home, so you should continue making your payments to keep the mortgage current, if possible. In the meantime, you can either look for another tenant to rent the property or put the home one the market. If you can find a new tenant, his or her rent payments should help you cover the mortgage payments. If you prefer to sell the home, you can hopefully sell the home for enough money to cover your current mortgage and also make a bit of a profit on the sale; selling the home will free you from the mortgage obligation altogether.

Since the housing market is in a slump, selling the home may be the best option. Selling now will allow you to cash out your equity before the value of the home decreases any more, and will free you from the worries

of owning a home that is losing value by the day. In addition, it will relieve you of the hassle of maintaining the property, paying property taxes, and dealing with tenants. Before you decide either to continue renting the property or to sell it, I encourage you to consult with a professional financial advisor in your area to help you determine the best course of action for your situation. You will need to carefully analyze market trends to determine if you stand to gain or lose by continuing to rent the property, and if selling is a feasible option given current market conditions. Generally speaking, when the housing market slumps, rents tend to increase, so continuing to rent the property may be a feasible option if you think that housing prices will rebound in the near future, allowing you to continue building equity in the home.

Basically, the determination

of whether or not to sell the home is too complicated for me to address in a short answer. You will need to discuss your situation with financial consultants and real estate professionals in your area to determine the best course of action in your situation.

To learn more about mortgages, I encourage you to visit the Bills.com Mortgage page at http://www.bills.com/mortgage/. In addition, the Bills.com Credit page, available at http://www.bills.com/credit/, offers a wealth of information relating to credit, credit reports, and credit scoring.

I hope that the information I have provided helps you resolve your financial difficulties and helps you Find. Learn. Save.

Best,
Bill
www.bills.com

Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!

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Bill has answered all sorts of questions and has been able to provide those in need of financial guidance with helpful and valuable advice and information on their specific financial area of interest. If you need specific guidance on any of the above mentioned financial areas, feel free to Ask Bill your financial questions and get better informed. Also, make sure to get a free financial health check-up with Bills IQ!

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