GMAC - Foreclosure/Short Sale on Second Home! Help!

[Joel Fraser]

Hello- First off thank you for this wonderful site! I have several questions I really need answers on. Thank you in advance. Here is my story:I bought a second home as a partial investment and partial getaway. I have a fixed rate mortgage with GMAC and work in the sales industry. My business has really taken a hit and therefore I can't make my second home payments anymore. I'm NOT late on any bills and have 750 FICO scores. A loan mod doesn't seem like the right answer for me as I really can't afford much of a payment at all on it at the moment. I've talked to a company that specializes in consulting home owners to foreclose. The second home is in Utah and I owe 415k on it. I had an appraisal done on it 10 months ago and it came in at 725k. Yah right - After looking at the competition for sale, there are 19 or so for sale that are identical and some are short selling for 305k and not sold! I'm upside down and can't afford my payment which I'm thinking I should just foreclose. The home would be a good investment for someone who could cover the payments for the next 3 years as it generates rental income (about 1k a month and increasing 20-30% a year). Basically I'm losing 2500 a month on this and it's killing me. I've sold all my not-needed items and don't go out to eat or buy coffee in the mornings. I've never thought it would come to this, but this home has become a nightmare and taking a toll on my family. Here are my questions.1. Are there such places that I could present this property to investors? I'd be willing to let an investor just take over payments and take all the future equity. I hear banks don't want to do deeds in leui but would this be a good case for one? 2. I was told if I foreclose there was a 99% chance GMAC would just send me a 1099 for their losses on whatever they sold rather than a judgement. Is this true? 3. I have other homes, businesses and personal assets I don't want them to touch so if a judgement is possible, should I sell these assets to family/friends to limit my liability? Remember I'm not even late on any payments yet. 4. I've considered hiring to help me through the process says they will send a cease and desist letter to GMAC telling them to not have creditors call me to try to collect. Then they send me weekly emails with updates and a timeline on when it will foreclose. They let me talk to their CPA and attorney for advice and have an advisor available anytime. Has anyone heard of these guys? Are they legit? They told me I'd be better off doing a foreclosure rather than a Short Sale because on a SS GMAC will want me to disclose my entire assets and personal finances of which they have more information on me to sue me for a judgement after the sell. They said if I just do a foreclosure GMAC wont sue me and just send me a 1099. They also said in Utah they only have 90 days after the foreclosure to come after me, is this true? How likely are they to sue me for the loss? They indicated that if I had a second (e.g. HELOC) the bank who owned the second would definately sue me since they have nothing to gain but I don't have a second so they think it's a pretty slam dunk. They mentioned in 4 years I can buy a home again and work on building my credit. What is your take on this? 5. Should I hire an attorney right now or wait and see if GMAC sues me? What can the attorney do to help me through this that this other company can't do? 6. Am I expected to pay the entire taxes due on the 1099 that year or is it possible to span it out several years to pay for the taxes? Is it possible GMAC won't come after me at all, or am I sure to get the 1099 or judement? 7. My last other idea I had was to fractionalize the property and find multiple buyers. It's fully furnished and is almost brand new. It's in the mountains and is really an unreal property. Has anyone had experience finding fractional owners and where do you market to these people? Sorry about all the questions, I REALLY appreciate any help anybody can provide. -Stressed & up all night