Unanticipated investor…

[Joel Fraser]

About two years ago my sister came to me in tears pleading with me to help her keep her home. She and her husband were about to lose their home and, since their credit was so bad, were unable to refinance their mortgage. So, being the loving and trusting brother that I am, I took title and refinanced in my name. They agreed to make the new payments. Everything was going according to plan until earlier this year when they decided to file for divorce, at which point my brother-in-law decided to stop making the payments, essentially throwing me under the bus. Since then I’ve listed the property for short sale and, to this point, three offers have been submitted to the mortgage companies. Unfortunately, I don’t think the offers are high enough that the mortgage companies will accept. There are 1st (CitiMortgage) and 2nd (Chase) mortgages (80/20 purchase money) on the property. My question is this, since this is not my primary residence, “technically” I’m an investor and I don’t believe I can use CCP580B as protection from the lenders. I've discussed this with a real estate attorney and was informed that the mortgage companies can come after me personally for any short fall from a short sale (if they accept a short sale) or if they foreclose. I’m searching for possible solutions… How can I protect myself from any potential attempts by the banks to seize my personal assets?