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lots of people would rent out their property and then rent a bigger place for themselves.

We are in a similar situation bought apt during the peak managed when first child came along but when I was expecting again we had to rent it out and rent a house as we needed more space. Thankfully we have good tenants but the rent doesnt even cover the mortgage. I have since lost my job so things are tight. For now all we can do is make sure we pay all the bills every month and try and save a bit every month with the goal of buying our own house eventually. If things got really bad we would have to move back into our apt but hopefully that wont happen. I try not dwell on or think about the 'should haves' as hindsight is 20 20. I would end up getting very annoyed over the bad decisions I made in the past. I am so grateful for my family and health and know that there are people in way worse situaitons that us.

dont really wanna rent some where else, wondering is there another option? i know the banks publically say they arent letting people sell with negative equity but are they?

the best thing to do is speak to your mortgage lender. i have heard of people selling one property and transferring their mortgage along with the negative equity to a new property. the way the market is at the minute it is difficult to sell at all and a lot of mortgage lenders have got really strict so renting can be the best option in the short term. we thankfully bought our first house well before the boom and are not in your position but we have a lot of friends who are and i really feel for you.

You can sell in negative equity but you'll still owe the balance. There was a case where a subprime lender took a hit for negative equity but you'd need to have serious negotiation power to do this. Bear in mind your credit record would be very negatively affected as if banks did a check you'd be on record as not having paid back a loan which would make it very unlikely you could get another mortgage for a long time.

We bought in the boom too and are in negative equity but thankfully we bought a 4 bed semi-d so won't be under any pressure to move on any time soon. I have lots of friends who bought apartments though and are in a similar situation to yourself. Any who have moved out of the apartments have rented them out and then gone renting a house somewhere else. I'm almost certain none of them have sold any of their apartments, I know a few of them were advised there was no point in doing so.

Hey there Firstly I would speak to your lender in person, arrange a meeting face to face and talk through your options. Personally if I was in your situtation and was not prepared to rent somewhere else I would do the following Eg Mortgage for 500K Shortfall/ Negative Equity = 200K Sell City Centre Apt for 300K Balance still owing on Mortgage after Sale of Apt = 200K Use this Mortgage to Purchase Detached House outside City for 200K. HTH!

[quote="fairlylively":28n29uph]Hey there Firstly I would speak to your lender in person, arrange a meeting face to face and talk through your options. Personally if I was in your situtation and was not prepared to rent somewhere else I would do the following Eg Mortgage for 500K Shortfall/ Negative Equity = 200K Sell City Centre Apt for 300K Balance still owing on Mortgage after Sale of Apt = 200K Use this Mortgage to Purchase Detached House outside City for 200K. HTH! [/quote:28n29uph] You cant transfer a mortgage from one property to another. What op would have to do would be to sell current property and then take the shortfall as a personal loan - it is unlikely though that a lender would let you do this with so much NE though unfortunately. Banks are allowing some people to sell NE properties but only when shortfall can be either paid for seperately or amounts to no more than 30-40k.

[quote="fairlylively":2vhdubmn]Hey there Firstly I would speak to your lender in person, arrange a meeting face to face and talk through your options. Personally if I was in your situtation and was not prepared to rent somewhere else I would do the following Eg Mortgage for 500K Shortfall/ Negative Equity = 200K Sell City Centre Apt for 300K Balance still owing on Mortgage after Sale of Apt = 200K Use this Mortgage to Purchase Detached House outside city for 200k HTH! [/quote:2vhdubmn] This is not possible, doesn't make sense. You would still owe 200k you can't just buy somewhere else! Renting really only option or if banks bring out something to allow transfer of neg equity. If you have tracker you may have some bargaining power with the bank to w/off neg equity if you sold. They might go 50/50 on it, unlikely but they want trackers off their books. I'm in same situ