If you face foreclosure today, you are among many in the same situation. You are no doubt feeling desperate, helpless and you don't realize what options are available to you.

Foreclosure causes stress as it threatens your health; you have trouble eating, sleeping and functioning!

The phone rings constantly, and you don't even have to look at your caller ID to see that it's your mortgage companyAGAIN! They are relentless! They interrupt your dinner, your family time, and your sleep!

There are hundreds of thousands of people who are either facing foreclosure or are already in foreclosure today. The major contributors to the increase in foreclosures are the resetting of interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages (ARM) and the declining values of real estate. Those with the ARM are experiencing a significant increase in their monthly payments. They would like to refinance, but with declining values, they now owe more than their home is worth and they are trapped in a mortgage that they cannot afford to pay.

This is a very tough situation to be in. You would love to just relax in the evening, enjoy your family and not be bothered with constant phone calls from your lender.

The good news is you have options and there are people who specialize in helping, no matter where you are in the foreclosure time-line. If you've done all you can and you just want out, you can walk away from this debt while satisfying your lender with a short sale.

Your lender might be willing to accept a lower price than what is owed on the home if you want to sell it for what it is worth in today's market. Your lender is familiar with this and he will have an appraisal or value check done on your home before deciding to agree to a short sale offer.

If you are considering a short sale, you should work with a specialist who has experience in working short sales. A good short sale negotiator will help you with the process of compiling the paperwork for the bank and they will do a comparative market analysis on your home to support a short sale offer.

The short sale benefits both the homeowner and the lender. The homeowner is allowed to satisfy their debt with a short payoff and not have a foreclosure recorded on their credit report. If the short sale negotiator is really doing their job, they will get a written release from the lender to the homeowner, on the debt owed, so that the homeowner is not forced to pay the deficiency.

The lender benefits by cutting their losses and taking what they can get now, rather than incurring the additional legal and financial expenses of foreclosure, while market values continue to plummet. If they wait out the redemption period, which varies from state to state, and evict the homeowners, fix the home to make it marketable, by the time the property sells, chances are good that it will be worth even less and their loss will be greater.

A short sale is an option when you feel that there is no reason to or no possibility of keeping your home. When you sell it on a short sale, you do not expect to get any of the closing proceeds. You do get the benefit of satisfying your mortgage debt and preventing further damage to your credit report. You also get to put a stop to the relentless phone calls and intimidating letters from your lender, not to mention all the letters you may be getting from attorneys or foreclosure consultants offering their services.