selling house to pay off debt?

[Anonymous]

I am posting this on behalf of someone.
Her husband has lost his job and has not found a job for a year now. She is not working. She is now staying with her sister and kids are going to public school.
They have $120,000 in debt. They have a house that can sell for about $475,000. They have put up their house on the market to pay off the debt. Is it wise to do so?
No other assets available.
Any guidance is helpful.
Thank you.

[Anonymous]

How much do they owe on the house? Selling has large costs, but if they can't afford to pay the mortgage, the don't have much choice.

[Anonymous]

they owe $60000 on the house. they can afford to pay the mortgage. previously they were renting the house so that helped. It's the debt that is bothering them.
They have $60000 equity loan, $60,000 on credit card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:they owe $60000 on the house. they can afford to pay the mortgage. previously they were renting the house so that helped. It's the debt that is bothering them.
They have $60000 equity loan, $60,000 on credit card.

What is their HH income?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they owe $60000 on the house. they can afford to pay the mortgage. previously they were renting the house so that helped. It's the debt that is bothering them.
They have $60000 equity loan, $60,000 on credit card.

What is their HH income?

Not OP, but it's $0 if neither person is working, right?

[Anonymous]

correct. currently no income. still looking for a job. I guess it's a hard decision and emotional that we have to sell the only asset to pay off the debt and what then?

[Anonymous]

Yeah, it's time for the house to go.

[Anonymous]

Selling the house, paying off high interest debt, and gaining a savings cushion they can live off while looking for a new job would be good for them. But that assumes that they can find a cheap rental or somewhere else to live. With no income, it will be hard to find someone to rent to them. I'd advise them to first find a new place to live and then sell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:correct. currently no income. still looking for a job. I guess it's a hard decision and emotional that we have to sell the only asset to pay off the debt and what then?

What then: stop wasting money on interest. Create a savings cushion to avoid bankruptcy. Live off the savings cushion while looking for a new job. Get a new job and start re-building savings cushion and assets.

I don't see the point to holding onto an illiquid asset (the house) when what they need is liquid assets (cash) to live on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Selling the house, paying off high interest debt, and gaining a savings cushion they can live off while looking for a new job would be good for them. But that assumes that they can find a cheap rental or somewhere else to live. With no income, it will be hard to find someone to rent to them. I'd advise them to first find a new place to live and then sell.

No one will rent to them with no income. They will need to sell first and the. Use the proceeds to pay an entire year's rent in advance or some other unusual arrangement.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't sell the house right now it's their only asset. I would have them both get jobs (i'm assuming unemployment has run out?) - not a dream job but any job (several part times, etc) so they are bringing something in and can potentially workdown the debt. I don't think they can possibly find a rental for less than what they are probably paying on the mortage if as you say they can cover the mortgage with no income coming in. Then once they have full time good jobs they can refinance and take cash out to pay off the cc/loc. They should also really look at their expenses - did they incur the $120k in debt in just the last year or have they been overspending before the job loss?