Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Bankruptcy is also a possible strategy for some people. Refinancing, selling and foreclosure may be divisible into sub-strategies.

In better economic times, the selling concept would include a forced sale as part of a lawsuit for "partition," which allows an unhappy co-owner to have a court order sale in the open market and fair division of the net proceeds, and this is still viable for "underwater" properties, but not attractive because there are no net proceeds.

Foreclosure can be an exit strategy where the likelihood of the lender going after a deficiency judgment is relatively low. Low danger exists where the loan was purchase money, where the borrowers have few assets the lender can go after, and/or the house is owner-occupied. Not having a second mortgage also helps.

I suggest asking a local lawyer for a free initial consultation to go over these options.