[oc949]

First off, thank you to the participants on this forum. You are like me: intelligent, reasonable people who are simply looking for a sensible solution to stop throwing good money after bad.

My situation is simple, and I would value your advice on what to do. I own a condo in Orange County, California. I did the right thing: I put 20% down, and have a 1st mortgage only with Countrywide where I owe 525K. The property is currently worth 475-500K. Foreclosures in my area are mounting, home values are plummeting, and I do not want to throw more good money after bad. Nor do I want to take more of a hit than necessary on my hard earned sterling credit (FICO score > 800).

I am not a hardship situation, meaning I have savings and a good income. I simply cannot see the sense in continuing to pay on an asset that may take more than a decade to recover in value, if then. I want to avoid both foreclosure and short sale. They both sound like painful processes, and a short sale in particular is not the easy out that many people seem to think it is.

Your advice please: am I a candidate for a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure (DIL), and if so, where do I go for assistance? I do not want to go it alone, and I do not want to cut corners on costs only to get myself deeper in the hole. If I need a competent real estate attorney, how do I find one in Orange County who I can trust?

This is my home we're talking about, but I'm taking the advice of this forum and taking a business-minded approach: I have a business problem and I need a sensible business solution. Please send me your sensible advice. Thank you!