I'm posting our rather unique, I think, situation in hopes someone has had a similar problem and can head us in the right direction.

We live in a manufactured home that is in a park on a leased space.  We have a Cal-Vet loan than is non-assumable.  Unfortunately, we bought when the market was way up and now of course, it's not.  We have a lovely home and we've put a lot of upgrades into it, but I'm quite sure the market value is about $10K less than what we owe on it.  We currently have excellent credit and we already have our 5th wheel and tow vehicle.

We cannot afford to keep the house and travel and have a budget we can be comfortable with, so the house has to go.  Cal-Vet is different than a conventional mortgage.  I am having a difficult time finding out if they will accept a short sale.  As long as we own the home we are responsible for paying our space rent which is $700/month. 

We want to be out of here by the end of May, 2015.  If Cal-Vet will not take a short sale, then we are going to have to let it go into foreclosure.   Since we aren't planning to purchase anything that would require a loan I'm not too worried about our credit rating, but I am concerned with the logistics of all this. 

I'm going to contact some local agents and see if I can find out what our options for a short sale are.  It's really sad because we have a beautiful home...probably too nice for the park we live in...and yet we are unlikely to be able to sell it for what we owe on it, and we aren't willing to spend thousands of dollars to pay down the mortgage.

Any real estate experts on the forum who can give me some advice or words of wisdom. 

I'm no real estate expert. You don't say what you mtg.pymt is, nonetheless in 12 months(using your May 2015 target) at 700/mth for the lease alone is $8400 down the drain no matter what you do. Perhaps you should delay your plans for a while to get right-sized on your note. Could you hire a property manager and rent it out till the market improves? They will cost roughly 10% of the rent and an upfront fee of about half a month rent. (+/-). If your psyche is telling you your house is an albatross you might think about eating the underwater portion with a personal loan(or pull from savings) and repay it ASAP when you sell.  Just pretend your still making your monthly mtg and lease payments and it will be done before you know it.  Your comment ..."and we aren't willing to spend thousands of dollars to pay down the mortgage." ... has an air of stubborness to it WRT to throwing good money after bad. Understandable, but as they say in the stock market, your first loss is your best lost(least painful). Emotionally, being done with it, will heal the wound faster. I hear emotional attachment to your house in your other comments which might be impairing your financial judgement. In the beginning it(emotion) is fine, but at the end it can paralize your ability to see whats financially best for you. Just sayin'.

In 2012 we dipped underwater too, but we had the luxury of time to repair the situation as we weren't expecting to go FT until 2022. That was then.  The market has since started to turn upward and that situation has also improved dramatically. Perhaps your real estate market, in time, will heal sufficiently to allow you to escape. Fingers crossed and good luck. 

I just read biggaRView's comments and wanted to respond. First off, we have no emotional attachment to the house. We've enjoyed living here, and we've kept the house nice like we have done everywhere we have ever lived. I once had a landlord tell me "you are the only tenants I've ever had to increased the value of my property".
We can't dely any longer...I am 68 and hubby is 64. I've battled cancer 3 times in the past 10 years and feel a real sense of urgency. It really is now or never.
We can't afford to pay down the mortgage...impossible. We will be living on our pensions and social security. We have only an emergency cushion in savings...no investments or IRA's. Poor planning, yes, but it's reality.
A large reason that our home has lost so much value is the park that we live in. It has changed ownership three times since we moved in here 7 years ago. They are bringing in old homes to fill up the empty spaces and selling them dirt cheap. No one is going to pay anywhere near market value for ours.
I've done quite a bit of research today on market values, especially in our area, and I think we are way more underwater than I thought. Unlike real property on a lot, a manufactured home in a park is just a mobile home and it does not appreciate with the local market.
Renting it out is not an option...the park doesn't allow rentals.
Short of finding someone who wants to live in our home, I think we're going to have to let it go into foreclosure, unless something major and unexpected happens in the next 9 months.
Thanks for your advice and good wishes. Everything always works out in the end, and I'm confident this will too.


-- Edited by galtgirl on Wednesday 11th of June 2014 11:02:22 PM

Thanks for clarifying the situation.  Sorry to hear of your issues and hope things work out for you.  If you're underwater and no hope of a recovery in the time frame you're looking at, foreclosure, short sale or a "deed in lieu" may be your only options.  I'd also consult an attorney for other options. Sounds like you need that housing expense "gone" ASAP.  Our thoughts are for a speedy resolution to relieve that piece of angst in your life.