I had a client who came to my office and tells me "I want to short sale my House. It is not worth it to keep it. I can make my payments if I put some more effort, But I can also prove that I don't earn enough money to continue paying" What is the right answer? What do we suggest this person? Is it Ethical to help him to do the short sale? Does it really make sense for homeowners to hold on to their house knowing their house is worth 100s of thousand less than they  owe to their lenders?  How long is going to take for the market to turn around? How many years will take to make up the 100K loss that the homeowners incurred? What is a better option for a person who is under water for 100K or more? In the other hand, I had another customer who came to me asking me for a loan modification. I thought she couldn't qualify for loan modification and her house was worth about 200K less than she owes to her lender. She is a single mother of two girls. I suggested her to start all over and do the short sale. She didn't want accept that and she went to an attorney to do the loan modification. The attorney made his money, but didn't do anything for her.  She still think she is going to keep the house and somehow she will make it happen.  The market is still shaky. We don't know where the market is going? How do we help these people? All I know is that at least we need to be truthful and straight forward with these people. We need to be knowledgeable about other options and let them choose!