My short sale dilemma

[Roy Vereen]

I have been renting out my first home for the past year.  The mortgage is underwater and my wife and I decided to hold on to the property until we decided what to do next.  After finding out that we could not claim any of the losses because of income limitations, our next step became very clear.  We have to get this property off the books.  My question is as a seller is it better to pose a short sale request to our lender with a buyer already is in place?  Meaning should I begin marketing the property to potential investors first?  Thanks BP for your feedback.