Selling My Own Home May Be My First Deal?

[Wendell Allen]

But I don't know if an investor would see it that way or not.  I bought a nice place in north Houston almost three years ago, and although I see the square footage on the web at just over 2900, when the home was appraised for my loan, it came in at just over 3300.  My current loan balance is about $142K, and this year's Harris County tax appraisal came in at $188K.  And frankly, there are some much more expensive homes in this established and attractive neighborhood.

I wouldn't, under normal circumstances, consider selling it at this time because homes in this area are appreciating pretty rapidly and I'm the kind of guy who would prefer to milk this for as much as I can get of it.  However, I've been unemployed since March, and am getting behind on my payments.

Is there enough equity in my home to make it attractive to an investor to either just pay off the loan or (gasp!) maybe even have a few bucks left over for me?  I hate selling the place, but would rather do so than take a hit on my credit bureau and have a hard time getting into real estate investing, which is really what I'm trying to do now (more about that in my newbie post).

Thanks!