Mortgage modification help!

[Michael Cooper]

I bought a house in Tacoma, Washington in February of 2006, the height of the housing bubble when I was 24 years old. Long story short, I lost my job in 2012 and had to stop paying the mortgage. I went 5 years without paying and have recently started a mortgage modification program with the bank. I owe $155,000 plus $13,000 in back taxes and fees and another $50,000 in arrears. In that 5 years time, I went through a bankruptcy-which means I can walk away from the house or short sell with little damage to my already poor credit. Within that 5 years, I started a business that has started to become profitable and saved enough cash to buy a tiny rental property that needs a full remodel. My questions are the following:

1) Has anyone been able to work out a deal where they have gotten rid of their arrears in a mortgage modification?

2) Has anyone been able to do an arrears settlement, offering half of the arrears in cash?

3) The house is worth $197,000 on Zillow, $140,000 on Redfin, and the assessor's treasure value is $140,500. The housing market in Tacoma is blowing up-but I'm concerned we are in another housing market bubble that could potentially be worse than 2008. Should I keep this place?! I have made the first temporary payment of $1078 an have two more payments due before they give me the final modification over.

I have to make a decision soon on whether or not I will keep this property and would love to hear some opinions/ideas/answers to my questions. Please HELP!!!

Thank you,

Mike Cooper