What I've seen is they will do that and file a deficiency judgment against a borrower where they think they might be able to collect.Don't know how the process works in Ohio, but in many areas, like CO, its cash on the barrelhead.

What happens to the deficiency?

Fortunately, I had a home inspection before purchasing the property which produced a volume of deficiencies which were corrected and I kept good records.

This potentially could include a deficiency judgement and attaching liens to assets owned personally.

couple things come to mind I can't talk about how to hold or sell as i don't know your area so I will just comment on the walk away.if these are in Texas .. thats a dual action state so at the lenders discretion they can foreclose and SUE on the note and get a deficiency.. so depends on who the borrower is..

You either want to shop it to someone like me and make the offer in their LLC with an agreement to get a payment at closing or form an LLC to make the offer with, then sell the LLC to someone.My general experience with short sales is that the sellers couldn't care less what you contract it at, they cant get any money anyway, its just protecting their credit some and (usually) limiting their ability to get sued for a deficiency balance. 

Now that this deficiency appears in an inspection, it is disclosable. 

In your letter and accounting, show a deficiency balance for the damages and demand payment within 10 days.  

Such conduct is illegal when there has been any judgment issued for a deficiency or during post judgement and proper notice has not been given. 

It was a helluva year.To get out of the house, we eventually accepted an offer $60K less than the mortgage and we took out a 0% interest/60-month deficiency loan with the mortgage company.