Beautiful, Julie. Brought tears to my eyes. Main Street, U.S.A.

I get where KSWL is coming from (at least I think so). I'm not big on cake mixes either. A good made-from-scratch cake is hard to beat. But there are "dump cake" (I hate that name) type cakes that are not made from mixes. Kind of like an Apple Betty or a fruit crisp. I've made one that is quite good - no cake mix, you make the topping from scratch. Oats are a good addition - as are pecans (as someone mentioned above). Fresh fruit is also used - not canned pie filling. So much better and by using your own recipe instead of a cake mix and canned pie filling, you can control the fat and sugar content (at least somewhat). tina

I'm a retired appraiser, but not in Texas. Although, I have lived in and owned property in Texas. My parents moved out to Texas in retirement to live near my brother who was in the Air Force. My brother retired and built an adjacent home on the property my parents had acquired. My parents passed, the home went to my brother and he has moved elsewhere in Texas to be near his grandkids. My DB has already moved. The property is on the currently on the market. It is located in between two Podunk towns near an Air Force base. It is a much nicer property than the average house in the area. They are getting the same song and dance as IlovetoCook from their realtor(s). "It's priced right, we just need to wait for the right buyer." If I had a dollar for every realtor who said that, I'd be rich. They are dealing with ridiculously inept agents, too. I wouldn't tolerate it. Luckily, I didn't get an interest in the house, so it really isn't my problem. I'm watching the train wreck from afar. My brother needs to lower the price. IlovetoCook, You need to finish that bath or tear out the addition. One or the other. Those are your choices. Your only option if you leave it as it is now is to sell to a cash investor. They will low ball you. It's a starter home. Your market is a starter home market or an investor market. The house must be able to pass a VA or FHA inspection. That's the goal. Don't entertain the idea of trying to rent it out. Long distance landlord is an impossible situation. You don't have that kind of expertise. I wouldn't consider selling to buy in this circumstance. Any buyer that can't qualify for FHA isn't worth the risk. They will abandon the property in bad condition. You need to sell. Because you have a loan on the property, you can't finance the sale. The last option is to walk away. If you don't have any equity and don't care about your credit, you can hand the keys to the lender. A short sale is a possibility, too. But, I would try to sell it first even if you have to write a check to make it happen. Give up on trying to make money. That's probably not going to happen. Your realtor should have a handyman that is capable of completing the bath. Get her to ask around. Agents do this sort of service all of the time. There is someone capable of doing the remaining work. Understand you will need to make a couple of trips back to get this done. Make your agent provide you with the MLS listings of all of the closed properties within the County that are either a 2/1, 3/1, 2/2 or 3/2 that have closed in the last 2 years. Throw out the new construction, if there is new construction in the area. Given the small population, the large area and expanded timeframe are necessary. This will give you some idea of your situation. The report will include some very important information such as days on market, average list price and average sales price. Once you have these numbers, you will be able to make an informed decision. If your agent balks at providing you with this information, go to her broker and get it from them. You do have options. Most of them are bad. Get the MLS sales asap.

"I dont think all lenders allow that" I would be surprised if your lender doesn't allow it. Using equity from one property to secure another is incredibly common. I have done it at least a dozen times. In fact, I imagine that any bank that will allow you to use one property as collateral for another, is going to make you do an equity loan on it. The downside being fees to originate two loans, but equity loans are usually pretty reasonable. You will also have greater debt to income than if you sold the house. However, probably not much more than any financing where your current house remains unsold. The upside being that your new loan will not have to be refinances or recast after you sell your existing house. Any mortgage broker can do this. Most banks will probably do it and be able to walk you through it, but brick and mortar banks usually are not as competitive in the equity loan market.