<prompt> Human: Redditors,My girlfriends GF mom has run into a bit of a snag w her house payments. Presently, her family resides in a house in the MD area. Her mom has been unable to make several payments about 18 valued at 3k a piece. I was only just made aware of their circumstance within the last few days and am wondering: What are some viable options for them andor ways I can help? One option they are considering is short-selling the current home and buying a new one that allows them to make smaller monthly payments in the neighborhood of 1 - 1.5k. Theyve apparently done some looking around and have found some prospective places w smaller price tags. The caveat w this option is that it will obviously adversely affect the moms credit score further tho not as severely as a foreclosure -- a scenario theyd like to avoid. I dont believe my GF has the credentials to qualify for the necessary loan herself just finished Masters and is getting ready to go to Med school while working a relatively low wage job. Concerning this last point, is there a way for my GF to perhaps factor in rent paid in this case by her mom as income during the loan qualifying process? as opposed to co-applying w her mom which my GF thinks would likely do her more harm than helpApplying for a loan myself to help them out is not off the table I have excellent credit scores according to my credit unionbanking institutions. Ive known my GF for several years and trust her quite a bit. Nevertheless, I also want to make sure I know what Im getting myself into if I take this route! e.g., 1-if its possible to co-sign a mortgage loan w the mothermy GF; 2-if I can sign the loan over to them completely after a period of time; 3-howif co-signing would effect my own credit score. Thank you for any council you can provide!EDITThanks for the input, everyone. Ill advocate short selling and renting as per your recommendations. A follow-on question:Is it worth my exploring why the mortgage lender was not willing to lower the monthly payments from 3k to 1.5k per month? The mom was able to set aside payments for this amount for the 18 months but the lender never budged.  <response>: Let that house go. Its not random chance that your girlfriends mother hasnt been able to make 18 payments and is losing her house. You taking over the mortgage and charging her rent isnt going to fix that. In any event, why would you want to buy a house for a price that is more than its worth? Why would you trust her to pay when she hasnt been paying the bank? Thats the banks problem now, and you should let them deal with it.Tell your girlfriend that you cant cosign on a mortgage and dont think she should either. Instead offer to make a gift of the first months rent on her new place.If you take over the mortgage, and your gfs mother doesnt pay - what are you going to do, evict her? If you take over the mortgage and then the property value goes up, are they going to be pissed when you get the money instead of them? There simply isnt a way that this scenario is going to play out well. 