A Short Sale is selling your home short of what is owed plus the selling expenses.  It does not matter how short of funds you actually are.  This becomes possible when you have a hardship and cannot pay or have great difficulty paying the mortgage on your property.  You will not be responsible for the amount you are short to sell.  You may stay in your home until the sale if finalized.  Very few Realtors are properly trained to handle this properly.  This is now becoming much more common for banks because this allows them to avoid the foreclosure process as well, which is very expensive for them.  If you do not qualify for a short sale based on the criteria, you may qualify to do a loan modification, which will allow you to stay in your home with a manageable payment.