WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Question: I could use some guidance. I bought a condo in Orange Beach, Ala., for $500,000. The developer has since gone bankrupt and is auctioning off all the remaining units for $200,000. I want out.

Stellar credit rating, resources to pay it off, still working. What should I do? What programs are there to refinance? My current rate is 6.25%. Should I “strategically foreclose,” short-sale, what?

Answer: You are about to lose your shirt, and your credit rating.

The only government-backed refinance programs for people like you are available only for loans on primary residences, and I assume your place at the shore isn’t your main home. So you’ll have to appeal to your current lender for relief, not just from your interest rate but also on the amount you owe. I’m sorry, but that’s not likely. It’s worth a try, though, so go for it. You can’t lose anything more than your time.

Since your developer is ready to toss in the towel, you might consider following suit. Just send the bank the keys and be done with it. I don’t think it’s wise — at least financially — to keep paying on a property that’s worth less than half of what you paid, and has little prospect for going back up in value because the developer is dumping the remaining units.

Your credit rating will suffer dramatically. Your “strategic default” will be on your record for seven years, but that may not be so bad if you already own a house and car and don’t expect to need any more credit for the foreseeable future. Right now, you are only out your down payment and the money you’ve paid so far on the mortgage.

I hate to advise anyone to give up and renege on what really is a binding contract. But in your case, why throw good money after bad? Keep in mind, though, that Alabama is a “recourse” state, meaning that your lender is permitted under state law to pursue a deficiency judgement against you for the difference between what you owe and what it eventually sells your house for.

Question: I am trying to help my mother, who owns her home, but the land is owned by all the owners as an association. Since she owns the dwelling, isn’t there a waiver she can get to be eligible for a reverse mortgage? —A.A.

Answer: Reverse mortgages are available on practically any kind of property, and Mom won’t need a waiver, even if she resides in a shared-ownership community in which everyone has an ownership stake in the common elements.

They are available on single-family homes, condominiums, town houses, even manufactured homes built after 1976. About the only kind of property on which lenders won’t make a backwards loan — with a reverse mortgage, the lender pays you instead of the other way around — is a cooperative apartment. And some lenders have developed proprietary programs for co-ops in New York, where the cooperative form of home ownership is most popular.

Question: You still do not explain why the rich, or in this case Carlos Slim, did not buy the $44 million Manhattan property in his name. Please do so. —S.G. Read previous Realty Q&A on learning from wealthy real-estate investors.

Answer: Again, I cannot speak for Mr. Slim. I can also speculate that he bought the mansion in other than his own name to protect his fortune from a lawsuit involving that particular property.

The point of my newspaper column, at least with regards to owning property, is that even average folk don’t have to hold title in their own names. So if you don’t want your soon-to-be-former ex-spouse to know what you are paying for your new digs, or if you want to shelter your home from the liability that could be incurred from a new business venture, you can set up a separate corporation and put the title in the company’s name.