Topic Title: pre-payment

First Post:

Hello everyone-
My wife and I want to list our house in Orange County, CA in March (looking at Monday, the 3rd). Problem is, we have a $17k pre-payment penalty on the loan that doesnt come off until early June. Thinking about this earlier, I wasnt aware that when both parties sit down to finish the sale, the check for the full balance is sent directly to the sellers lender by the buyers lender. So you see the predicament Im in there. I really do not want to do a 90 day escrow (for fear of turning off prospective buyers), and I dont want to wait to long to list (in April or May).
Just a couple thoughts off the top of my head were to take out a HELOC with the same lender to put the balance owed just a bit above the amount we could get for the house. I found that wouldnt work when I heard pre-payment penalties are imposed even if a large % of the loan is paid (some as low as 20%). Is there anyway, I can avoid that pre-pay? If not, should I just wait until April?- In the case that we do list in April, I doubt our house would move in a month with the market (taking into account 30 days for escrow), but you never know. Maybe I just take a chance and list in March. Any ideas on avoiding the pre-pay?

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