Here’s a sensible solution: If you’re in the military and you’re ordered to move you may still qualify for the FHA   Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP,  as of June 1st.  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  says, the regulations will change to allow you to list the residence you’re leaving as your permanent owner occupied residence, even though you’re not living there, so you can modify your mortgage.

If this sounds convoluted, it’s because current  FHA rules allow modification only for owner occupied, permanent residences. So the regulations hurt military families who are underwater because their homes are worth less than their mortgages.

There are a few criteria: You have to live in the home when you’re transferred.  You have to plan to return to live there in the future, and you can’t own any other single-family real estate.