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If your finances have gotten out of control and you find yourself unable to get out of the hole you are in, don't lose hope. You are not alone. Many people are in the same boat, having experienced an unexpected layoff or housing situation, facing bankruptcy just because of a turn of fate. You probably think that there isn't a way out of the fix you're in, but you need to consider an underused option: selling your house and renting it back.

Just 2 years ago, single mother Clare Wilson was in the same situation. When she became disabled due to very severe arthritis, she was not able to hold a job. Each month she would get just a small amount of income from her disability benefits. This was not enough to pay her mortgage, or properly care for herself and her 2 teenage sons.

After struggling with massive bills and debts for three years, Clare felt that there were no more options open to her. She was considering selling the house she had lived in for thirty years and moving herself and her two boys in to stay in a cramped place with relatives. Even most rental prices in her area were just too high, and there were no homes for sale within her price range - she was at the end of her rope.

Fortunately, when her home started to enter the repossession or foreclosure process, an old friend called her up and told her how she had figured out how to sell and rent back her property. Clare was intrigued. After a few inquiries, she realized that this would be a viable option for her, and let her stay in her beloved home that would someday be hers again. Her home would not become one of those houses with a " home for sale " sign!

Here is how the sell and rent back process works. Clare sold her home to a real estate firm specializing in repossessions or foreclosures. She was then able to sit down with a representative of a company and find out what monthly rental rate would work for her. She was able to select one that was low enough so she could still afford to put food on the table, but not so low that it would take forever to get her house back. The properties to rent back, like Clare's own, would generally never undergo a change of hands.

Each monthly payment was used to build up equity in the house. She would have her choice of either paying the monthly rent for a long period of time, until the home was completely paid for, or paying just until her financial situation was improved enough to buy back the house. She will have to pay the rent to live there during that time which could well be lower than the going rate in her neighborhood. Either way, the house was hers to live in for as long as she wanted, and would soon become hers on paper, if she wanted to. That way the she managed to sell the property to rent back without ever having to move out of the house. And her neighbours were none the wiser, let alone any one else.