Selling a property short when you are upside down in it?

I work at a real estate firm and have seen more and more of these short sales files lately. To do a short sale requires the lenders approval (sometimes they will not approve it and will proceed with foreclosure). A lot of times, the lender will set up a payment plan so that the borrower (you) can pay it back. In other cases, they will not make you pay it back but it will appear as a settled account most likely on your credit. It is a long and tedious process to get a lender to agree to a short sale, but these days, they are very common. Property values are down and if you bought your house when the majority of people did (post 9/11) then chances are you bought without having to put money down, therefore having no equity. It is hard times now, and the chances that anyone will get an offer on their home that surpes the amount to pay off the loan are slim to none. I suggest holding on to the property if you are not experiencing hardship, so that maybe the market can turn around.