Short Sale of Wife's Property: What is the affect on my credit?

[Anonymous]

My wife owned a home when we got married and the note is in her name only.  We have rented it for the past three years and now our renters have not been paying and because it is winter in MN, we are not able to evict them yet.  They have also done some damage to the property.  So she is looking at trying to short sell it because we have already drained all of our cash to keep the payments current.  So my question is this, If my wife is able to short sell the property how will it affect my credit if at all?  Our realtor keeps saying it will because MN is a One to buy and Two to sell state where I would have to sign off on the sale.  So I am thinking that this will probably show up as a public record of some sort and not a financial issue seeing that I am not on the loan.  Any advice would be great.  Thanks!

[Lel]

Your wife is on the mortgage note alone.  Are you on the deed?

Here's how I understand things: If you are not on the mortgage note, then the short sale will not affect your credit, because you never assumed responsibility for the payment of the loan.  However, if you are on the deed, you will have to agree to the sale of the house because you have been granted an ownership stake in the property. Similarly, if your wife wanted to refinance her loan and you are on the deed, you'd have to agree to the refinance since it could affect your interest in the home.

[Anonymous]

Yes I am on the deed, but NOT on the loan.  So I do know i have to sign off on the sale.  I was just wondering if it would show up in my public record of the credit report as a short sale or something like that?  Thanks.