Is bankruptcy an option if I own a home that I owe $164,000 on? How?

I guess I would want to know what your ultimate goal is to be able to offer you advice. Do you want to keep your house or short sale it? I would be reluctant to represent you in a bankruptcy case with a mere $10,000 in debt, most bankruptcy cases I take have at least twice that amount of unsecured debt. And if you short sale or let your house go into foreclosure, it is very unlikely the lender will pursue you to collect the difference between what you owe and what the property ultimately sells for.

If you want to keep the house, Chapter 13 is an option. This would let you catch up on your mortgage. If you don't want to keep the house, Chapter 7 will eliminate your liability on the mortgage.

Make an appointment with a bankruptcy attorney. Take your income and expense information. At least determine if you meet the means test, so that you know if chapter 7 filing is an option for you.

Bankruptcy might be an option, depending on what you want to accomplish. If you want to keep your house, you will need to be able to redeem the property during the bankruptcy. A chapter 7 bankruptcy takes about 4 months from beginning to end, so you will have to pay all the arrears during that time if you want to save your house. A chapter 13 case lasts 3-5 years, and you make payments for the entire duration of the case. If you can afford to make payments that will cure the arrears during that time, you can file a chapter 13. On the other hand, if you don't want to save your house, you can surrender the property in a bankruptcy, and you won't have to worry about any deficiency.

Confer with an attorney with all of the details. Bankruptcy appears to be an option, but you want you best option.

Yes, its an option. I would meet with a lawyer face-to-face to get all your questions answered. Good luck!