Melanie,
We bought our house in northern Maryland in Sept 2005 and put it on the market last June... that didn't go well. We only had it on the market for 6 months, but during that 6 months the housing market went from not great to horrible. We only had about 3 showings in that 6 month period; no offers, no return visits, nothing. At our open house, only one person showed up, and it was another realtor.
We had bought it for $380,000, and we really couldn't list it a whole lot lower than that since we had only had it for 2 years. Our realtor's suggestion was to try a short sale, but what a pain that is!
Since we're still in the house and hating the commute (70 miles one way every day, both of us), we're looking to try to put it on the rental market starting next month... we're looking to try to rent it out for $1600 a month. However, our mortgage is $2800 a month, so we'll be eating a lot of that.
But what are our options? Continue to have a 140-mile roundtrip commute every day and not have a life (not appealing at all) or move away and stop paying our mortgage (not something I feel comfortable with, and it would cause problems at work since DH and I have security clearances that consider financial instability a major red flag).
I'm not sure what state you're in, but the marked in Maryland has just completely bitten the dust.
I feel so deeply for you, being caught in that situation, with no end in sight. I wouldn't blame you for stopping your mortgage on your first house... what are your options? You can't be expected to pay two mortgages forever... that's just totally unreasonable.
Poor Mel.

I hope it either looks up soon, or that extracating yourself from your first mortgage doesn't totally screw up your credit, etc. Please keep us in the loop, and I'll be praying for you.
MC