Some upside down homeowners in Deschutes County have a rare opportunity to "short sell" to themselves and stay in their homes. Bend real estate agent Kip Lohr does about 80 short sales a year and says this new federal program is being piloted in Deschutes and Jackson counties.  "I think that's a program that has promise. There's funds that have been allocated to the State of Oregon to help people and I think that is the only one out there I see that has a chance of impacting a lot of people here in Central Oregon." Lohr says there was a soft launch of the program in January and the agency ran into a few problems so they had to suspend applications for a few weeks. But now they are planning to officially launch it. The 'Loan Refinance Assistance Pilot Project ‘ is backed by federal dollars and allocated to the state as part of the federal "Hardest Hit" program.