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Showing posts from July, 2008

Walking Away from Your Mortgage

You aren't smarter than the market. It really is that simple. The BBC has a story about how home owners who find themselves under water, owning more on their house than it is worth, are simply walking away. In most states, they have no obligation beyond what the bank gets from foreclosure. The result is that people who can still afford the payment are making a business decision to simply let the bank take the loss. Housing prices are continuing to fall. There are some predictions that the ultimate floor on prices may be less than 50% of a home's peak value during the bubble. That means even people who bought with hefty down payments may find themselves owing more than they own. In addition, the premium for owning your own home over the cost of renting went up with the bubble and still hasn't come down again. So in many places, most people who own could rent some place similar for less money. So does walking away make sense? If you look at it as purely a financial decisio