When David Martin and his wife bought their north Seattle condo five years ago, they figured they had plenty of time to downsize if they needed to before they retired.
Now, with the property worth roughly $60,000 less than the balance of their mortgage, Martin, 68, has been giving serious thought to just walking away, a process lenders call "strategic default."
"Guilt and morality are one side, and objective financial analysis are on the other side," Martin said. "They're coming to two opposite conclusions. I wonder how many other people are struggling with the same question."
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2 comments:
More and more people are facing this financial tug-a-war as property values continue to fall in many parts of the country. When facing the simple fact that you may not live long enough to get back to even...it becomes a business option. IMAO until the housing industry starts to improve the economy will not recover. Housing covers all aspects of the employment spectrum. Blue & white collar...professional and labor. The administration must address this issue or we will remain stuck in the ditch!
I don't understand these people doing this!
IF you have an "affordable" mortgage, you still have a roof over your head that is YOURS!
Our homes value has dropped too, but because we were smart and didn't buy a house that buried us with the payment, we'd never consider walking away from it. It's OUR home. We're not paying RENT to some slum lord or worse.
Sounds like to me the REAL bottom line here is these are the people who fell for the fake bubble and bit off more than they could chew and now they're finding themselves in real trouble. Instead of admitting they messed up, they want to blame it on property values.
What's the TRUTH?
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