We had a house in Chino Hills....went way up, then down a little, then we sold it and next year price was WAY below what we sold it for, then over the years it went up and down and was up as much as $500,000 MORE than we paid for it and $50,000.00 LESS than we paid for it!
I DOUBT if any owner walked away....Calif. was always like this. It;s DISGUSTING that people walk away when they can pay!!! DISGUSTING!
My 3 problems with getting so exercised over it are...
1: if this is so disgusting, then...bailing out thieving bankers is at least as disgusting. As is having your taxes and fees raised relentlessly to aid whole new classes of government-dependent workers and welfare recipients. As is having your taxes raised to support an administration so viciously pro-abortion (if that happens to be a hot button for you) and anti-freedom and anti-Israel and anti-Constitution.
2: it’s making an emotionally-charged decision
3: it potentially places you in a situation of serious emotional stress; not just from the financial standpoint, but from the standpoint of realizing that we, as a society, have become seriously debased in terms of honesty and fair dealing, like it or not. I find that as disgusting as you do. But it’s also a source of stress to judge (almost) everyone else a crook and place yourself upon a pedestal of moral superiority. To be clear, I am NOT saying “it’s OK because everyone else is doing it”. I am saying: Be selfish and consider your own health and sanity and price you may well pay for sticking to your guns, admirable as they may be. Is there a difference? Maybe not. Maybe if you take 15 years off your life stressing yourself out over a pile of wood and wire and pipe, that isn’t so good either.
Having never received a dime of government aid in the form of welfare or unemployment bennies, other than the normal tax breaks to which everyone is entitled, I support and applaud your stance of honoring ones’ agreements, and in the overwhelming majority of cases I act from that standpoint as well. But that mortgage agreement also includes a remedy for the lender as discussed in prior posts and which is no secret.
I just don’t support making this decision within a single dimension of thinking.