[whitedog57]

I agree with Schiff. Whether you hate it or not, it makes little economic sense to keep paying on your mortgage when you are $200K upside down. Hence, that is why servicers have to be more aggressive in terms of lowering principal mods.

American Airlines and other companies restructure their debt to avoid bankruptcy. They are hailed for making attempts at avoiding bankruptcy. But if a homeowner tries to restructure their debt, Freepers and others make them seem like pedophiles. Why the different standards? THE BANKS KNEW OF THIS POSSIBILILTY, YET MANY REFUSE TO RESTRUCTURE EVEN IF IT LOWERS COSTS TO THEM! Why? Litigation, pure and simple. A confession that they knew that things could collapse.

Yes, bad people are “let off the hook.” But if we don’t do something, then we are in for a nightmare going forward.

[BGHater]

‘homeowner’

They wouldn’t need help on the mortgage if they ‘owned’ the home.

It’s not ‘their’ home.

[Oldexpat]

There are a lot of people in CA who refinanced at the height and walked away with a lot of cash..and know very well that they could not afford the payments. They weren’t taken..the bank and them took the investors in the mortgage backed securities. We have a friend doing this kind of foreclosurer every day..and the owners are savvy..not dumb.
They know they made out like bandits and they milked it for all it was worth.
All this is just going to undermine the mortgage business in the future and make it more expensive for everyone to get a loan..but mostly the honest conservative.

[nicola_tesla]

Exactly ! Efficient breech - it’s a business decision, not a moral judgment on you.

None of us have control over future circumstances. It’s why you sign a contract, and why there’s contract law to enforce remedies.

It’s a business decision, and your household is a business.

[org.whodat]

But if a homeowner tries to restructure their debt, Freepers and others make them seem like pedophiles.

What, no one cares if you restructure you debt. They just don't want to pay for it!

[thirst4truth]

I am in the RE business. The repo's we are getting from the banks are way less than the purchase price. We have pleaded with the lenders to not adjust to the higher interest rates on these buyers, they refuse to listen. We encourage a Notice of Default homeowner to call and renegotiate, the banks will not do it. So they get the property back after 6 months of no payments, then it sits for another three months while they push papers around and finally list it. It is always thousands less than the purchase price, and all they had to do is re negotiate the loan with a smaller interest rate and the homeowner could stay.

I haven't met one homeowner or agent yet who even has heard of a bank re negotiating an interest rate.