[Hemingway's Ghost]

So would you have been living somewhere else for free?

Only if I were lucky or very wealthy.

So we agree: unless you were reimbursed the mortgage payments you made up until you walked away from your mortgage, you don't "lose nothing" when you walk away from your mortgage. You lose something.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Only if you could have lived somewhere for free.

If you could live somewhere for free, why would you buy a house in the first place?

If it would have cost you more to rent than you were making in house payments, you came out ahead.

I have always put down 20% or more, and my payments were always less than rent would have been.