Comments on: It is wrong to walk away from your mortgage?

By: Marsha

Marsha — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 14:32:42 +0000

DG, I sooo agree with you! My situation has the added issue of a decrease in income for several reasons — all of which I feel were not of my own doing. After Hurricane Katrina, my family had to make tough choices in order to maintain some normalcy for my children; the end result was when we finally returned to New Orleans, my old job was no longer available. Jobs for 52-year old female attorneys in New Orleans are almost non-existent. I’ve been underemployed since.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 03:14:27 +0000

Homeowners in AZ

My wife and I have no credit but our house. We have never financed anything else we own (cars, computers, tvs, etc.)

We bought a house when the market was only about halfway down at 5.75% in 3/08. In six months, our home lost 60K in equity. Two years later, our friends 8 houses down bought the same house for just over 50% of the price with 1.5% lower interest rate.

Our mortgage is only 18% of our income, but we are paying way above market value. We bought for 165K and it is now worth 63K! We did not do anything that wasn’t modest. We bought the house we could easily afford at time. No 2nd mortgages, no HELOC, paid extra on principal about five times in three years.

We can easily pay for our house but feel extremely wronged in terms of the market. BOA refuses to even talk to me unless I’m delinquent for months.

We feel penalized for doing everything right and, as a capitalist, I feel like I am contributing to the necessary market correction by “buying and bailing” as we can easily approve for a second mortgage at 50% of our current price in house that is the same size.

I am a believing Christian that struggles, but I don’t really feel guilty about this. I think the moral obligation argument is convoluted. As a steward, I wouldn’t stay in a bad investment and watch it lose money. My home is a bad asset. I feel kind of like a fool to try and pay it off.

Any thoughts?

By: GMAC

GMAC — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 22:44:37 +0000

If the home owner was not duped or tricked in any way and obtained the home loan in good faith then I think it would be morally wrong away to walk from your mortgage. That’s akin to saying that you can walk away from anything at any point just because it’s not going the way you expected it to.

By: San Diego New Homes

San Diego New Homes — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:54:50 +0000

When you get a mortgage you’re in legal contract and obligated to make payments. I feel that it is wrong to walk away just because your home lost value. Even if you need to get a second job; you gotta do what you gotta do.

By: chris

chris — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 01:06:23 +0000

What is the practical diff. between bankruptcy and walk away?
If I agree to take an asset from someone and pay time payments on it,then let them keep all the payments, and give them back the asset, it seems they got a double benefit.I gave them money and an asset.
They had their Billion dollar computers calculating only the best for them.
It was all factored in.( a possible return of their asset)
To be indebted for 30 years is not really Biblical.
Lets say a person commits bankruptcy.(biblical via jubilee and legal) this is really the same , except BK lawyers and courts get a cut.

By: MJ

MJ — Mon, 29 Nov 2010 21:54:33 +0000

?: Is it right to ever have any loans? Or Contracts, cell or other… Promises made..when I dont even know if I’ll take my next breath? Owe no man…
Where does it say you can have a house loan? Or a two year contract to have a cell phone? Is it a NEED or want…? The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want……I would like info on this from those who feel they know it to be true according to Gods word to be indebted to another, in signed promises…and purposely enslaving ourselves… I appreciate all replies.

By: Ellen Lewis

Ellen Lewis — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 03:07:48 +0000

A mortgage is a loan secured by the property. If the buyer defaults the lender gets the property. If it is immoral for a home buyer to walk away, where is the morality of the lenders when immoral lending practices artificially inflated home prices in 2004-2008? If an underwater homeowner has a job opportunity in another city that would support his family should he pass it up because he needs to stay and pay that mortgage? If an underwater homeowner needs to care for an aging parent -should he neglect that duty because he needs to stay and pay that mortgage? For every underwater homeowner there is a different story.
Some very savvy, intelligent people bought homes during the boom – not expecting great appreciation but wanting a good place to raise families, a good school district, a shorter commute to the job. Mortgage companies aggressively marketed loans and had appraisers who would appraise for whatever the offer price was. So, should all the folks who bought a home during that period be obligated to stay in those homes- forgoing all other opportunities, not starting new businesses, not having more children, not making decisions that help their families, just because they need to pay that mortgage, hoping that some day the home will be worth the loan amount? If the loan servicing companies would roll back the loan amounts to the current market value (the real values – not inflated by CDOs and derivaties) the housing market would recover rapidly. People who could afford to be homeowners could buy homes and those that could not would go back to renting. Until the banks and loan servicing companies seriously start using principal reduction we will remain in a housing depression and we can expect to see our neighbors lose their homes to foreclosure for years to come.

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By: me

me — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 23:44:58 +0000

wake up christian values, my family is suffering under my mortage, i quit walk away, better for my family

By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:45:03 +0000

I don’t understand WHY they bought it in the first place! I mean… look at it, it’s a shack. There is no homemade way in heck that it was ever worth anything like $300,000. I wouldn’t give ya $60,000 for it. Horse sense should have told them that.
They made a BAD buy!
It was stupid, and now they’re stuck on stupid, getting deeper and deeper in the mire of a bad decision.
Rule One: Don’t bit off more than you can chew!! and it’s up to YOU, and nobody else, not to get yourself into a mess.