I’ve about talked this topic to death, but here’s my 2 cents:

I believe in personal responsibility and the sum of individual actions affecting the whole. However, people will always look out for #1. In most cases, that means they will choose to foreclose if it benefits them in the short term or the long term. Most people will consider their social and contractual obligations LAST over how they can “get out of” a bad choice they made…or just hurt feelings about “lost money” in equity.

Blame the banks, blame your neighbor, whoever else you want…it all comes down to looking out for your best interests. And that, my friends, is human nature…

What would I do? Eh…don’t really know…I still rent.
.-= Wojciech Kulicki´s last blog ..Socially Responsible Investment and an Improving Market =-.

Of course, the banks DO get plenty of blame here, after all, it was their aggressive, accomodating lending that made it possible for people to purchase a property for several times a buyers annual income, and to do so with just a few thousand up front. Who didn’t see this coming???
.-= Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last blog ..Why It Might Be Better to OWE on Your State Income Tax Return =-.

Wojciech’s comment hit at the same time as mine, and I have some thoughts on it…

Wojciech–I agree with what you say, but I think what we’re seeing is the herd mentality playing out. People flocked to get in on the impossibly good deal of buying, now they’re flocking to get out of what’s turned out to be, in hindsight only, a certified nightmare.

This is the very definition of a mania! Mindless entry to the game, followed by a desperate lunge for the door on the back end. I’m not justifying what anyone is doing, I’m only pointing out that we gain courage and cover when we’re moving with a crowd. Only four years ago, walking away on “The American Dream” was viewed like the scarlett letter–now it’s the new in-thing.

As much as we like to pat ourselves on our collective backs for our “brilliant” knowledge and technology, we still have more in common with lemmings than we’re comfortable admitting.
.-= Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last blog ..Why It Might Be Better to OWE on Your State Income Tax Return =-.

Although I wanted to move I couldn’t afford to come up with the extra money I would have needed to pay the bank. So I sucked it up and made the best of a bad situation until I could finally sell the house in 1997 without me taking a loss.

A lot of you are probably saying I’m a sucker. Maybe so, but I felt at the time – and still feel to this day – that the strategic default is unethical and it reflects poorly on an individual’s character. (That ought to tick off a few people.)

Being upside down on a house isn’t the end of the world. You still get use of the house, for example.

I’ll argue that most people who have no problem with the strategic default also buy in to the entitlement mentality that currently pervades this country: “I bought a home and therefore I am entitled to make an immediate profit off that home.” Those that don’t end up feeling as if they were “misled” by the banks that loaned them the money – which justifies screwing the banks.

Total BS.

Thanks for the comments, Kevin and Wojo!

It really IS the new “in” thing to foreclose. I wrote on my blog a few weeks back that many people wear it as a “badge of honor,” as if they’ve been to some war zone and back and emerged bruised, but alive. They seek out others who have been through the same experience to create camaraderie.

Seems like the right way to go is always AWAY from what everyone else is doing…

So if everyone is buying up these cheap houses right now, are we too late? Or too early? Hmm…
.-= Wojciech Kulicki´s last blog ..Somebody, Please Take My Money =-.

The U.S. strikes me as very unique in our foreclosure process…can anyone speak to how things are in the rest of the world? From what I have heard, it’s much harder to just “walk away” from your loan obligations in other countries.
.-= Wojciech Kulicki´s last blog ..Baby Expense Report: Month 2 =-.

I don’t look down upon him for doing what he did. He did what was best for his family and he learned from his mistake. So, I guess I am saying that it just depends on the situation. If you are just tired of making the payments and just not getting anywhere, suck it up and make the payments. Don’t walk away just because it’s easy. But if handing over the keys is the last resort to protect your family, by all means.

P.S. You need the subscribe to comments plug-in!
.-= Adam´s last blog ..Packing Lunch For Work Just Got Easier =-.

This is the pain you have to suffer when you borrow too much to play musical chairs and the music stops

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