Would you guys please tell this poor guy what FB is! 🙂
DJNinSD,
I am sorry that you have to deal with this now, especially at this stage in your life. Most people who bought in the past few years didn’t expect that there home value was going to drop, especially not as much as it already has and will in the next couple of years. But the reality is that values have dropped and will continue. Walking away from your mortgage is a big deal. There are some serious things to consider: how will this effect my credit and how will I feel about myself after I do it. A bad credit score can leak out into other parts of your life: new employment opportunities, credit card rates,who will rent to you, and insurance. It may also effect the type of school loans your daughter can get for college ( you should check this out, I am just speculating). A high level engineer friend of my husband recent had to have his credit checked by his employer of 10 years because they had just begun a new policy to check the credit for job candidates and thought that it would only be fair to require a background check of all the current employees. Apparently one employee had some serious credit issues plus a federal tax lien. Due to his credit issues some of his dutites were taken away and he was put into a different position. I am not sure if his salary was lowered, but it certainly was an issue and very embarassing.
The posters on her are correct that you do have the right to walk from your mortgage. And I can understand your frustration and anger. I suggest you look at all the consequences, beyond just not living in that house or being able to buy another for a long time. So people on this site believe that it will be “vogue” to have a foreclosure on your credit and that in a few years it won’t be such a big deal. Perhaps they are right, but you can’t be sure…there could be a chance that you won’t be a homeowner again for many, many years. or that the interst rate you can get is so high that it just doesn’t make sense.
You need to take a hard look at this option from all angles, not just the obvious financial savings you would get from walking from your mortgage.