A home lender takes a risk every time they lend someone money. A loan without risk does not exist. When you buy real estate the house is collateral for the money the lender gives you to purchase the house. The lender holds the title and you pay the carrying costs (eg property tax yadayada). Therefore, if for ANY reason as a home owner you do not wish to live in the house you can simply leave and the lender gets the house for good. This is (was) considered to be a fair and equitable arrangement. Now about your comment, in a free market the bank would be in big trouble if they made to many risky loans ( or bought too many investments related to bad loans) then their market cap might plummet and they might even go bankrupt. But in America the government have socialized irresponsible investing by the wealthy eg Bear Stearns, S&L, Fannie and Freddie, so the tax payer will bail them out. The intent is to make sure the banks have the liquidity to lend money again. So the banks are bailed out in the long run. But if you are some poor sucker who made a bad investment the government won’t be sending you some extra money so you can pay your mortgage, your income isn’t going up, maybe you or your wife lost their job. Why should you be a slave to the bank when you made a bad investment. Especially, when the loan is a fair and equitable COLLATERIZED loan. Send the lender your keys and move on. Life is too short to play slave. Rent or look for another house its not the end of the world.
