He wanted to talk the loss but after speaking to an RE agent the guy told him not to and do the short sale. The RE is now driving his decisions which IMO is crazy. He took the banks advice and stopped payment.
He did try to find work here but after 4 months nothing happened. His old company in Phoenix ask him to go back with a raise so he did that after exhasting his options here.
Most of you know that the job market in SD sucks donkey testicles right now.