I am certain given the resources to pay a mortgage nearly 100% would do so even if the property was underwater temporarily.
I believe most folks that would actually walk away do not have the sustainable income to continue making payments (stated income loans?).
I would personally like to see many of these people prosecuted for lying on their loan docs (Amway biz making $200K etc), but the press presents them as losers, and I can see in a world where we were all told by loser Realtors we need to get in now or be priced out forever, and how the price would go up and we could “just refinance” and take the profit and send the kids to college.. There were few advocates questioning this behavior and questioning why these false and misleading sales pitches were advocated by various realtor associations…
