I know a couple of folks who have walked because, essentially, they had to. Job(s) lost, couldn’t make the payments, had to do it.
I don’t know of anyone who could afford to make their mortgage payments and simply chose to walk away, although clearly there’s a lot of these folks out there.
My personal opinion on this is that if you can’t afford to make your payments (job loss or whatever), then you should ditch it and hit the bricks with few regrets. (That’s what companies do when they CAN’T service their debts – they declare bankruptcy and either liquidate or restructure.)
However… if someone can afford to make their payments and simply doesn’t like the decision they made… well, that person should stick it out, in my view. I realize that it’s popular to say, “Well, it’s a BUSINESS decision – businesses do it all the time, so it’s o.k.” That’s true, but… as I noted above, 99% of the time when a BUSINESS, in effect, “walks away” (re: doesn’t pay its debt), it’s because it CAN’T make the payments, not because it woke up and said, “Pesky bankers and bondholders… I think I want a better deal so I just won’t pay them.” So, this “it’s just a business decision” meme – while technically true – doesn’t translate well when looking at the issue vis-a-vis each party’s ABILITY to pay (as opposed to its WILLINGNESS to pay).
Whether you’re a business or an individual and you just decide that you don’t want to pay your debts because you don’t feel like it, well, you’re a dirtbag. Much like a renter who decides to stop paying rent (even though he’s capable of paying it) because he knows that the eviction process (re: the law) takes months and just decides to milk the situation because, well, he can. (“Hey, the law says the landlord can kick me out, so good luck with that Mr. Landlord!”)
