Without knowing the balance of your loan here’s how I look at it :
Suppose you bought with 10% down.
In that case you would owe somewhere around 760-770K.
Suppose you could sell now for 650K, minus selling costs/commission yields 605K.
So, you come up with 160K out of pocket to sell.
Is that the best use of 160K ?
By spending that 160K now, you may potentially save another 100-150K. OR you could use that 160K to make other investments, or as an emergency cushion to carry you through any unforeseen circumstances.
You have to weigh the opportunity cost of the money you would spend to sell your house against the protection from further downside you are buying.
(And by the way, assuming you did not refinance, you already have protection under the state of CA recourse laws.)
