Do you know anyone who is walking away from a mortgage?

I read in a Seattle newspaper yesterday about how many people are walking away from mortgages that are under water. Looks like more and more people are doing this because it makes financial good sense.Do you know anyone who is walking away from a mortgage?
Sadly, one of my own neighbor's up the street did exactly that and everyone in the neighborhood took a significant hit on our home values as a result. In fact, our local newspaper reported last week that in our state of CA, there are 250,000 homeowners who are presently in default and poised for foreclosure. So, I am certain there are more to come, we just don't know who they are yet.Do you know anyone who is walking away from a mortgage?
Some people assume that they can just walk away from a mortgage even though they have the ability to pay the mortgage without any consequences just because it is underwater.





First their credit always gets trashed. Some assume that they can give the bank a ';deed in lieu of foreclosure'; but the lender will not accept that unless the person is already in default and the bank is 100% sure that the person cannot possibly make the payments.





Then if the person had previously refinanced the mortgage or took out a HELOC, he is later surprised to learn that he is being sued by the lender since those types of loans are recourse loans.





Finally he may get a further surprise when he finds out that he has to pay income taxes on a HELOC that may have been forgiven. HELOCs are usually not covered by the ';Debt Forgiveness Act of 2007';.
Well, this is confusing. There are some very bad people out there are who looting the house (taking cabinets, applicances, etc) and disappearing in the middle of the night. That's not cool. Then there are people who can't afford the home and are vacating before they get evicted due to a foreclosure. If that's what you're calling ';walking away';, then yes, I know a few people. I mean, would you rather walk out on your own terms, or have a Sheriff come escort you out? If you don't have the money, what else can you do?
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