That isn't how it's working out for thousands (maybe millions) of homeowners who've defaulted, either strategically or because they lost their job and simply can't afford to keep paying for a mortgage on a house worth tens or hundreds of thousands less than they paid for it. Banks are foreclosing at an unprecedented rate, and even sometimes doing so on homes of people who haven't actually missed a payment.
My parents neighborhood is now about 20% uninhabited, because of bank foreclosures. My parents are $70k+ in the hole on their house, purchased during the peak of the boom, and it would never cross their minds to default on a debt. $70k is a pretty devastating economic hit to a middle class couple, now living on savings and Social Security.
It's easy for folks not impacted by the economic meltdown (like those of us in the tech industry) to make light of the very real pain a lot of lower income and middle class home owners are going through right now. But, the reality is that people are being screwed left and right by the very banks that caused the crisis.
We need a google map which people can submit addresses to that have been foreclosed on. This will show the foreclosure rate in a way I would trust more than what the banks may be reporting.
This isn't isolated, it is a systemic problem in the banking industry right now, created by reckless (and illegal) business practices on the part of the major banks and mortgage companies.
My parents neighborhood is now about 20% uninhabited, because of bank foreclosures. My parents are $70k+ in the hole on their house, purchased during the peak of the boom, and it would never cross their minds to default on a debt. $70k is a pretty devastating economic hit to a middle class couple, now living on savings and Social Security.
It's easy for folks not impacted by the economic meltdown (like those of us in the tech industry) to make light of the very real pain a lot of lower income and middle class home owners are going through right now. But, the reality is that people are being screwed left and right by the very banks that caused the crisis.