[rpachigo]

Whether to walk away: Housing’s moral minefield - Las Vegas Sun

"Steve Schauer, a mortgage specialist with Flagship Financial Group, says that of all the upside-down homeowners he meets, about two-thirds say they’re abandoning their homes. The homeowners who opt to stay for moral reasons are the exception, he says."

[lyra33]

Originally Posted by rpachigo

Whether to walk away: Housing’s moral minefield - Las Vegas Sun

"Steve Schauer, a mortgage specialist with Flagship Financial Group, says that of all the upside-down homeowners he meets, about two-thirds say they’re abandoning their homes. The homeowners who opt to stay for moral reasons are the exception, he says."

It's sad. Responsibility is a dying virtue.

[olecapt]

Interesting article. Does not however really portray the question fully.

Say I know that my job will requre that I move within 3 years. Must I ride out that period paying twice as large a mortgage payment to then walkaway when my job moves?

Or the general case...if I am reasonably sure that I will eventually be forced into foreclosure does morality require I ride it out to the date when it must occur? Or can I take it now and minimize the damage?

Do I have a contract with my wife and children or others that is significantly damaged by maintaining my contract with the lender? Do we wish to suggestg that such unwritten contracts are not morally required to be honored?

If I cannot honor both how should it be decided what to do?


Say I bought two rentals at the peak through my RE LLC. Is it wrong for me to take the LLC into bankruptcy? Or the general question...is it immoral to set up an LLC that can be used to minimize the effect of business problems on my personal estate.

I personally believe it to be a contract with terms dealing with terminating it by various routes including non-payment. I don't see that taking an alternate termination route is unethical or immoral.

[skisickie]

I am upside down most of the time, why would I think my home has equity the day I bought it.
My home will loose money for years to come. But I am not walking away.

[aqualung8705]

What's really is sad are the "people" who walk away from their homes, and leave their pets behind, often with little to no food or water.

[Woody7]

Sad, never thought I'd live to see this. And to the people who would abandon pets, has being down mean You've lost Your humanity?

[RedRockAAAA]

Everyone in the report on, was it 60 minutes?, abandoned their responsibility; the borrower, the mortgage broker, the underwriter, the group that bought up the mortgages, the group that bundled the mortgages and the group that sold the bundled mortgages as derivitive intruments. Each pointed their fickled finger of fate at the rest.

The time to ask yourself if its moral to do something is before you get into it, not as you are pondering how to get out of it. Shame on everyone who participated in creating and perpetuating this mess. And shame on anyone who profited from it without checking their morals at the appropriate time.

[gulfer]

Probably a lot of 'moral' finger pointing to go around. I wonder if we could back track and see where all the people/company are that profited. First, who had the property to begin with (person, company, or BLM), then who bought that (person, home builder, or flipper), then who bought the house with the 'creative' financing?? The same person that earned 50K a year is the one that bought a 350K-400K house. Did they honestly think they could afford this house? Or where they earning 125K per year and lost their job? If someone or a family makes 100K per year, what do you think the maximum housing cost should be? A 3 to 1 ratio is what seems to be thrown out all the time for affordability. But you still won't be able to afford that if you have two new vehicle payments, a child or two in private school, etc... Living in your means, means exactly that.
Morality is the point, and mine is, if you don't think about living that far over your head, then you really don't give two shoots about walking away from your payment responsibilities. Wish I was wrong, but I don't think so on this one.

[aqualung8705]

I will eventually have to leave when they foreclose on my folks place, but I'd never leave the furkids behind. They eat before I do.

[airics]

Originally Posted by skisickie

I am upside down most of the time, why would I think my home has equity the day I bought it.
My home will loose money for years to come. But I am not walking away.

when did you buy your house?