[airics]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Color me dumbfounded. It almost sounds like you're proud. "Hey people, I gamed the system with zero consequences!"

That might not be how you feel. But the post sure reads that way.

I read it the same way.

[KrazeeKrewe]

Originally Posted by David702

Thanks Kalbo, I'll make sure to tell my 8 month, 3 year old and my wife that.

Make sure you let your family know how you stole from us to let them live beyond their means by taking from the rest of us who work hard & live below our means.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by David702

Wow, i had no idea how many people read my thread.

Well, another update, it's been about 18 months since the short sale was final and I've been told that I can get a loan to purchase another house (depends on bank), which I'm not interested in right now.

Things are looking good, was able to save a little bit of money from my job for a down payment.
There Is Life After Your Short Sale (http://www.kaperproperties.com/LifeAfter.htm - broken link)

BTW, my FICO score is now 715.

Good for you. Sorry, but I have looked at this from different angles now, and I can't fault you for doing what the banks do to their own creditors, or how businesses handle losses. If you were running a corporation and one of your factories was losing money, and there wasn't any other fix, you would shut it down and let the creditors repossess everything as business owners do every day, and have done since the beginning of time. When we are getting all pious about someone cutting his losses with banks, let us not forget that it's what banks themselves do all the time. And, after all, it was banks that created the current financial mess.

[Atlas1337]

Anyone who doesn't walk away from a severely underwater house is an idiot. In fact, if you don't first stop making payments and live in it rent-free for as long as possible, you're an idiot.

If you think you owe something to the banks or 'society', just remember you're the horse from Animal Farm -- the sucker.

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by David702

My plan is to stay here mortgage free until the bank kicks me out and save what i can.

Anyone know how long this process takes? I heard up to 9 Months.

I won't say you'll be in "good" company, but many and more people are going this route. Depending on the foreclosure backlog, it is taking up to two years in some areas. Two years free rent amounts to more than most Americans have saved for retirement in their entire lives, so it's about as lucrative as robbing a bank with a pistol, about as immoral, but much safer physically, and you won't get a felony conviction. Our government and financial institutions have given us the example of "if it's legal or unenforceable, it's OK to steal and cheat". Payback is hell. BTW, while you're at it, move your bank account to a credit union.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by Atlas1337

Anyone who doesn't walk away from a severely underwater house is an idiot. In fact, if you don't first stop making payments and live in it rent-free for as long as possible, you're an idiot.

If you think you owe something to the banks or 'society', just remember you're the horse from Animal Farm -- the sucker.

Amen.

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by KrazeeKrewe

Make sure you let your family know how you stole from us to let them live beyond their means by taking from the rest of us who work hard & live below our means.

I absolutely understand how you feel. Our society will never be the same after all of this.

[gburke1]

My view on this is pretty simple... the banks and government had to know there was some kind of 'bubble' going on.

The average person that buys a house isn't going to be following real estate enough to know if there is a housing 'bubble' ... so they buy the house and expect it to hold it's value or maybe slightly appreciate over time.

Instead the housing bubble collapsed and the value of their homes nosedived, sometimes cut in half, or much worse in some cases.

I don't blame anyone who would walk away from their mortgage in that kind of situation, regardless of whether they can afford the mortgage or not, the fact the value of their house took a dump isn't their fault. The blame there lies with both the government and banks for allowing the mess to be created in the first place.

I think it would be very unwise to keep paying (just as an example) a $250,000 mortage if your house is worth even $30,000 less than you owe on it, let alone some of the bad cases where the value has been cut in half or worse.

I feel sorry for some of the smaller banks that might not have had as much of an idea what was going on and the people on the lower end of the totem pole that are badly effected by this, but there are many more people that got screwed by buying houses than there are bank employees...

I understand some people feel a moral obligation to pay the mortgage they agreed to, but keep in mind when you bought the house in the first place the bank already played you for a sucker once since they knew houses were overpriced... so why keep paying the mortgage and let them play you for a sucker twice? Sure, there are people out there who probably bought houses they knew they really couldn't afford... but there are plenty of situations where people lost their job and had months of savings but could not find another job in time to continue paying. I don't think most people would knowingly buy a house they could not afford.

You can get a better deal and the bank doesn't totally lose out if they are willing to work with you... I don't see anything morally wrong with that, and if they don't work with you, walk away and they can have the house and they still aren't left with nothing.

Who do you think it hurts more in this situation when the house is worth half what it was originally... the bank or a family...? And who was more at fault for this mess happening in the first place?

In the meantime the banks hopefully have learned a lesson of what NOT to do so this situation never repeats itself.

[Atlas1337]

The worst part of all this is that by bailing the banks out, the Govt took away any chance of homeowners getting relief. Had the banks failed, their mortgage assets would have been sold off during liquidation, and the new owners would of been eager to renegotiate terms with the homeowners since they would have paid pennies on the dollar for the mortgages.

So by bailing out the banks, the Govt not only benefited the banks but simultaneously hurt average Americans. The folks in Washington DC are geniuses!

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by Atlas1337

So by bailing out the banks, the Govt not only benefited the banks but simultaneously hurt average Americans. The folks in Washington DC are geniuses!

Yeah, aren't they...