As adjustable rate mortgage loans continue to reset and housing values fall, more and more people are deciding to walk away from their properties. But I wondered, how wide spread could this be?
Well, celebrity Jose Canseco has walked away from his $2.5 million, 7300-square foot home in Southern California!!! Consider the quote from the article from AJC.com on the subject:
Jose Canseco, the former AL MVP who made millions during his baseball career, has had his home foreclosed.
Canseco told the syndicated TV show “Inside Edition” that he walked away from his $2.5 million, 7,300-square foot home in suburban Encino because it didn’t make sense to continue making payments.
“I do have a judgment on my home and it to me is very strange because it didn’t make financial sense for me to keep paying a mortgage on a home that was basically owned by someone else,” he said in an interview that aired Thursday
What do I do now?
The "Ideas" thread has gotten pretty long, [Sometime I’ll get around to starting a new one.] so when I get a good comment like this on it, I think it’s worth a post. hpylori2 asks:
I would love ideas from the group…I (my wife included)made a huge mistake and moved to Miami December of 2006 and bought a house. We hated it and moved back to Denver (I would prvide more sordid details about the whole process but it would serve no purpose)…Given the housing slump, I cannot sell the house and I cannot afford to continue paying my mortgage…what would you do in my situation?
I thought is was a great question, worth of discussion. Please be kind here- it sounds like hpylori2 wants to do the right thing, so let’s work off of that assumption.
So Doomers, what do you think?
Get someone to secure the property, call the mortgage holder and tell them you’re voluntarily surrendering the property and ask where to send the keys.
You should also send registered mail attesting to the surrender.
You must protect your family’s finances first and foremost. Don’t pay another penny of mortgage, insurance, taxes, maintenance fees, HOA fees, etc.
Just walk away. It’s not your problem anymore.
From what I can tell from my research thus far, the general consensus for people who are extremely under water in their homes seems to be walk away; whether they can afford to continue making the mortgage payments or not... Given this the next few years should be very interesting for the Banking Industry.
