Happy Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa/Festivus/Solstice/Darwin Day – whatever, we at WalkAwayToday.org don’t judge. 
Just so you know: We’re down to a skeleton staff over the holidays so we can be with our families & loved ones. This doesn’t mean we won’t get back to your calls & emails promptly, but be patient – egg-nog makes us sluggish.
Also: The web-page that past sellers use to track the status of their homes is down. Sorry about that. IT department assures us it should be back up by New Year’s Day.
Again: Happy Holidays. Whether or not you decide to sell your home to us, we wish you the very best this season.
- Paul Hayden
Contact me if you’d like to sell your home:
paul@walkawaytoday.org
(206) 973-3209
December 21, 2011
Hi. My name is Paul Hayden – I’m a councilor with WalkAwayToday.org.
(WAT for short)
I’ve been asked to blog on mortgage-related topics. While I believe WalkAwayToday.org to be the best option for folks being crushed by house-payments in homes worth far less than what they owe, we will explore other options as well. I also plan to write about what I’ve learned about the banking industry as well as share some of my client’s experiences with lenders.
By and large I hope to convey one over-riding message: If you’re suffering from mortgage problems – you aren’t alone. There is nothing wrong with you personally, professionally, or morally. Furthermore, there are options available to you.
To get us started – I’d like to share with you an interesting article from the New Yorker. It neatly sums up the attitude many mortgage companies have toward their customers: “Do as we say, not as we do.”
Living By Default
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2011/12/19/111219ta_talk_surowiecki
The bursting of the housing bubble has left millions of homeowners across the country owing more than their homes are worth. In some areas, well over half of mortgages are underwater, many so deeply that people owe forty or fifty per cent more than the value of their homes. In other words, a good percentage of Americans are in much the same position as American Airlines: they can still pay their debts, but doing so is like setting a pile of money on fire every month.
These people have no hope of ever making a return on their investment in their homes. So for many of them the rational solution would be a “strategic default”—walking away from the mortgage and letting the bank take the house. Yet the vast majority of underwater borrowers keep faithfully paying their mortgages; studies suggest that perhaps only a quarter of all foreclosures are strategic. Given how much housing prices have fallen, the question is why more people aren’t just walking away.
- paul
Contact me if you’d like to WalkAway:
paul@walkawaytoday.org
(206) 973-3209
December 15, 2011