Introduction Post

December 15, 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

Filed under: foreclosure,walkawaytoday.org

Tags: default, lenders, mortgage