I posted this yesterday, a note from a reader who weighed in on the idea of walking away from a burdensome mortgage. That reader identified a moral obligation to sticking it out, even in an underwater situation.
But here’s a different perspective on the same question, from another reader, SK, this morning:
I have a dear friend who just made the decision to foreclose (she lives in Chula Vista in a big, beautiful 2 storey home) under great duress, as her husband of many years had made bad financial decisions and pulled nearly all the equity out of the home to prop up his contracting business. She’s devastated.
After many months of trying to find some way, any way, of keeping her home (she had, by this time, divorced her husband) she made the gut wrenching decision to walk away and find a rental that she could afford. This did not come easy to her, as she is an honorable woman.
Although different, the emotions are the same between the issues that both my friend and “Mr. Honor” of the article face. If my friend were to read this article, it would bring her again to the brink of depression.
SK also disagreed with the perspective of yesterday’s reader (whom SK assumed was male), that it’s honorable to stick it out in a mortgage just because it’s a contract. In the post yesterday, that reader said the mortgage broker lied at the time of purchase. Here’s more from SK:
Well, it takes two to tango, and if he wants to carry the cross for the sharks that shafted him, I’m sure they’re laughing all the way to the bank while he continues to suffer and whine because he wants to set some sort of example — but to whom? …
I asked my friend not to buy into this claptrap mindset. Although his situation isn’t her particular situation, I didn’t want one iota of that type of thinking to creep into her, yes, honorable, sweet mind. It’s called “smart survival,” and she is doing the right thing under circumstances that were NOT of her making.
You’ve been responding in droves on this topic; I’ve received a ton of mail on yesterday’s post in Survival or on this related story today. Check out these thoughts from another reader in our Letters section. This is a discussion worth having, don’t you agree?
Click my name below to share your thoughts. Or you cansend a letter to the editor.