Alana Semuels at the LA Times has an interesting article on how more individuals are opting to walk-away from their mortgages:
Joseph Shull, a 68-year-old marketing professor, said he’s planning to walk away from the town house he bought in Moorpark in June 2006.
“I’m angry, and there are a lot of people like me who are angry,” he said.
He purchased the home for $410,000 and spent $30,000 renovating. Now the house is worth around $225,000.
Shull admits he overpaid for his property. But he said it fell in value in part because of “regulatory mismanagement.”
“The bank stabbed me, but at least I got in a pinprick back,” he said. “This is the new economy. The old rules don’t apply any more.”
So he made a promise to pay the bank back, it didn’t work out for him, so he is not responsible … hmm … he is a college professor? What is he teaching? Economics? Better yet, ethics?