Fannie Mae recently announced that it plans to punish people who strategically default on their mortgages.  This announcement was met with skepticism by some housing and lending experts.
It’s difficult to blame Fannie Mae for being nervous about people walking away from their mortgages when strategic default is being regularly reported on in the news:
Owners [...]

Last night, on 60 Minutes, there was a segment about people strategically defaulting on their mortgages. Watch the video to gain some insight into why people are doing it, and how they struggled with deciding whether they should do it.

The New York Times recently posted this article about CitiMortgage testing out a deed in lieu of foreclosure program in New Jersey, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio. According to the article, this new program “is similar to one announced last fall by Fannie Mae, the government-controlled mortgage company. Fannie is allowing homeowners to return [...]

As I discussed in my posts about the different options for homeowners in “underwater” mortgages, Minnesota allows for deficiency judgments in some cases. See Minn. Stat. § 582.30. CNN recently posted this article about mortgage lenders pursuing deficiency judgments. These deficiency judgments have caused people to have to file for bankruptcy, even after they thought [...]

If you are struggling to pay your mortgage due to a job loss or transfer, illness, or change in life circumstances (such as a divorce), you may not be able to save your house. When the housing market was in better shape, people used to be able to easily sell their houses when these situations [...]