Walk Away Or Pay That Mortgage? The Pros And The Cons
During the real estate boom, a lot of homebuyers extended themselves financially to buy a house that may have been beyond their means. With the market on fire, people were likely to purchase the house with low introductory interest rates and interest-only loans. They believed that their income would increase to meet their payments and predicted that real estate prices would never fall. Unfortunately, adjustable-rate mortgages have adjusted and monthly mortgage payments have gone up. Couple that with the fact that income hasn’t increased, and you will see why more people have fallen behind with their mortgage payments.
With house prices falling and interest-only mortgages decline, many homeowners owe more on their mortgages than what their home is worth. It obviously has occurred to many homeowners that this makes sense, as many are defaulting on mortgage payments as we speak.
Quick breakdown to explain the situation: you purchase a house for $400,000 that is now worth only $300,000. Thanks to an interest-only mortgage, you still owe $400,000. If you erased this off of your balance sheet, your net worth will increase by $100,000. Granted, you’d still need a place to live, but from this point you could purchase a more affordable house or rent for a bit of time.