Some homeowners see giving up as best option
In decision balancing stress and credit score, an Atlanta couple walks away.
Teresa Bondora and her family abandoned their two-story brick home in Atlanta rather than fall behind on their mortgage and $30,000 worth of home renovation debt.
The decision was tough for Bondora, a home-schooling curriculum developer raised to believe that preserving good credit and paying bills on-time were key adult responsibilities.
“I was willing to walk away and live with someone else while we get out of debt,” Bondora says. “I’m not worried about anything anymore.”
Bondora isn’t the only homeowner making an about-face in her approach to the stigma of foreclosure; if anything, homeowners like her see that efforts to prevent foreclosure may make them more financially vulnerable than succumbing to it and starting anew.
Despite new refinancing and loan modification programs made available under the Obama administration, mortgage experts say that many homeowners still face difficult choices in the short run. The latest options may not affect the market for a few more quarters, they say.
When the real estate market first showed signs of weakness in fall 2006 — right when the Bondoras listed their home for $170,000 — the family faced tough circumstances. They watched at least a dozen seemingly qualified buyers fail to secure financing, and as Bondora’s husband, a contractor, began to see work evaporate. Full Story.
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