What some ambitious business reporter out there might want to think about is a story looking at the walkaways corporations do, especially ones holding lots of underwater mortgage loans.
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The risk of consumer default is priced into the mortgage contract, as the difference in interest rates between the prime rate and the mortgage rate. Mail back the keys, get the FICO bump, pay more interest next time*. It's perfectly fair.
(*probably not, given the predicted market conditions in the next few years, but maybe).
#1 Posted by Scot B., CJR on Fri 18 Dec 2009 at 04:32 PM
Hi Ryan,
We, too, explored this in a piece yesterday. A law professor we spoke with said that homeowners should essentially act like corporations -- maximize profits and minimize losses. Strategic defaults, then, would be perfectly appropriate, he argues. Here it is:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/17/if-morgan-stanley-walks-a_n_396543.html
#2 Posted by Shahien Nasiripour, CJR on Fri 18 Dec 2009 at 05:03 PM
Thanks for the headsup, Shahien. Nice work.
#3 Posted by Ryan Chittum, CJR on Fri 18 Dec 2009 at 05:33 PM