It’s no longer news that homeowners all over the United States are struggling to keep their homes. If you find yourself in that position, take comfort in knowing that you are in good company. If you’ve been thinking that your best course might be to let your mortgage lender foreclose on your home, you’ve probably been wondering what happens.
Ryan J. Downey over at Huffington Post has written a great article, How to Walk Away, that details his journey to foreclosure.
As you can imagine, when he bought his home it was a journey he never thought he’d embark upon. But he bought as the housing bubble was at its most inflated while his income went down. The remarkable aspect of the story is the way it destroy so many misconceptions have about the foreclosure process. Almost two years passed from the time he made his last mortgage payment until the day Bank of America changed the locks on his home. The sheriff didn’t show up. He wasn’t arrested. The bank simply changed the locks. As he writes, sometime the bank will even offer money for the homeowner to leave the house without a fuss.
If you’re thinking about walking away from your home, read this article. I doubt Mr. Downey would encourage anyone to walk in his footsteps if they could avoid it, but his story is instructive. Letting your house fall into foreclosure is a big decision, but sometimes it can be the right one.
