There are many posts being stirred up as emotions arise from this debate over a moral duty to pay your mortgage payments to your lender.
Lydia Puller wrote a post here that sparked some heated comments to which Michael Lissack then responded. Lenn's tattoo post brings it home to point out how utterly ridiculous it is to pass moral judgment and force people to pay their house payments.
It never seems to fail that short sale posts and strategic default posts bring out the moral police. I have noticed that many of the same people who scream that if you have the money to pay your house payments and choose not to should be punished or forced to pay up are also the same people who come rushing to the defense of homeowners who lose their jobs or get relocated because those are 'hardships'.
In fact, I have read comments from many agents who will not even consider helping a seller with a strategic short sale.
When you make a moral statement such as this- you must then ask yourself- at what point is this a hardship or not? Who would be the judge and jury about whether you can afford to pay or not?
Case in point:
What if you get called by a homeowner to go over his options? He is now in default. He is no longer making his mortgage payments. You go through your short sale qualifications with him. He tells you he lost his job a few months ago and now can not find one.
So you say, oh my gosh, I feel so sorry for you! You poor thing! You lost your job.
You can do a short sale, you pass the hardship test.
Well, why did you come to the assumption that just because he lost his job he has a hardship? Because that is one of the reasons that is readily accepted.
But if you are going to tell one person they can not do a short sale because they can pay but this guy- he lost his job so he can get one?
Are you going to really call his boss to check why he lost his job? What if he is a total abusive jerk and got fired. Then went to collect unemployment. He proves to you and his lender that he lost his job because he is getting unemployment. What if he has no intentions of getting another job and after he lives in his house as long as he can, he just plans to move in with his mother.
But are you going to investigate? You should if you are the moral police! If you are in the position to judge who is worthy of a short sale and who is not, then you should use the same measuring stick for all.
If you say no to one person because you believe they are morally wrong for not paying then you should be applying that same standard through all your dealings with all your clients.
Is it not at the end of the day, lack of personal responsibility the reason for most hardships? Of course, because most anyone can change the course of their life. That is a tough statement but saying those who do have the money are the ones that should be punished is just as harsh.
So who are we, you, the government or any lender the moral police to decide whether someone can do a strategic short sale or not?
There are all kinds of reasons people can't, won't or don't pay their mortgage payments and that has happened since the very beginning of loans.
This is a business decision not a moral obligation. If you want it to be a moral decision for you, that is your decision for your own situation but not for others.
We do strategic short sales. We are presently listing 4 properties owned by an investor. They are all upside down. They all need to be sold. This investor will contribute to the kitty. They will also be 1099'd and the loss will be treated as income according to the IRS. It is still better in her situation than to just walk away. But that is her decision. Not mine, not yours.
And why would we NOT help her????
If a homeowner or an investor chooses NOT to pay their mortgage payments that is a decision between them and their lender. There is nothing within their note or promise to pay that says that if they get relocated or they fall upon hard times they don't have to pay but if they have the money they have to pay!
Take out your note and your mortgage instrument for your loan on your house and read it. We challenge you to show us where in either your note or your mortgage documents it says that you are being forced to pay your mortgage. I have read many mortgage instruments and no where does it say that there is a moral obligation for you to pay or that it is right or a moral duty for you to pay.
It is each borrower's choice to pay or not to pay. If you pay you keep your house. If you don't pay, you don't get to keep your house because you used your house as collateral. It is the borrower's choice to ruin their credit or not. It is the borrower's choice to go into bankruptcy or not. It is no one else's decision. The consequences are between the remedies the lender has set forth in the note to repay the loan and the defensed the borrower may wish to enlist an attorney to bring up before a judge in the state of Florida.
To view Welington Florida short sales Click here. We know Wellington Florida Real Estate and Wellington Florida Short Sales and will help you get your home Sold if you need to Sell your home and help you buy your home in Palm Beach County Florida: Call us today.
Copyright © By Katerina Gasset 2010 *Strategic Defaults and Strategic Short Sales- Do The Moral Police Get To Decide?*
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