Like yelling "fire" in a crowded theater, borrowers will run to the exits when they realize their moral obligation to their family outweighs their false moral obligation to repay their mortgage debt. Lenders are praying this does not happen.

Irvine Home Address … 28 ERICSON AISLE Irvine, CA 92620

Resale Home Price …… $469,000

{book1}

It's got me under pressure,

It's got me under pressure.

I'm gonna give her a message,

here's what I'm gonna say:

It's all over.

She might get out a nightstick

and hurt me real real bad

by the roadside in a ditch.

it's got me under pressure.

ZZ Top — Got Me Under Pressure

Lenders are pressuring owners to repay their underwater loans by appealing to morality. As people strategically default and their lives improve, they tell their friends which triggers the next wave of strategic defaults. The pressure of morality gets less and less effective, particularly when borrowers realize the false morality to lenders is superseding their real moral obligations to their families.

Homeowners Who 'Strategically Default' Are Under Moral Pressure

By Charlotte Cuthbertson

Walking away from a mortgage seemed like a crazy idea to Chris Schreur, a financial adviser, and his wife Valerie thought he had gone mad when he mentioned it. It wasn’t just the financial hit, but the shame of defaulting.

“I think it is the number one reason, by far, that more people aren’t doing this,” Chris Schreur said.

If that is truly why people are not defaulting, then we are going to see more and more strategic default as people realizing their morality is misplaced.

After buying a house during the boom of the mid-2000s, many homeowners are now finding themselves underwater; meaning they owe more than their homes are worth. More than 11.3 million, or 24 percent, of homeowners were underwater by the end of 2009, according to a report by First American CoreLogic.

Finding themselves more than $130,000 underwater on their mortgage, the Schreurs chose to stop making their payments, even though they could afford it. “It was completely crazy to keep throwing good money after bad,” Mr. Schreur said. Their credit score was in the 800s and they had never been late on any payments before then. They owed $430,000 on their California home.

“Objectively the hardest part was the hit to the credit rating,” he said. “Defaulting on a debt is the hardest thing to accept.”

Schreur did some research and found he could get more house for less money by renting.

“My degree is economics, so I understand that you don’t keep putting money into a losing proposition just because you already put money in,” he said.

But it was his child’s future that made the decision clear and helped ease the shame factor.

“I think of it as a choice between either defaulting and writing the debt off now, and potentially not being able to send our daughter to college in 12 years,” he said.

That realization by that borrower, once spread around the country, will cause a stampede toward the exit door.

A borrower's family should be more important than the ego of the head of the household. When borrower's take what they consider to be the moral high road, the only people who are going to know or care will be the borrower's family. The people at the bank couldn't care less about why someone pays their mortgage. Borrowers are nothing more than a number to them. It is the borrower's family that pays the price so that the borrower can hold his head high and believe that other people think he is behaving morally. In truth, nobody else really cares. The borrower's pride and ego hurts their family.

Continuing to pay a bloated mortgage is not a matter of morality. The borrower and the lender have a contractual arrangement, and if this conflicts with the needs of a borrower's family, the borrower has a contractual right to get out of the onerous payments and divert those resources back to the family unit. In fact, the only moral imperative in this situation is the one between the head of household and the family members within it. The right thing to do when hopelessly underwater and paying far more than rent is to walk away.

When excessive housing payments burden the borrower's family members — the people the borrower's really do have a moral obligation toward — then the borrower making the financial decisions is putting the needs of the bank above the needs of their family. If there is any moral imperative, it is to get out from under the crushing debt while there is still time to save the family's future. The house can be replaced; the family members' education cannot.

…The threats and stigma of defaulting seems to be the coercion banks are using to stop them from defaulting, said Schreur. “So the [banks think] it’s better to go that route than it is to just renegotiate with the people who, all things being equal, would rather stay in their homes.

“I think a lot of people feel stuck,” he said. “You do have choices. Staying in your house is a choice, walking away is a choice.”

The Schreurs are renting a home a mile away from their foreclosed place for $1,000 less per month than their mortgage payments.

Borrowers who are not underwater and who have payments at or below rental parity don't walk away. They don't need to, and they don't benefit from it. If walking away results in a higher monthly payment, people won't do it. And properties with positive cashflow rarely decline in value because financially prudent buyers would see the value and support pricing. The entire walkaway phenomenon is a direct result of the false appreciation created by lenders who are being burned by the walkaways. Lenders are getting what they deserve.

Jodi Romanello walked away from the Florida home she and her husband planned to retire in. … After approaching the bank and being turned down for a refinance or lower payments, the Romanellos chose to strategically default and their last payment was in November 2008. …

As with the Schreurs, the shame and moral factor was the biggest stumbling block for the Romanellos.

“The banks are making it sound like a moral issue, like you’re defaulting on something you promised,” Romanello said. “And I’m very angry about it, because first they’re taking taxpayer’s money; and they don’t try to work with you at all.

People should be pissed. Lenders inflated a massive Ponzi Scheme, and when it collapsed, they have the nerve to accept government bailouts and cajole people with morality. Lender's displayed no morality whatsoever, so why should borrowers?

I predict that by the end of 2010, when someone in lending suggests that is it wrong to stop payment, borrowers are going to laugh at them. The Great Housing Bubble will eliminate any pretense about the morality of repaying bank debt.

… Despite homeowners increasingly walking away from their mortgages, most homeowners continue to make their payments even when they are significantly underwater. A study by Brent T. White, associate professor of Law at Arizona University, examined why.

“Most homeowners choose not to strategically default as a result of two emotional forces,” the study concludes. The first is the desire to avoid the shame and guilt of foreclosure; and the second is exaggerated anxiety over foreclosure’s perceived consequences.

These emotional constraints are “actively cultivated” by the government and other social control agents to encourage homeowners to keep paying their mortgages; “and to ignore market and legal norms under which strategic default might be both viable and the wisest financial decision,” the study said.

The study, “Underwater and Not Walking Away: Shame, Fear, and the Social Management of the Housing Crisis” was released in February.

I recently wondered Why Do Struggling Homeowners Keep Paying Their Mortgages? Dr. White's study is an attempt to answer that question. His conclusions are difficult to argue with. Once borrowers stop thinking default is wrong, and once they realize the consequences are not as dire as they imagine, many more underwater homeowners are going to walk away.

The only thing keeping debtors in place is kool aid intoxication and the false belief that they will get their money back soon. realtors are already talking up the market as they always do, but look for more kool aid from lenders and the government as both parties are now deeply involved in this Ponzi Scheme.

Jon Maddux, CEO of You Walk Away, said they get a lot of inquiries from people who think that they have to file for bankruptcy—which they don’t.

“It’s a blip on their credit,” he said, adding that most people can apply for a loan in three years after foreclosure.

“It’s important that people understand it’s not the end of the world; it’s not something that will financially destroy them,” Maddux said.

The company has helped about 4,000 people walk away from their mortgages and gets thousands of inquiries per month. Of their clients, 90 to 95 percent have tried to work things out with their lender first, Maddux said.

“The nature of the act of walking away has always been associated with being a deadbeat, a failure, etc,” he said. “But it is now seen as a business decision.”

Strategic default is the natural response to the situation. Once strategic default becomes the norm, the market will truly be entering the capitulation stage of the decline.

A microcosm of the bubble

Today's featured property illustrates many of the problems of the bubble and its aftermath. This property was purchased for $637,000 in September of 2005. The owner used a $509,600 Option ARM with a 1% teaser rate, a $63,700 stand-alone second, and a $63,700 downpayment.

The buyer could never afford this property. Since the buyer had some of money in the deal, they held out longer than others.

Foreclosure Record

Recording Date: 06/11/2009

Document Type: Notice of Sale

Foreclosure Record

Recording Date: 03/05/2009

Document Type: Notice of Default

The property was purchased at Trustee Sale by Aurora Loan Services. This property has been held off the market by the service sine 7/9/2009.

How many other bank-owned properties are out there in hiding waiting for a little uptick in prices before they get dumped?

Irvine Home Address … 28 ERICSON AISLE Irvine, CA 92620

Resale Home Price … $469,000

Home Purchase Price … $637,000

Home Purchase Date …. 9/29/2005

Net Gain (Loss) ………. $(196,140)

Percent Change ………. -26.4%

Annual Appreciation … -6.4%

Cost of Ownership

————————————————-

$469,000 ………. Asking Price

$16,415 ………. 3.5% Down FHA Financing

5.24% …………… Mortgage Interest Rate

$452,585 ………. 30-Year Mortgage

$99,782 ………. Income Requirement

$2,496 ………. Monthly Mortgage Payment

$406 ………. Property Tax

$10 ………. Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos)

$39 ………. Homeowners Insurance

$140 ………. Homeowners Association Fees

============================================

$3,092 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays

-$417 ………. Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax)

-$520 ………. Equity Hidden in Payment

$34 ………. Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes)

$59 ………. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves

============================================

$2,248 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership

Cash Acquisition Demands

——————————————————————————

$4,690 ………. Furnishing and Move In @1%

$4,690 ………. Closing Costs @1%

$4,526 ………… Interest Points @1% of Loan

$16,415 ………. Down Payment

============================================

$30,321 ………. Total Cash Costs

$34,400 ………… Emergency Cash Reserves

============================================

$64,721 ………. Total Savings Needed

Property Details for 28 ERICSON AISLE Irvine, CA 92620

——————————————————————————

Beds: 3

Baths: 2 baths

Home size: 1,760 sq ft

($266 / sq ft)

Lot Size: n/a

Year Built: 1989

Days on Market: 3

MLS Number: P731539

Property Type: Condominium, Residential

Community: Northwood

Tract: Othr

——————————————————————————

According to the listing agent, this listing is a bank owned (foreclosed) property.

FANTASIC 2 STORY CONDO IN IRVINE IN GREAT LOCATION. CATHEDRAL CEILINGS. COZY FIREPLACE IN LIVING ROOM. SEPARATE LAUNDRY ROOM. BEDDROOMS WITH MIRRORED CLOSET DOORS. LARGE MASTER BEDROOM AND BATH WITH SKYLIGHT. SPACIOUS AND OPEN FLOOR PLAN. PRIVATE BACKYARD PATIO AREA. LOW MONTHLY HOA DUES. ASSOCIATION POOL AND SPA. HURRY OR MISS THIS FANTASTIC DEAL. **BUYERS TO SATISFY THEMSELVES WITH PERMITS**MUST SEE AGENT REMARKS**

Doesn't the thought of buyer's satisfying themselves seem rather undignified?

.

The push to drive squatters from houses they are not paying for has begun. We have eclipsed our previous foreclosure records, and foreclosures will continue to increase in number for the remainder of 2010.

Irvine Home Address … 43 PARTISAN Pl Irvine, CA 92602

Resale Home Price …… $655,000

{book1}

Oh yes, I'm the great pretender

Pretending I'm doing well

My need is such

I pretend too much

I'm BROKE but no one can tell

Oh yes, I'm the great pretender

Adrift in a world of my own

I play the game but to my real shame

You've left me to dream all alone

Freddie Mercury — The Great Pretender

Californian's are great spenders living in a world of their own. They play the game with no real shame pretending they really have wealth. They are below broke and left alone dreaming of lives they do not own.

Today's HELOC-abusing squatters

Usually, I conclude with the sordid details about the property owner's finances, but today I am starting with it. When presented with statistics about macroeconomic events like "foreclosure activity goes up," it is easy for readers to lose the connection between the decisions lenders and borrowers made and the macroeconomic event. The increase in foreclosure findings I am reporting today is the direct result of thousands of families making bad financial decisions just like the owners of today's featured property.

When I first started covering HELOC abuse, many readers thought I was searching through many property records to find an isolated case. In reality, I have to search through many property records to find an owner who didn't spend their house. The HELOC abuse and debt dependency is the rule not the exception.

Policy makers have scared everyone into bailing out the banks ostensibly to help loan owners stay in their houses. In reality, this is a poorly disguised bailout of the banks. For the banks to stay in business, they will need to obtain income from their non-performing assets. That means they need to foreclose on people and either rent the place out or sell it to be rid of it.

It is appropriate to feel compassion for people losing their homes, but this compassion must be tempered by wisdom. For the most part, the people losing their home made bad decisions — remember, responsible homeowners are NOT losing their homes. Expressing compassion does not mean bailing these people out. That is enabling. Do California debtors really deserve our financial assistance?

Let's take a careful look at the loans that were made and how these owners lived and see if the lending or the borrowing is wise behavior we want to see more of.

• This property was purchased for $321,000 on 12/18/1998, near the last market bottom. The mortgage information is not available, but the borrower likely put 20% or more down.
• The first mortgages was refinanced on 4/11/2002 for $200,000. A second party appears on the mortgage. Apparently, when the owner was single, the demands for money were a bit less.
• On 2/4/2005 the first mortgage was refinanced for $480,000. A HELOC was also opened for $195,750.
• On 7/31/2006 the owners refinanced with a $693,000 first mortgage and a $153,000 HELOC.
• On 10/2/2006 the HELOC was increased to $200,000.
• Total property debt is $893,000.
• Total mortgage equity withdrawal was $693,000 since April of 2002.

They have since been squatting for more than a year:

Foreclosure Record

Recording Date: 10/29/2009

Document Type: Notice of Sale

Foreclosure Record

Recording Date: 07/22/2009

Document Type: Notice of Default

What prompted these people to spend nearly $700,000 in just a few years? And does it matter? Are there any circumstances where you believe these debts should be forgiven at the expense of the US Taxpayer? How do you feel about their squatting for over a year on your dime?

When you read the grim statistics about foreclosures, do you tear up for the poor families who lost everything or rejoice for their new lives free of entitlement and debt? Foreclosure is not the crisis; it is the cure.

FORECLOSURE ACTIVITY INCREASES 7 PERCENT IN FIRST QUARTER

By RealtyTrac Staff

New Quarterly Records for Scheduled Auctions and Bank Repossessions

All Foreclosure Types Spike in March, Which Posts Highest Monthly Total for Report

IRVINE, Calif. – April 15, 2010 — RealtyTrac® (realtytrac.com), the leading online marketplace for foreclosure properties, today released its U.S. Foreclosure Market Report™ for Q1 2010, which shows that foreclosure filings — default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions — were reported on 932,234 properties in the first quarter, a 7 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 16 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. One in every 138 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

Foreclosure filings were reported on 367,056 properties in March, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the previous month, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since RealtyTrac began issuing its report in January 2005.

“Foreclosure activity in the first quarter of 2010 followed a very similar pattern to what we saw in the first quarter of 2009: a shallow trough in January and February followed by a substantial spike in March,” said James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac. “One difference, however, is that the increases were more tilted toward the final stage of foreclosure, with REOs increasing 9 percent on a quarterly basis in the first quarter of 2010 compared to a 13 percent quarterly decrease in REOs in the first quarter of 2009.

“This subtle shift in the numbers pushed REOs to the highest quarterly total we’ve ever seen in our report and may be further evidence that lenders are starting to make a dent in the backlog of distressed inventory that has built up over the last year as foreclosure prevention programs and processing delays slowed down the normal foreclosure timeline.” …

… California foreclosure activity decreased 6 percent from the first quarter of 2009, but the state still documented the nation’s fourth highest foreclosure rate — one in every 62 housing units receiving a foreclosure filing. …

… California alone accounted for 23 percent of the nation’s total foreclosure activity in the first quarter, with 216,263 properties receiving a foreclosure notice — the nation’s highest foreclosure activity total.

Readers here are not surprised by these numbers. Last year, there were stories planted in the mainstream media that the foreclosure crisis is ending because filings were down. Well, filings were down because banks stopped filing, not because borrowers stopped defaulting. Shadow inventory is a disgraceful squatter's paradise. Fortunately, lenders are finally moving to clean up their books. It is about time.

Irvine Home Address … 43 PARTISAN Pl Irvine, CA 92602

Resale Home Price … $655,000

Home Purchase Price … $321,000

Home Purchase Date …. 12/18/1998

Net Gain (Loss) ………. $294,700

Percent Change ………. 104.0%

Annual Appreciation … 6.1%

Cost of Ownership

————————————————-

$655,000 ………. Asking Price

$131,000 ………. 20% Down Conventional

5.24% …………… Mortgage Interest Rate

$524,000 ………. 30-Year Mortgage

$139,354 ………. Income Requirement

$2,890 ………. Monthly Mortgage Payment

$568 ………. Property Tax

$117 ………. Special Taxes and Levies (Mello Roos)

$55 ………. Homeowners Insurance

$0 ………. Homeowners Association Fees

============================================

$3,629 ………. Monthly Cash Outlays

-$714 ………. Tax Savings (% of Interest and Property Tax)

-$602 ………. Equity Hidden in Payment

$272 ………. Lost Income to Down Payment (net of taxes)

$82 ………. Maintenance and Replacement Reserves

============================================

$2,667 ………. Monthly Cost of Ownership

Cash Acquisition Demands

——————————————————————————

$6,550 ………. Furnishing and Move In @1%

$6,550 ………. Closing Costs @1%

$5,240 ………… Interest Points @1% of Loan

$131,000 ………. Down Payment

============================================

$149,340 ………. Total Cash Costs

$40,800 ………… Emergency Cash Reserves

============================================

$190,140 ………. Total Savings Needed

Property Details for 43 PARTISAN Pl Irvine, CA 92602

——————————————————————————

Beds: 5

Baths: 3 baths

Home size: 2,300 sq ft

($285 / sq ft)

Lot Size: 8,500 sq ft

Year Built: 1998

Days on Market: 17

MLS Number: S611660

Property Type: Single Family, Residential

Community: West Irvine

Tract: Heri

——————————————————————————

According to the listing agent, this listing may be a pre-foreclosure or short sale.

One of the Larger lot in the Tract. Cover Patio, Extra Long Drive Way. Formal Living Room, Downstairs Bedroom with full bath. Large Master Bedroom and Bath, Walk-in Closet. 4th Bedroom Upstairs is the size of a 2 Rooms combined and can easily be converted into a 5th Bedroom to become a SIX BEDROOM house. Award Winning Schools, NO HOA, Low Tax.

I hope you have enjoyed this week, and thank you for reading the Irvine Housing Blog: astutely observing the Irvine home market and combating California Kool-Aid since 2006.

Have a great weekend,

Irvine Renter