Once you realize you can’t pay, but that it will take 10-24 months to get you physically out, many stop paying, and live rent free for a year. They will strip the house of any valuable fixtures, and sell them. (it’s not vandalism).

Of course, your credit is permanently nuked, so it’s not “free” but a years worth of mortgage and taxes make a decent nest egg. Just make sure the money is not in your name (or the mattress) so you don’t have to worry about a judgement execution.

Some of the “professional tenants” can stretch this for quite a while.

I walk across a Chrysler dealer lot a few times a week. It’s on my way to the post office. I see the repos in the back of the lot. They are not flashy or high end. Normally some sort of Pacifica, low end pickup, or mitsubishi. It’s a sad sight.

There word is there bond to steal, rape and pillage and for those caught in the loss of value they take great joy in seeing the tears in there eyes as the true owners see their rentals value trashed.

From my grandfather an owner and landlord.

These are the folks that were awarded mortgages so that we could move them from poverty to better digs.

Valid point, but I still can’t see the reason for destruction out of frustration. It seems a little, well, childish.

Actually, yes, that’s exactly what it seems like: something my two year old son would do.

Why would you do this?

If I knew I was hanging on by the skin of my financial teeth, any asset I had was damn well going to be treated well in case I had to get rid of it. A beater car I could understand, but why take such poor care of even a leased vehicle?

Yuck!

So…these people that are losing the cars they couldn’t afford and didn’t take care of are going to get around how? Back on the bus?

Yuck!

See for yourself. Have a listen to the only sane man left in Congress, Ron Paul, talking to the Christian New Service. http://www.cnsnews.com/public/cnsnewstv/video.aspx?v=e4kUZuZu6U

Know what this means? It means this country is finished. Think there’s a “liquidity” problem brewing now where people can’t get loans? Like new car loans now 20% successful even for people with good credit instead of 95%?

What’s going to happen when the salient fact about mortgage contracts sinks in at the banks? Look at it from any sane lender’s point of view.

Who is going to lend out ONE RED CENT to anyone when the government (illegitimate as it is makes no difference) can simply alter the contract – always to the benefit of the borrower?

Add on top of that the fact that our government is actually insolvent – BANKRUPT. As in, we collectively owe way more than we can earn, or ever pay back. As in EVER pay back.

We’re screwed. So are Britain, Europe, Japan, China, Russia. We’re all on the Titanic re-arranging deck chairs as of now, and slipping on iceberg ice on the deck while we’re about it.

India might survive economically. They don’t rely upon exports, but have their own economy. Ironic that India might be the only solvent, only super-power left in the world by next year, isn’t it?

$25b? Try $700b….

Great job all around.

Maybe this time the banks will realize that you can’t give idiots with bad credit piles of cash and expect them to be responsible with it.

Ditto! And thanks for sharing that story. I could imagine!

And the last thing we should do as a society is to encourage/ reward slackers.

Myself and another guy used to have to reposess furniture, appliances, and electronics. Let’s just say that some of the couches we retrieved needed to be taken out back and burned. The people that bought the stuff had no respect for it, because in their opinion, they were never going to pay for it in full. No matter how bad the items were, we had to get them back, but some of the stuff wasn’t worth the hassle. I can’t even imagine what kind of POS cars are going to surface that are only a couple years old.

Maybe this time the banks will realize that you can’t give idiots with bad credit piles of cash and expect them to be responsible with it.