A friend of mine works for one of those "big lenders" on the foreclosure side. Her job is to actually pay the people that have quit paying on their loans to get out of the house. This is in an effort to avoid a bunch of legal hassle and damage to the property (apparently some people are vengeful when being kicked out of a house they aren't paying for) which costs them money. She said they offer thousands of dollars to pay the people to leave peacefully. Broken system? Yep, I'd say so.
One of the girls I work with, her and her hubby haven't paid their mortgage in 16 months. They have tried to work on getting a modification, with no luck. The last time they refinanced, it was for 283,000.00. Their intitial purchase price was 185,000.00. The difference in money, was to purchase a new truck, a Harley, go on vacation, paint the house, put hardwoods in the whole house...the list goes on. Their current payment should be costing them 1600.00 a month. She has repeatedly stated that she will work with the bank on a modification, but she will only pay $700.00 a month in a payment for 15 years.
In her mind, their house was purchased for 185,000.00, and in the five years that they have lived there and paid the mortgage, they have aready paid around $60,000.00 towards the cost of the house. She feels that the amount that is in need of modification is the balance - $125,000.00. She takes that figure and divides it by 180 (15 years), for the only payment amount she is willing to accept.
She has stated NUMEROUS times, that if the bank doesn't work with them and they do actually lose the house, all the stainless steel appliances are going with her. The oak panelling and chair rail in the dining room are going with her. The hardwood floors - yep, she will have her DH take them up and they will take those with them as well. The deck they put on, will be dismanteled and taken with them. Everything SHE has put into that house, will be taken. Even though all of those upgrades were done, after they refinanced and they only got the money to do these upgrades by asking for the additional 100,000.00. She doesn't care, all she sees is her home not being hers and her stuff that she put in isn't going to benefit anyone else.
She has even stated that all of the walls will be splattered with hiddous paint colors, so they have to be repainted.
It is SOOOO hard to sit here and listen to her and not go off on her. It would not make for a workable work enviroment. Sure I would LOVE to be in a different house then we are in, but we couldn't afford anything different when we bought and with the outlook of things, we won't ever be able to afford anything different for a long time to come.