Refinancing now is a wonderful idea as mortgage rates are back to all-time lows. However, if you are struggling to pay your mortgage you may be considering walking away. If you do, there are non-recourse states where you can walk away from your mortgage without the bank coming after your other assets.
Let’s say you are so underwater on your mortgage that you feel it doesn’t make sense to continue paying anymore because you don’t think value will ever recover.
This happened a lot during the financial crisis in 2008 – 2009. Homeowners just gave up because banks were so stubborn in allowing underwater homeowners to refinance. As a result, many homeowners just stopped paying altogether.
Have you ever wondered why there have been so many foreclosures in states such as California, Arizona, and Nevada? I’ll tell you.
The 12 non-recourse states:
- Alaska
- Arizona
- California
- Connecticut
- Idaho
- Minnesota
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Oregon
- Texas
- Utah
- Washington
If you so happen to own property in one of these states, and have substantial assets elsewhere, you can legally hand over the keys to the bank and exonerate yourself from the mortgage with no penalty against your other assets!
The Benefit Of Non-Recourse States
Here’s an example of walking away from a mortgage if you live in one of the non-recourse states.
You have a million bucks in the bank and you bought a house for $800,000 several years ago by taking out a $750,000 mortgage. Real estate market crashes and the value of the home is now $400,000. You’ve already paid $50,000 of the mortgage principal over the years.
$300,000 of your mortgage is now unsecured ($700K mortgage balance – $400K value of property), which means your house is now an under-secured debt.
Because you live in a non-recourse state, if you turn over the collateral (your house), your lender cannot collect on the $500,000 unsecured debt. The lender assumed this risk when they approved your mortgage application, and you can walk away with your $1 million in cash and live happily ever after.
However, say you bought the house for $800,000 with a mortgage of $300,000, and then a few years later took out a second mortgage worth $500,000. Real estate market crashes and the house is now worth $100,000, leaving you upside-down on the house by $300,000.
If you turn over the house, you can walk away from the first $300,000 mortgage, but you’re still liable for the second $300,000 mortgage. Since you no longer have the collateral, the second mortgage is now an unsecured debt. Unsecured debts can be discharged in bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy Option For Real Estate
If you want to file for bankruptcy, the $1 million cash is a problem. Since you’ve got the cash on hand, the court is going to say you have to pay back your second mortgage. But who has $1 million cash in this economy? More realistically, you have $1,000 cash.
Chapter 13 Bankruptcy
If your income is above the median, you are eligible for a Chapter 13 bankruptcy. In a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, the debt is not completely erased, but is instead consolidated and restructured into an affordable monthly payment. The debtor creates a three to five year affordable repayment plan to pay off a portion of the total debt.
Chapter 7 Bankruptcy
If your monthly income is below the median for the state you live in, you are eligible for a Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which is a total liquidation and discharge of all of your debts, including the $300,000 second mortgage. The slate gets wiped clean and you get a “fresh start” to start rebuilding your credit. You are eligible for a new FHA home loan 2 years after your bankruptcy is discharged.
If your creditors are harassing you or if a creditor has served you with a court summons, if you’re facing a repossession or foreclosure, or you are only making the minimum balance on your credit cards, you should seriously consider filing for bankruptcy.
If you feel like your finances are way outside of your control, bankruptcy is the “fresh start” you need to get your financial health back in your own hands.
Most bankruptcies are caused by one of three events: loss of job/failed business, medical emergency or family emergency. You may have been living within your means just fine, but then you lost your job and defaulted on a payment.
One missed payment can change your interest rate from 8% to 39%, causing your debt to quickly mushroom out of control. Perhaps you or a loved one suffered a heart attack, resulting in thousands and thousands of dollars of medical bills that you simply cannot manage.
Is It Right Or Wrong To Walk Away From A Mortgage If You Can Afford It?
There are actually plenty of people in California who have substantial assets who simply walked away from their mortgages during the previous financial crisis. After all, California is one of the non-recourse states.
Financially, it makes sense, especially if you’ve put very little down. Legally, you have every right to walk away as well. After all, the banks performed due diligence and made the decision to lend you money. Nobody forced the banks to do anything, as perceived profits are what drove them to lend.
Sure, for the first 7 years, your stellar 780+ credit might get trounced to 570. But, if you have another fine property you are living in, and another vacation home down in Malibu, what do you care whether you can’t get more credit or not? You’re already living the dream and catching a break from an investment property that went sour.
I, personally, would never walk away from my debt obligations because it feels extremely dishonorable. Even though I bought a vacation property that collapsed during the crisis, I’ve continued to pay the mortgage every month as agreed upon until this day.
Those who walked away from their properties in 2008-2010 have not seen a rebound in net worth. Instead, they have fallen way behind because the stock market and real estate market had a huge recovery since 2009-2010.
If you are going to buy property, buy property and hold on for the long term. Transaction costs are a killer, and selling during downturns not only wipes out your equity, but may permanently leave you behind for the rest of your life.
Be Disciplined About Buying Property During A Pandemic
Demand for property is soaring in the new decade because mortgage rates are at record lows. People also want to own nicer homes and real assets. Real estate demand in non-recourse states such as Texas and Washington continue to be very high. Both those states have no state income taxes either.
2020-2021 is not like 2008-2009 where homebuyers were overextended. Banks have been much stricter since the previous financial crisis. Today, the average credit score for an approved mortgage borrower is 770. Homebuyers are also following good home-buying rules like my 30/30/3 rule. Further, there has been a lot of equity built up in the housing market.
Let’s just make sure our economy doesn’t experience a housing implosion relapse again. We’ve got enough problems in the economy and in health to deal with!
If you live in one of the non-recourse states, you should still run the numbers and make sure you can comfortable afford a home. Just because you can walk away from a property without as much consequence in a non-recourse state doesn’t mean you should.
Recommendations
Refinance your mortgage. Check out Credible, one of the largest mortgage lending marketplaces where lenders compete for your business. You’ll get real quotes from pre-vetted, qualified lenders in under three minutes. Credible is the easiest way to compare rates and lenders all in one place. Take advantage of lower rates by refinancing today.
Explore real estate crowdsourcing opportunities: If you don’t have the downpayment to buy a property, don’t want to deal with the hassle of managing real estate, or don’t want to tie up your liquidity in physical real estate, take a look at Fundrise, one of the largest real estate crowdsourcing companies today.
Real estate is a key component of a diversified portfolio. Real estate crowdsourcing allows you to be more flexible in your real estate investments by investing beyond just where you live for the best returns possible.
For example, cap rates are around 3% in San Francisco and New York City, but over 10% in the Midwest if you’re looking for strictly investing income returns. Sign up and take a look at all the residential and commercial investment opportunities around the country Fundrise has to offer. It’s free to look.
Updated for 2020 and beyond.
A little back ground. I am a veteran and had a VA home loan in Oregon in 2008, lost the house due to work cutbacks in 2009. When I signing the house over to the bank the VA was on the hook and paid a $100,000 to the bank. Due to the payoff I essentially lost my VA home loan benefits (benefit was all used up in the payoff). However, as I understand it the bank also received bailout money as part of the Feds bank bailout program.
My question is this: Did the bank double dip by taking the VA payoff and the Fed bailout money on the same home loan? Does the fact of Oregon being a non-recourse state play into it at all?
Thanks for your time.
I own a house in PA, but due to illness i couldn’t afford the mortgage any more, and the mortgage company started to foreclosure proceedings… that was in 2000. 20 years later i am still in the house, and cannot get in touch with anyone to respond since they stopped talking to me in 2003. I want to consider this property abandoned by the mortgage company, can I do that?
I live in a WA State which is a non recourse state and I’m 64 years old. I currently live in a double wide mobile that I paid off in full 2 years ago. Last year I bought a distressed home for about 1/2 the appraised value at a online Hubzo auction. The house needed about $100K in repairs to make it livable so I took out a $100K loan out on the double wide to pay for the repairs. All repairs are now completed and the Ocean house on the water is beautiful and ready to move into and appraised for $375K. So I put the double wide up for sale intent on moving in the Ocean house the buyers inspectors discovered it needs about $70K i repairs before I can sell it for $110K. If I do the repairs I will only realize $40K as profit. If not I will only owe the monthly payment on the existing $100K loan and go into my retirement almost debt free considering. My question is it legal for me here in WA state to just walk away from this house and not face any recourse because it is a non recourse state? Meaning I only pay my insurance and property taxes on the house until the bank officially reclaims the property and house. Please I am only asking for legal advice here as to the negative ramifications I might encounter by walking away from this property’s loan. And letting the house go back to the bank. Example is there a time limit the applies to how long I had to have the loan, or if because I had it paid off then went back and refinanced it, or anything like that. Thank you for your assistance.
I would consult a real estate attorney as this could potentially be construed as mortgage fraud if the period of time between the purchase of the second home, the refinance of the first home, and the default on the first home is too short. Any undue hardship that led to the default should be well documented along with supporting evidence that shows you couldn’t or shouldn’t have known about the necessary repairs prior to the refinance. If there is any doubt then I would continue payments or try to refinance the retirement house to pay off the loan on the first house and then sell it.
I am in Oregon. I am a lien holder. Paid cash sold house with owner carry. They completely destroyed house in 4 years then walked away. There is more damage to the house than what it is worth. What about us???? “I’m walking away and releasing all interest in the home back to you. I also want you to get my name off the house.” Really? You want me to take back a destroyed house and pay the fees to get your name taken off? Wow. My response: “You can move the house, sell the house or walk away from the house but our contract still stands. You signed you would pay me and you still owe me whether you keep the house or not. If you want your name taken off the title you go pay the fees to have that done. I will remain the lien holder. Our contract doesn’t say if you choose to not keep the house you don’t have to pay me. UGH! Cool you change your mind or make bad choices and I get screwed? I remember a day when your word meant everything and now it doesn’t mean shit even if you get it in writing.
I wonder if not doing a refi on a purchase could be considered defacto “Earthquake Mortgage Insurance” of sorts. Since there’s no existing product I can buy on the marketplace that makes my condo mortgage “go away” in the event of a devastating earthquake that destroys my building which doesn’t have earthquake insurance, this seems like a good substitute with the only caveat of a damaged credit report. Am I missing anything? Might be worth not refi-ing and considering the premium (overage paid per year) to be this “insurance”. Obviously, I hope this doesn’t happen as I’m long SF Real Estate.
Money never sleeps and is never moral. The banks aren’t being charitable about lending money, and neither should one feel the same in paying it back( or not ). Anyone who thinks banks don’t price “strategic default” into their rates is simply naive. Why should individual citizens have to play by some silly “Marquis de Queensbury” rules that corporations don’t. Stop trying to inject morality into a financial transaction. As long as existing laws are obeyed, there is no foul.
But yet, i bet you take advantage of all the Tax Return laws to maximize your check from the government every year. It’s immoral people like you and all your tax loopholes that are driving this country into the ground.
I lost 7 properties and paid until my money was all gone, renters stopped paying rent, vandalism and criminals who trashed properties also decimated me financially….but I kept paying and kept paying, I had one house to fall back on and the bank from hell, Chase messed with my mortgage and refused to fix it or give an accounting, now they stole it. I say be careful, be very careful.
The banks are not acting honestly or with respect to us and now they stole my last house. I lost the equity I built and am soon to be in the street at age 60…..never had anything but perfect credit. Impossible to rebuild and very sick. I agreed always we should pay debts but the system is broken and the banks are crooked today. The bible also warns to not be in debt in the last days. We are here folks.