If you haven't noticed by many of my posts we are like many who bought homes right before the bubble burst. We literally closed on our home months before all hell broke loose and the housing market just imploded. I have been struggling for well over a year and a half with what it is that should be done. One day I said I would stay that it was my choice to buy so if I lost my ass it was my own fault. Well that is still true it is my own fault, however I do not have to stay and keep watching the negative equity in my home grow by the hour as more homes in my state, city, and neighborhood continue to be foreclosed upon. No! We will be walking away. While banks try to make homeowners feel like they are scum for doing this I refuse to feel this way. At first the morality issue bothered me and bothered me a lot, however the more I thought about how the "man" does business and the way they chose to cut their loses and walk away from bad business choices the more I realized we the "regular" people have the same right. It is not an issue of morals to me, I am still losing all the money I sunk into this house, I am loosing my outstanding credit rating. The bank will take a loss that can in turn be written off as a loss at the end of the year. I refuse to feel badly about my choice. I will not lose sleep over my situation any longer. I do not care if I have to rent for the rest of my life! I was supposed to be buying a piece of the American dream of home ownership, but instead it turned into a nightmare.

So now the hard part comes. That is deciding when to stop paying. This is the one thing that will be the hardest for me as I have never just not paid a bill, this is reflected in an credit score of over 800 that will more than likely drop to a low 600 when this is all said and done, but even that will not deter me. No, credit can be rebuilt and it will go back up as I have many other bills that will continue to be paid as scheduled. However, this mortgage is not one of them. I consulted a Lawyer last week to get all the questions I had answered. I knew everything except the fact that even though we are in a non-recourse state ( meaning the lender cannot come back at you with a judgment once they foreclose as they just take the loss) we still have to think about the tax liability. Because of this we need to make sure the process is completed by 12/31/12.With the average time line of foreclosure in Arizona being a minimum of 6-months, that means we have to start this soon just in case it takes longer. The last thing I want is to owe the IRS for ghost income that I have never seen, I have lost enough money with all this, and the way I see it when someone files for bankruptcy protection they do not have to pay back that money in taxes so why should homeowners who are foreclosed on?

The choice was made over a long time, as a matter of fact it took a long time to get my husband to see where I was coming from. However the home is only in my name so that makes it easier in the long run as we still have his credit to fall back on until mine clears. The choice was made when we realized just how bad this state is in terms of everything from education to mental health and both of those are in play with my daughter. So with his job we can transfer to another state that has more available to help her. We didn't want to be stuck here for no other reason than a house, so the choice was made.

I will be kind of chronicling my story on my blog as it happens. I know there are a ton of people in my situation and I want to help. If that means airing my dirty laundry than so be it. We do not have to lie down and take it. We do not have to feel like second class citizens! We will all pay in one sense or another for our choices in life, so I made a bad one I will not allow it or any other choice I have made in my past to dictate my future. I will survive. Now if you have read all the way to the end of this and you are in the same spot feel free to leave me a comment. Also if you need support trust me it is out there a great site to start at is Loansafe I have found so much information there and it will help ease your mind.