Would you walk away from your home? Some people consider walking away from a mortgage that is more than their home is worth if they cannot get any help or if they Twenty percent of mortgage holders owe more than their house is currently worth. This is a sad fact if you purchased during the boom, refinanced several times or there are many foreclosures in your area.

Regardless, not everyone wants to just walk away from their obligations because they might damage their credit, have nowhere else to go, feel obligated to repay and want to stay since this is their home after all.

For people who wanted to buy properties and turn them into great profits and got stuck with a plethora of overpriced and over valued condos and homes, there is little sympathy and no help. For owner occupiers of potential foreclosure properties there is some help but if the mortgage holder makes too much money, hasn’t missed payments or made late payments, then there may be less assistance.

The government backed program will only work for some – specifically those whose mortgages are backed by Fannie or Freddie Mac, is only available until 2010 and the owner occupier must have some evidence of hardship. There is also a limit for the amount of the loan as well.

If you are not already  facing financial hardships, walking away will damage your credit. For some people who have bad credit this could do irreparable damage to their credit. If you choose to walk away from your home, do the math. Did you purchase your home because it was what you wanted or did you purchase your home because you wanted to make money. Most people purchased their homes because they wanted to live in them. The people who are living in their homes are those who will have an opportunity to keep them.

That is fair. Fair does not always mean equal though.