Weerd asks, “Why Bother?” — good question, that. Makes me wonder why more people haven’t just walked away. Similar boat for us: a simple home that needs work, at a price we could afford, in a tolerable but not great neighborhood, with a fixed rate mortgage. But we’re watching the market value on the place plummet all the time.

And a bunch of people who can’t do their own math and figure out their own income and expenditures are now looking for handouts to fix their poor money handling decisions?

I think the reason I keep making my mortgage payments is a moral and ethical one. I don’t want to be a leech on the system. I’m paying my mortgage because that’s the choice I made. I’m making my car payment (or buy older cars that need work) because that’s my decision.

I don’t expect somebody to bail me out financially for the choices that I make.