Walking Away From Your Mortgage: 3 Reasons It's a Bad Idea  If
all the stories in recent months about walking away from your
mortgage are to be believed, the practice of not paying this
once-sacred obligation has become, if not quite acceptable, then
at least understandable. Whether a person is underwater on his
or her mortgage, is unemployed, or both, when you listen to the
reasons why they decide to give the house to the bank, it
actually starts to make sense.  But the costs aren't always
apparent.  If you paid $250,000 at the top of the market three
years ago, with a 5 percent down payment on a home that is now
worth $150,000, why would you continue paying a mortgage that is
more than the home is worth? Why not walk away, find a nice
rental, and wait out the downturn while you do everything you
can to repair your credit rating?  "We've seen an increase in
the number of people contacting us about it," said Jon Maddux,
CEO of YouWalkAway.com. His company, for a fee, counsels people
on how to implement a stra