How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate

How Not to Get Overextended in Real Estate
RUTH 4:1-10

The end of the first decade of the twenty-first century saw a collapse in housing prices in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere, and an increase in the number of people “walking away” from property they “owned” but could not pay the mortgage on; such people would also be aware that the total amount they had to pay came to considerably more than their homes were now worth. At first, this chiefly involved people who simply could not make their payments, sometimes because they had lost their jobs. This week, the newspaper has commented on the way it increasingly involves people walking away even though they have the money to make the payments and are not behind on them. Strategically, it just does not make sense to stay. A man in Miami Beach had contracted to buy a small apartment for $215,000 but knows that similar apartments now sell for $90,000. He would be better off walking away and renting a nicer home at the beach. So he finds himself with an ethical dilemma: because he made a commitment, he should surely keep it...