And I would suggest that they are going to increase to an even higher rate because of the unemployment rates that continue to rise across the country. Remember the “good news” that the gov keeps feeding is us that less people were laid off, not that more people were hired. So the job loss is increasing not decreasing.

Add to all this a dollar that continues to bleed and inflation is not far behind as gold – an inflationary leading indicator – shows us.

Consider too how banks are leveraged.

This is one of the best quotes I have seen in a long time. Imagine being in my shoes… I put $0 down and owe $250,000 more than my house is currently worth. I also have a balloon payment coming up in a few years which I’d never be able to make anyway. If you are going to do it best time is at the end of the year (like I did) in my opinion. You want your full tax write of for the last year you were paying the mortgage. If you live in a hard hit area like me it will take at least 1 year to get through the foreclosure process possibly 18 months. If you are paying $3000 a month on your mortage like me thats 36-50k in your pocket by the time the process finishes. I may be a jerk, but I’m a jerk who will surive this recession and hopefully come out financially stronger.