Strategic Defaulters Won’t Buy Again Soon
How long will it be before former homeowners who walked away from their mortgages can buy again?
Mortgage lenders are saying that in the future, losing a home because of illness or job loss will be seen differently than choosing to abandon a mortgage obligation for other reasons.
“If you made a strategic decision to default on paying your mortgage, it will work against you,” said Bill Merrell of the National Association of Review Appraisers and Mortgage Underwriters.
It will probably be seven or eight years before walkaways are able to buy another home, said Jay Brinkmann, chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Credit scores are only one component of a complete credit decision,” Brinkmann said. “[In these cases] credit scores are not a good indicator of their willingness to continue to pay their mortgage.”
