A Pew research study says that a third of the American public say it is Okay to walk away from your mortgage.  This research was done in May of 2010 and we believe that if this same study were being done today, late September of 2010 that the numbers would be much different.  We are seeing many more people who are not happy with the way the government and the banks are dealing with the crash in home values and upswing in unemployed and underemployed people.  Our research shows that those who believe that things are going to turn around in the next year or so don’t think that strategically defaulting on their mortgage is necessary.  If defaulting on your mortgage is not necessary, then they don’t believe it is the right thing to do.  The climate has changed considerably in the four months since the Pew study was conducted.  People are seeing that the government programs are not helping the individual homeowners, just the banks.  Those that have tried to deal with their banks for relief have found it to be a long, difficult and emotional struggle with little to no results in the end.  At the Financial Revival Group, our belief is that we are not anywhere near the end of collapse in home values.  We will experience falling values for at least another four years and they won’t stop until we see several things happen first: 1. The elimination of the backlog of bank owned properties 2. An unemployment rate dropping below 8% with evidence of further declines 3. Relaxed lending policies from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 4. Lower spending by the Federal Government. We don’t believe that the government and bankers in our country are serious about solving any of these issues and until they do, we will all continue to pay the price with crashing home values.  Those that get out in front of this issue will be the first in line to buy property at the new lower values in the future. For the full Pew research article, go to http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/765/poll-walking-away-stop-paying-mortgage-homeowners-underwater