In the midst of the real estate boom, many homebuyers extended their finances to purchase a house that might have been beyond their means. With the market on fire, people were apt to buy with low introductory interest rates and interest-only loans. They believed that their income would increase to meet their payments and predicted that real estate prices would never fall. Unfortunately, adjustable-rate mortgages have adjusted and monthly mortgage payments have gone up. Couple that with the fact that income hasn’t increased, and you will see why more people have fallen behind with their mortgage payments.

As house prices diminish and with interest-only mortgages on the decline, more homeowners actually owe more on their mortgages than what their house is worth. It doubtlessly has occurred to many homeowners that this makes sense, as many are defaulting on mortgage payments as we speak.

Here’s a quick breakdown to explain the situation. You purchase a house for $400,000 that is now worth only $300,000. Thanks to an interest-only mortgage, you still owe $400,000.…