Hoboken, NJ

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times states that there is an increasing group of homeowners with top credit scores that are more likely to walk away from an underwater mortgage.

24 million individual credit files were examined for a recent study by the national credit bureau Experian and Oliver Wyman. They have found that homeowners with high credit scores when applying for a loan are 50% more likely to "strategically default" compared with lower-scoring borrowers.

Following you will find a summary of the researchers surprising facts:

* The typical strategic defaulter goes from never missing a monthly mortgage payment to completely stopping.

* Strategic defaults are mainly found in negative-equity markets where home values have drastically dropped since the real estate boom in 2006.

* The nationwide estimate of strategic defaults for 2008 is 588,000, making this more than double the total in 2007.

* A homeowner with a large mortgage balance is more likely to default than a homeowner with a lower balance.

Please contact Eddie Perez Broker-REALTOR, CDPE, if you are you are considering walking away from your home. As a Broker-REALTOR, and CDPE, Eddie can give you all of the options available to prevent the tragedy of losing your home. Eddie’s market includes Hoboken, Jersey City, Weehawken and Union City. He can be reached at eddie@InvestHoboken.com or 201-344-2886.

The Federal Housing Administration is tightening rules for lendersafter reporting that its financial cushion will sink below mandatory levels for the first time in its 75-year history.

"Under no circumstance will any taxpayer bailout be needed," said David Stevens, the FHA's commissioner. The agency doesn't expect to raise fees for borrowers, he said, or curtail the number of loans it insures.

Amid the collapse of the subprime lending market, the government has taken up the slack. The FHA has insured nearly a quarter of all new loans made this year, and about 80 percent of that business is from first-time homebuyers.

But the agency has faced concerns on Capitol Hill that it will soon need a taxpayer bailout. As of this summer, about 17 percent of FHA borrowers were at least one payment behind or in foreclosure, compared with 13 percent for all loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

The FHA's capital cushion will drop below 2 percent of the roughly $675 billion in mortgages insured by the agency this fiscal year, an outside audit has found.

Plummeting home prices are the main reason the agency's financial reserves are dwindling. Its previous analysis had assumed prices would hit bottom this year, but the agency is now expecting prices will fall through next spring. Lower prices mean bigger losses if the FHA has to foreclose and re-sell a property.

The agency itself does not make loans, but rather offers insurance against default. Many borrowers are willing to pay for the insurance because FHA loans only require down payments of 3.5 percent of the purchase price.

The FHA now insures about 5.3 million mortgages, up from about 4 million three years ago.

Last week, the Senate passed legislation that would spend $100 million to upgrade the Department of Housing and Urban Development's computer systems, including FHA, and $20 million to combat fraud.

If you want to know whether you qualify for a loan modification, check out the government's Web site,www.makinghomeaffordable.gov. To find a housing counselor, try NeighborWorks America's site atwww.findaforeclosurecounselor.org.