Q: Strategic default. What are the chances of deficiency judgement? Can a lawyer help prevent this?

A: We have seen actions to collect on deficiencies following foreclosure much more frequently than what we traditionally saw at the beginning of the housing collapse. Hopefully you will sell before foreclosure, but if you don't and a foreclosure action is filed, I highly recommend that you engage legal counsel to defend the case so that you will have the most options available to you going forward. Best of Luck! Jennifer

A: There is no telling what the lender's policies for your factoid will be at the time you become ready for this decision on their part.

Typically close calls with equity / cash available to the borrower don't go well for the borrower.

Also if you go into default your credit (not your score but your defaults) will like like the worst credit scofflaw - late pay / no pays show no differentiation.

So you need a great realtor and you need to avoid the issue with a timely sale.

A: 50/50. It totally depends on your lender. I would not let your loan go into default; once in default you may end up owing more than the house is worth due to fees and put yourself in a really bad position. Once the fees begin to pile up it will be near impossible to get out from under it absent a short sale at that point If your realtor cannot sell your house in 3-4 months in this low inventory market then they are pretty poor at their job. I would set aside a few mortgage payments for the old house just in case.