I woke up and was amazed at the topic still going strong...lots of opinions and great advice. Yes, we do both work full-time now, but our only daughter at home is in community college. Once she is out on her own, the short sale to cut our losses will be a real possibility.
It is true that the house may come back in value, perhaps enough to pay the mortgage off, but I still have to dump a lot of money in it to fix things just to live in and have a chance to sell it. That being said, at least some of the payment is going to principal, so that helps a little, and in ten years, may make a big difference in whether we are still upside down.
The rental market here is such that, currently, I could rent the house perhaps for $250 less than my payment. But more likely it would be $350 less than my payment.
I have noticed that the rosy picture syndrome is pretty common on the blogs I have started reading, but at the same time, I can also sense an excitement at not going with the flow and forging a different way of living. That's what attracted us: the fact we can maybe save some coin, but more importantly, enjoy our time in the years we have left by not being a slave to a S&B house.
