A Strategic Default is when someone can afford to make their mortgage payment but still chooses to walk away from the home because of their negative equity position.  Usually they call their Get-a-way a “business decision” just like a bank would make and move on without too much moral hand-wringing.  The concept of Strategic Defaults has continued to gain more media coverage, which is making it more social acceptable as an option for home owners to consider.

We have talked on the show about how this is one of the great risks to the housing market in 2010.  If people begin to have a widespread acceptance that not only is it okay to walk away from the mortgage payment even if you can afford, but it is in fact “good business” this would have a drastic impact on the market.  This is especially true if, as some reports say, up to 25% of all mortgages are upside down in America.

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae finally stepped out of the darkness on this issue.  They have stated two really important things in regard to Strategic Defaults:

1. If your home goes into foreclosure and they determine that it was for reasons within your control (in other words there weren’t health issues or a job loss) you will not be eligible for a new mortgage from Fannie Mae for 7 years.  Since Fannie Mae has traditionally been the biggest supplier of mortgage money, that means quite a lot.

2. If you choose to “walk away” from your home that you could still afford, and ff you live in a state that allows them to come after you for the loss, they will now come after you.  Before, this was not an area Fannie Mae was putting much effort into, mainly because of a lack of staffing.  Now that they grasp the potential danger to the market place they are rushing in, guns pulled and ready to blaze away to knock down this idea before it gets any more traction.

This becomes all the more important to Fannie Mae as they begin another “new” push to get lenders to work harder on making short sales come together to sell these underwater homes rather than just have people walk away from them.  For once, one side of the policy team seems to be paying attention to what the other side is trying to do.  Now we just have to wait and see if the genie is already out of the bottle with the idea.  Fannie Mae must hope that people are afraid of getting the 7 year ”hammer” is enough to keep the getaway car in park.