For almost a year, the Obama administration has been pressuring banks into renegotiating home mortgages to help homeowners stay in their homes. If your mortgage is seriously underwater, why bother?

Governments and banks don’t want you to exercise your legal options in foreclosure or bankruptcy. They would rather you empty your 401(k) to pay for an asset that will jeopardize your retirement and put your family at risk.

Politicians want us to buy houses instead of rent. People tied to a home are more easily controlled. You can’t quit a job you hate when that mortgage comes due each month.

Let’s address the ethical and moral side of mortgage default.

People lose sleep at night, fight with their spouses, and look for a divorce lawyer when they can’t pay their bills. How is this sinful?

Almost no one except identity thieves sign a mortgage with no intention of paying anything back. You intentions were pure, but circumstances change.

Adjustable rate mortgages can reset and double and triple your monthly payments.

I hear bankers and politicians and pundits and preachers shaming people into paying their mortgages even if the loan is hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the house is now worth.

Does it make any sense to continue paying on a property that is worth hundreds of thousands of dollars less than it could be sold for?

If you pay an exorbinant loan amount when you could rent the same house for less, you are taking food out of the mouths of your children. You are keeping your family poor while making your banker rich.

A mortgage is a contract. The bank does not lend you money because you are morally pure. They charge interest. If you default on your mortgage payments, they have options they can legally exercise such as foreclosure.

Before you choose default or strategic default, consult with a local attorney who can explain your options. Some states allow banks to obtain deficiency judgments for their losses even if they agreed to a short sale.

If you are underwater, I hope you live in a non-recourse state. The bank can often wait years until you are in better financial condition to obtain the judgment, and even longer to try to collect on it.

Bankers want you to believe that it’s shameful and immoral to ditch your mortgage, but you have already agreed to the penalty such as foreclosure. That risk is a part of doing business for the bank.

When it comes to the bankers themselves, they do not feel so obligated.

According to the Washington Post, the Mortgage Bankers Association sold its Washington, D.C. headquarters for $41 million, about half what it paid three years ago. Was their short sale immoral? Someone in their membership may have taken a huge hit. I have not seen any apologies.

Do what is in your best interest. Falling in love with a house does not make it a sound investment.

After all, slavery was once considered moral. A strategic mortgage default may keep you out of economic slavery without having to seek the protection of the bankruptcy court.

Want to find out more about Stategic Mortgage Default, then visit Burn Down the Freaking Mission for alternative financial strategies.