Amstel
The Hoarse Whisperer
It depends on where you are. We bought a house in a new subdivision right as things started to go bad, we thought we got a good deal but now we have 20something foreclosures plus 9 abandoned properties in our subdivision, houses are short selling for 120k less than what we paid. Nobody is selling a house in our area for years now, the developer packed up and stopped building. So we have the tax write off, that's a good thing, but theres no way we'd be able to sell in the foreseeable future.
you want the good/shitty news?
you can shortsale your house and buy one of the other homes in your neighborhood for the low $$, and have a mort based on the new loan amount (if you didn't have 120k+ in equity). THEN, the old lender has you claim their loss from the shortsale as your income and the feds let you write that income off.
pretty bizarre.