Non-Immigrant visa and the housing bubble

I was browsing Murthy.com forums and came across this unfortunate situation of a laid of H1-b visa holder. Its painful to see the implications of of a temorary visa and iliquid assets backed by debt. The poor laid off employee probably did everything right but still coudn't escape the deathly spiral of foreclosure, layoffs and a temporary visa. Its a reminder for everyone to keep debt levels manageable, regardless of Visa status. If you have a housing loan, make sure you have atleast six months or more of emergency funds. Sometimes life comes at you hard, when you are not looking.

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I got laid off from a Job almost a week ago. I just have 2 months left on my 6 year H-1B expiry.The chances of finding a new job in this market are very slim. I have a home and car in US. It will be extremely difficult for me, if not impossible, to continue with paying mortgage w/o any source of income. What if I have to go back to India in order to avoid being "Out of Status", in the event I am unable to find a new job. Do I need to file for bankruptcy/foreclosure for the home? I can still sell off my car, but to go thorugh the home foreclosure process may take months..I will not have that much time in the event I have to leave the country..What happens in a case like mine? I genuinely want to stay in US and find a job to pay my mortgage, but in the event, I have to leave the country, who eventually is responsible for the home? And what implications it could have on my future visit to US?Prompt reply will be really appreciated.

20,000 defaulters to lose homes

Here is another video where Nassim Taleb and Daniel Kahneman discusses the crisis hitting the US and consequently the world. Officially Japan is in depression. Just as Lehman was leveraged 30:1, I expect the builders to have similar leverage. Financial wizadry aside, we now turn to psycology for answers.

Source Deccan Chronicle 17/Feb/2009
Around 20,000 houses in the twin cities are to be auctioned after borrowers defaulted on home loan payments. This is the first time that so many houses are being put up for auction. Many of the borrowers are IT employees who were unable to pay the equated monthly instalments because of the current slowdown in the software industry. Several techies who took loans have lost their jobs and others were forced to accept salary cuts making it difficult for them to meet their financial commitments.

Apart from techies, there are many employees in the aviation sector too who are unable to pay their EMIs. Banks are in a piquant situa tion since borrowers have not hurried to pay their EMIs despite the threat of the auction.

In fact, they are willing for the auction as they are not in a position to mobilise resources. The borrowers have no option but to forego the amount that they have invested may come to around 20 per cent of the property value. Banks which provided 80 per cent amount as loan fear that they may not get the amount even if they auction the properties. “There is no option for banks except to dispose the properties when the borrowers are reluctant to clear the dues,” said the IDBI director, Mr K. Narasimha Murthy. “More auctions will be held in the next few months since many borrowers are yet to receive final notices from banks.”