教師夏娜•里奇懷念她用Glamour Girl美女貼紙給女兒們裝飾的游戲室。消防員杰•費爾南德茲念念不忘自己在后院安裝的迷你高爾夫球場。
School teacher Shana Richey misses the play room she decorated with Glamour Girl decals for her daughters. Fireman Jay Fernandez misses the custom putting green he installed in his back yard.
不過,打從他們不再繳納月供、搬離自己的房子之后,卻發(fā)現(xiàn)放棄美國夢也自有其好處。
But ever since they quit paying their mortgages and walked away from their homes, they've discovered that giving up on the American dream has its benefits.
如今,他們兩家住在加州帕姆代爾市Club Rancho Drive道的同一個街區(qū)。在這一地區(qū),樓市的不景氣讓他們可以租下豪華的房子。其中一座是帶游泳池的,孩子們可以玩;另外一座可以看到高爾夫球場上的風景。而房租都只相當于過去月供的很小一部分。
Both now live on the 3100 block of Club Rancho Drive in Palmdale, where a terrible housing market lets them rent luxurious homes -- one with a pool for the kids, the other with a golf-course view -- for a fraction of their former monthly payments.
里奇說,我們過上了更美好的生活,真的是這樣。在放棄繳納月供之前,她的未償貸款比房子市值高出了約23萬美元。
'It's just a better life. It really is,' says Ms. Richey. Before defaulting on her mortgage, she owed about $230,000 more than the home was worth.
人們越來越甘愿放棄自己的房子,這顯示出樓市泡沫破裂所帶來的一種矛盾性的改變:在樓市泡沫破裂打碎了人們近乎神圣的有房夢的同時,卻可能也在為經(jīng)濟復蘇掃清道路。
People's increasing willingness to abandon their own piece of America illustrates aparadoxical change wrought by the housing bust: Even as it tarnishes the near-sacred image of home ownership, it might be clearing the way for an economic recovery.