Many homeowners in Colorado are anxious about their prospects for selling their homes. With so many people underwater, it sometimes seems like the housing market will never turn around. In fact, not long ago Goldman Sachs predicted that house prices won't get back to a peak matching 2006 levels for at least two decades.

In this environment, foreclosure often seems like a real possibility for many homeowners. But what about those people who can still pay their mortgages, but find themselves deeply underwater anyway? A growing choice for many of these people is to simply walk away--known as a strategic default.

According to a recent survey, about 30 percent of mortgage defaults in 2010 were by people who were actually able to make their payments. This represented an increase from less than 25 percent the year before. About 12 million homes nationwide are estimated to be underwater, where the homeowners owe more on the property than it is worth.

One reason these kinds of defaults have become more common is that doing so is seen as more socially, and even morally, acceptable. In days past, a mortgage was obtained via a personal relationship with a banker, who might be a fellow parent or churchgoer in the community. Now, however, mortgages are bought and sold to investors far and wide, and even the lenders have trouble determining who an underwater homeowner should even talk to.

Any homeowner on the verge of default or of bankruptcy would be well-served to consult an experienced attorney. Foreclosure and default can often be avoided and allow homeowners to keep their homes.

Source: MSNBC.com, "As home prices fall, more borrowers walk away," John W. Schoen, Jan. 9, 2012