Foreclose your house now!

The government is making noises about how foreclosure should be harder. If you're got real property with a mortgage, you got that mortgage with the implicit promise that you could always turn over the house in lieu of the money. But, that promise may well be broken.

Some in the industry want to toughen the consequences for borrowers who walk away. Executives at Fannie Mae say they are working to create harsher penalties for people who walk away from mortgages, and they plan to pursue some borrowers in court. They also want to extend the amount of time between when borrowers default and when they become eligible again for a Fannie Mae-backed loan.

"Of course, we will make exceptions for extenuating circumstances, like divorce or death," says Mike Quinn, a Fannie Mae executive. "But who we are trying to get are the people who can afford to make payments but have decided not to."