"Hammer me out a payment I can live with" and "I can always file for bankruptcy" are things I often heard. I'm still really pissed off; my 4 level split level house dropped from 265K to 135K overnight, just because my neighbor went bankrupt and got foreclosed on. But wait, ..I paid my mortgage on time and in full, so WTF?!? There were more shenanigans besides the bailouts. The banksters ended up with a mountain of foreclosed properties and let many of them go into tax default, so in about 2010 Counties started selling houses at public auction that in my opinion wasn't entirely public. Where I lived, properties for the online auction were listed, but one day per week there was a live auction at the court house for which the properties were not listed in advance. Out of curiosity one day I attended said auction and was immediately questioned as to why I was there. This auction was amazing to say the least. A handful of lawyers and bank employees (public record since they had to state who they were representing) were buying up lots of 5, 10 or 20 houses at, get this: $100.00 per House! ...no counter bids!
As a side benefit, all mechanical leans on a property are wiped out at a public auction in that State. Do your own research and draw your own conclusions. Greetings!