Today's Oregonian had a couple of stories about foreclosures and upside down property owners that caught my eye.

The first story told of more home owners walking away from their seriously upside down homes. In parts of Florida, for example, homes have lost three-quarters of their value. Owners are asking themselves if they want to keep paying on a $400,000 loan when the property is worth $100,000. More are saying no, and walking away, with the full knowldge of what such a move does to their credit.

The business section carried a main story about the owners of the Columbian office building in downtown Vancouver turning the property over to its lender, Bank of America. The Columbian is the city's newspaper, currently in Chapter 11.

In the business world, principals always make a risk/reward, upside/downside assessment of a situaltion. If the assessment determines walking away from a financial obligation, they walk away. Not so homeowners.

Months ago, I ran abstracts of several Portland Metro neighborhoods to determine the number of homes whose loan to value ratio was 125%. The high number did not surprise me. The low number of them not in default and not listed for sale DID surprise me. Paying their bills is ingrained in people, and they do not make the same assessment that business groups make.

I predict that will change.