Morgan Stanley Just Walks Away From Five San Fran Office Towers

[girl gone mad]

Posted for those who still believe it's unethical for an underwater homeowner to walk away from his or her mortgage. Clearly, the big banks do not feel the same sense of moral obligation.

Morgan Stanley Just Walks Away From Five San Fran Office Towers
http://www.businessinsider.com/morgan-stanley-just-walks-away-from-five-san-fran-office-towers-2009-12">The Business Insider

Morgan Stanley is handing five San Francisco office buildings back the lenders who financed their acquisition.

The properties were purchased from the Blackstone Group near the top of the market. Their values are now thought to have declined as much as 50%, according to Bloomberg. Basically, it looks like Morgan Stanley is acting like many homeowners with underwater mortgages—and just walking away.

Officially Morgan Stanley says this isn’t a default or a foreclosure. “This isn’t a default or foreclosure situation,” Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Alyson Barnes told Bloomberg. “We are going to give them the properties to get out of the loan obligation.”

But unofficially, there’s not much separating this from jingle mail.