walking away and the quitclaim deed

I am reading over and over again the efforts of some counties to force banks or homeowners of homes that have been abandoned to pay to clean or keep up the place. In the case of a homeowner who has stopped paying a mortgage and moves it is not always the case that the bank takes the home back.

You as the homeowner own the home. It is titled in your name. The urban myth that the "bank" owns the home is not true. They have a security interest in it, the mortgage, but do not own it. Just look at the county title records for proof of this. The result of this is that if you abandon the home you are still responsible for it until the bank formally takes it back. But what if they don't?

There are more reported cases of banks not taking the homes back because they "lost" them or just don't want to pay for the process of getting them back. So who owns it? Well the original homeowner still owns it. As such you are still responsible for taxes and upkeep. In these cases homeowners are being dragged into court to pay maintenance costs the city incurs to keep the home from becoming dilapidated.

So if you are considering walking away what can or should you do? Well first you need to consult a lawyer and a CPA. You need help on the legal and tax consequences of the decision. In addition one small thing to consider if you live in a state that has this type of deed is the quitclaim deed. In California the quitclaim deed simply states that the grantor (the homeowner filing the claim) gives up any interest in the property. Now I am not a lawyer and am not giving legal advice, but the point is this may help assure you have at least a record that you gave up all claims to the property.

In this case it may create many weird issues because this deed just releases claim to the property, it does not really transfer interest such as with a grant deed. So when you bought the place you got title via a grant deed, you relinquish title, and then who has title? I'm sure the lawyers would have a field day with it.
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ps - see a lawyer if you are considering walking away. if you do this you cannot undo it. So if things should turn around you won't be able to claim ownership or sell it or anything else.