School teacher Shana Richey misses the play room she decorated with Glamour Girl decals for her daughters. Fireman Jay Fernandez misses the custom putting green he installed in his back yard.
教師夏娜·裡奇懷念她用魅力女孩貼紙給女兒們裝飾的遊戲室，而消防員傑·費爾南德茲也念念不忘自己在後院定製安裝的高爾夫球場。
But ever since they quit paying their mortgages and walked away from their homes, they've discovered that giving up on the American dream has its benefits.
但是，自打他們停止繳納月供、搬離自己的房子之後，他們卻發現放棄美國夢也還是有其好處的。
Both now live on the 3100 block of Club Rancho Drive in Palmdale, where a terrible housing market lets them rent luxurious homes -one with a pool for the kids, the other with a golf -course view -for a fraction of their former monthly payments.
現在，他們兩家都住在加利福尼亞州帕姆代爾市Club Rancho Drive道的3100街區。在這一地區，樓市的不景氣使得他們可以租下豪華的房子——一座帶游泳池供孩子們玩，另外一座可以看到高爾夫球場上的風景——而現在的房租都只相當於過去月供的很小一部分。
"It's just a better life. It really is，"says Ms. Richey. Before defaulting on her mortgage, she owed about $230,000 more than the home was worth.
"我們過上了更美好的生活，真的"裡奇說道。在放棄繳納月供之前，她的未償貸款要比房子市值高出了約23萬美元。
People 's increasing willingness to abandon their own piece of America illustrates aparadoxical change wrought by the housing bust: Even as it tarnishes the near -sacred image of home ownership, it might be clearing the way for an economic recovery.
人們越來越甘願放棄自己的房子，這就顯示出樓市泡沫破裂所帶來的一種矛盾性的改變:它在打碎了人們近乎神聖的有房夢的同時，卻也可能在為經濟復甦掃清道路。
Thanks to a rare confluence of factors -mortgages that far exceed home values and bargain -basement rents-a growing number of families are concluding that the new American dream home is a rental.
由於少見因素的同時出現——抵押貸款數額遠超房屋價值和低廉的租金——越來越多的家庭因此得出結論:新時代的美國夢就是租房住。
Some are leaving behind their homes and mortgages right away, while others are simply halting payments until the bank kicks them out. That's freeing up cash to use in other ways.
有些人馬上就將他們的房子和抵押貸款拋諸腦後，也有些人只是停止繳納月供，直到銀行把他們從房子裡踢出去。這樣，他們釋放了現款，可以用在別的方面。
Ms. Richey's family of five used some of the money to buy season tickets to Disneyland, and plans to take a Carnival cruise to Mexico in March. Mr. Fernandez takes his girlfriend out to dinner more frequently. "We're saving lots of money," Ms. Richey says.
裡奇夫人的五口之家用其中一部分錢買了迪斯尼樂園的季票，並且計劃明年3月份去墨西哥參加狂歡節巡遊。費爾南德茲先生則可以時常請女友一起外出就餐。裡奇說，"為此我們省下很多錢。"
The U.S home-ownership rate has charted its biggest decline in more than two decades, falling to 67.6% as of September from a peak of 69.2% in 2004. And more renters are on the way: Credit firm Experian and consulting firm Oliver Wyman said that "strategic defaults" by homeowners who can afford to pay have exceed one million in 2009, more than four times 2007's level.
美國的住房自有率創下了二十多年來的最大降幅，截至9月份，住房自有率是 67.6%，而2004年，這二比例最高為69.2%。此外，還會出現更多租房住的人:益伯利信貸公司和奧緯諮詢公司說，那些有能力支付房貸月供，卻選擇"戰略"生違約"的房主2009年已超過100萬人，較2007年的數字高出4倍多。