1) In the 80's S&L debacle, I know of several instances where the banks approached underwater homeowners with a demand to increase their equity in the property. Of course few people did this, but my question is do you know if banks still have that legal option as most mortgages are written today?

2) Also in that time, the IRS was nailing folks for tax on the "gain" realized on the forgiven portion of a mortgage debt. This subject has not some up in any recent discussion I've heard. Do you know anything of the status of this today?