<prompt> Human: Hello,At the end of 2009, I bought a home in Connecticut - a 912ft ranch style house, 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, unfinished basement for 179,900. The school system here is great, so the taxes are a bit... Taxing... and since we are exactly between three major cities for CT Hartford, New London, and Norwich we are in a suburban setting. Each lot is about .38 of an acre here and there about something along the lines of 100 homes in this neighborhood.I got the Obama money back when I bought this home and started a family here. I love my home, but the value of it on Zillow and other websites that give home values has it falling further and further. I am currently in shock at seeing it priced at 117K. Just found three more houses in the neighborhood in pre-foreclosure. The plan when I bought this place was to live here for 5 years and sell at a 10k profit. People in my family have been telling me that finishing a basement is not good for my home value, so I nixed that idea shortly after buying the home.Am I completely fucked? What are my options here? I thought buying a home was a good thing for my family and the economy, but now with two kids this place is shrinking, my future is looking dimmer and dimmer. I have friends buying homes triple the size for thousands less 50k less to be precise, and am starting to feel like I made the wrong decision. Im 30, and need more room. I feel trapped. Ive tried to refinance, but have no equity in the place because of the many foreclosures in this neighborhood. Im reading things like housing market expected to grow 1.5 percent in 2014 but my house has fallen 35 percent in value. Has anyone else had any experience with this? I cant even get a break on the mortgage because I have paid it on time every time. Where are there no breaks for people who do everything that is expected of them?I guess thats a whole different animal of a question but what would you guys do if you were me?  <response>: Personally, I am very risk-averse and am not yet a homeowner. I think that youre going to be OK if you have a little patience. The first thing you might want to come to terms with is the fact that you probably have plenty of space, even with the kids. Im sure its tight quarters, but more space is a luxury. Also, five years is a relatively short time-frame. In the long run youll probably be fine, especially if youre in a good school district. From the financial perspective, however, it all depends on the interest rate youre paying and how much youve paid into it thus far. If you didnt put too much down, it could make sense to walk away from it, provided you dont think it will recover its value. Its a tough call to make in a volatile market.EDIT: Changing an its for the correct its. Apologies to all. 