Refinance Turns Recourse Loans Into Non-Recourse Loans?

[perfectfire]

It's been mentioned many times over at the ticker forums that any refinancing turns a non-recourse loan into a recourse loan and thus these loan mod programs offered by the .gov are actually quite bad for most homedebtors. I've been trying to verify this info, but I'm reading a couple of different things. Some say that since a refinance is not a purchase money loan it cannot be non-recourse but they talk about some ways (at least in CA) how a refinance can still end up as non-recourse.

Anybody have some definitive information on this including citations? Info specific to WA (if it varies by state) would be most helpful.

[Alan]

Taking a small loss now to convert the loan from non-recourse might prevent larger future losses. In effect, the government "bailout" might be forcing people who bought in too high to eat their losses. From that perspective it doesn't sound so bad.