Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Banking and Finance Law

Boston University School of Law

2008

Mortgages

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Law

Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes Of Home Mortgage Foreclosures, Christopher Robertson, Richard Egelhof, Michael Hoke Jan 2008

Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes Of Home Mortgage Foreclosures, Christopher Robertson, Richard Egelhof, Michael Hoke

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, there has been national alarm about the rising rate of home foreclosures, which now strike one in every 92 households in America and which contribute to even broader macroeconomic effects. The "standard account" of home foreclosure attributes this spike to loose lending practices, irresponsible borrowers, a flat real estate market, and rising interest rates. Based on our study of homeowners going through foreclosures in four states, we find that the standard account fails to represent the facts and thus makes a poor guide for policy. In contrast, we find that half of all foreclosures have medical causes, …


The Problems Of Securitizing Sub-Prime Loans, Tamar Frankel Jan 2008

The Problems Of Securitizing Sub-Prime Loans, Tamar Frankel

Faculty Scholarship

In October 2007, the board of directors of Merrill-Lynch, Smith & Fenner, one of the largest if not the largest brokerage houses in the United States, accepted the request for early retirement of its Chief Executive Officer. The brokerage firm disclosed that it has lost over $8 billion on its investments in sub-prime mortgage loans.1 Merrill Lynch was not the only financial giant to sustain enormous losses. The losses caused market liquidity to dry up. The U.S. government took steps to ease the pressure.2 But the high leverage of the system is still unravelling. The effect of these …