Foreclosed
Mortgage Servicing and the Hidden Architecture of Homeownership in America

Analyzes the poorly regulated world of mortgage servicers and offers reforms designed to protect consumers and ensure financial stability.

Christopher K. Odinet (Author)

9781108406352, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 7 February 2019

300 pages, 1 b/w illus.
23 x 15.3 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

'This book is important reading for anyone who has a mortgage. Odinet shines a light on yet another exploitative industry hidden in the shadows of the financial crisis.' Rashmi Dyal-Chand, Northeastern University, Massachusetts, and author of Collaborative Capitalism in American Cities: Reforming Urban Market Regulations

In Foreclosed, Christopher K. Odinet gives voice to the stories of homeowners that have been neglected, particularly those facing foreclosure and deep financial distress. The book reveals the powerful and often invisible mortgage servicing industry, the tremendous discretionary power it wields over the housing lives of most Americans, and the servicing problems that still persist today. In doing so, it unveils a quiet and dangerous market shift in mortgage servicing - namely, an ongoing move toward a shadow banking sector where regulation is weak - that threatens the stability of our housing finance system. Ultimately, the book demonstrates how the law does not afford homeowners the protection most think and how regulation of these mortgage middlemen remains weak. Foreclosed should be read by anyone concerned with the state of housing and home ownership in the United States.

Introduction
Part I. The Housing Crisis, its Architects, and its Victims: 1. The lead-up to the crisis
2. The crisis hits
3. At your (mortgage) service
Part II. Foreclosures, Middlemen, and Homeowners in Crisis: 4. The most important document you've never read
5. Lost and sign on the dotted line
6. Break-In foreclosures
Part III. Solutions and Moving Forward: 7. Regulating mortgage servicing
8. Reforming mortgage law and practice
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Housing & property for the individual - buying/selling & legal aspects [VSH], Property law [LNS], Banking law [LNPB], Financial law [LNP], Business ethics & social responsibility [KJG]