Publications

30 Aug 2011
News

Millions of Distressed Properties Stuck in 'Shaky' U.S. Housing Market

04 Jul 2010
News

Housing bust's severity surprising

February 2009 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Fannie Mae: Public or Private?

By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Kimberly Hagan

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established the President's Commission on Privatization to identify federal government functions that could be shifted to the private sector. One agency that the Commission considered was the Federal National Mortgage Association, or... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Institutions; Mortgages; Government and Politics; Business History; Privatization; Private Sector; Laws and Statutes; United States

03 Apr 2011
News

Why Red Flags Can Go Unnoticed

25 Jan 2011
News

Harvard's Retsinas Interview on U.S. Home Prices

27 Jan 2011
Working Paper Summaries

A Brief Postwar History of US Consumer Finance

Keywords: by Andrea Ryan, Gunnar Trumbull & Peter Tufano; Banking

February 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Exercise

Valuation and Discounted Cash Flows

A set of five exercises in valuation of simple fixed income securities. No capital budgeting. Students use present value analysis to compute discounted cash flows. Situations/concepts covered include: future value; mortgage payment and repayment; calculating implicit... View Details

Keywords: Finance

March 2012
Article

Subprime Foreclosures and the 2005 Bankruptcy Reform

By: Donald Morgan, Benjamin Iverson and Matthew Botsch

This article presents arguments and evidence suggesting that the bankruptcy abuse reform (BAR) of 2005 may have been one contributor to the destabilizing surge in subprime foreclosures. Before BAR took effect, overly indebted borrowers could file bankruptcy to free up... View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Borrowing and Debt; United States

Read Now

21 Sep 2012
News

Something for the weekend

January 1993 (Revised November 1997)
Case

BayBank Boston

In 1992, the Federal Reserve released a study of mortgage lending patterns in Boston. It concluded that even when credit factors were taken into account, black and Hispanic applicants experienced higher rejection rates. Richard Pollard, chairman of BayBank Boston, had... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Ethics; Race; Mortgages; Banking Industry; Boston

Find at Harvard

June 2010
Case

Cypress Sharpridge: Raising Capital in a Time of Crisis

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Adam Benjamin Nebesar

Cypress Sharpridge, a REIT investing in agency securities, launched its IPO just before the collapse of the subprime mortgage market. The IPO failed. In June 2009, an IPO window seemed to be opening. Should the company try again? CEO Kevin Grant knew that his company's... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Capital; Financial Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Leadership; Crisis Management; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry

October 2011 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Kroll Bond Rating Agency

The established credit raters were criticized for inflating the mortgage credit bubble that imploded in 2008. A new rating agency, KBRA, is considering how to capitalize on the opportunity this presents and how to enter the industry. A small group of managers have to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Financial Management; Financial Services Industry

12 Nov 2012
News

The SEC vs. J.P. Morgan

08 May 2020
News

Should U.S. Policymakers Force Banks to Waive Overdraft Fees During the Crisis?

June 2015 (Revised January 2016)
Case

To Buy or What to Buy: Your First Home

By: Charles F. Wu, Steven Hirsch, Beatrice Liem, Kevin Ryan and Derrick Snyder

Peter and Kate Rose are a young couple looking to buy their first home in the Boston area. They have narrowed down a target list to three homes, but are also considering whether it makes sense to buy a home in the first place. They must make decisions regarding which... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Real Assets; Investing; Personal Investing; Brokerage; Housing; Property; Private Ownership; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston; New England; Massachusetts; North America

06 Feb 2009
News

Keeping a keen eye on consumer behaviour

Harvard's Retsinas Interview on U.S. Home Prices

Jan. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Nicolas Retsinas, director emeritus of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, talks about the outlook for the U.S. housing market and mortgage foreclosures. U.S. home prices... View Details

February 2020
Case

Seso Global: Building a Blockchain-enabled Property Marketplace in Nigeria

By: Boris Vallee and Yang (Dolly) Yu

The mutual aspiration of addressing the housing shortage and improving real estate market efficiency led Daniel and Phillip to co-found Seso Global in 2017. Seso Global developed a unique integrated platform to streamline and rationalize the process of acquiring and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Blockchain; Developing Markets; Entrepreneurial Management; Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Property; Growth and Development Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Real Estate Industry; Africa; Nigeria