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Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare
Underwater is a fresh perspective on the financial crisis that shows how it is still reverberating more than a decade later, casting doubt on the notion that homeownership is crucial to the American dream and inspiring a massive bet by the country's richest real-estate investors that it's not.
In a dispassionate, yet deeply personal story that zips between Wall Street and Main Street--or, to be more precise, Audubon Drive in Alabama--Ryan Dezember shows how decisions in New York and Washington played out on his street in a booming corner of the Sunbelt that was convulsed by the crash.
Instead of watching the U.S. housing market collapse from trading floors in Manhattan as in previous accounts, readers will witness the mortgage meltdown from his perch as a newspaper reporter, first in the boom-to-bust South and later in New York, among the financiers who are gobbling up suburban homes and profiting in the aftermath.
Through it all, Dezember is an underwater homeowner caught up in the mess.
In a dispassionate, yet deeply personal story that zips between Wall Street and Main Street--or, to be more precise, Audubon Drive in Alabama--Ryan Dezember shows how decisions in New York and Washington played out on his street in a booming corner of the Sunbelt that was convulsed by the crash.
Instead of watching the U.S. housing market collapse from trading floors in Manhattan as in previous accounts, readers will witness the mortgage meltdown from his perch as a newspaper reporter, first in the boom-to-bust South and later in New York, among the financiers who are gobbling up suburban homes and profiting in the aftermath.
Through it all, Dezember is an underwater homeowner caught up in the mess.
288 pages, Hardcover
Published July 14, 2020
33 people are currently reading
292 people want to read
About the author
Ryan Dezember
1 book7 followersRyan Dezember is a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, writing about financial markets and investors. He previously wrote about the oil industry from the Journal’s Houston bureau. Before that he worked as a reporter for the Mobile Register, reporting on the real-estate boom and bust for coastal Alabama’s daily newspaper. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 21, 2020
My brother tells the story of a friend and his wife who in the early 2000s built their dream house in an upscale part of Oakland County, Michigan. After a few years they decided to relocate. They owed more than the house's market value.
Is real estate still a good investment? Perhaps if you are in it for the long run.
My folks bought a modest house in 1972 for $33,900. Between 2004 to 2005 it's value shot up by 72%. By 2009 when I inherited the house it's value had plummeted by 50%.
We weren't selling. It was our retirement home. Today the value has risen again, neighboring houses selling in the range of their high back in 2005.
Perhaps the house's value will plummet again. Who knows what will happen in ten or twenty years? But if we had not inherited a home, we would be renting. That $1500 a month expense would have made us penny-pinchers in our golden years, just as we were when we were starting out. Living without mortgage or rent has made all the difference.
Ryan Dezember was a journalist covering real estate for an Alabama newspaper when he and his wife purchased a modest home in 2005. Within years the marriage was over, the house up for sale. The house would not sell for what he owed. The housing market had collapsed.
It took ten years before Dezember could unload the house. He figures it cost him $60,000. He understood the real estate business, the deals and flipping that made billionaires overnight--selling housing that didn't even exist yet. Still, he was a sucker for the American Dream of homeownership.
Underwater explains the whole messy, disgusting process that ruined the lives of so many. People like my brother's friends who ultimately told the bank, accept the buyer's offer or we are walking away and you'll get nothing. (The bank opted for nothing.)
After we inherited my folk's house, we spent our days off doing yard work and upgrading the electric and appliances. We walked the dog in our so-to-be-neighborhood, noting the foreclosure signs and sale signs. It was heartbreaking. These same houses are now so hot, realtors are clambering for houses to sell.
Dezember's book is full of real estate details of the transactions in the Alabama beach community he covered. It can be overwhelming! The book is humanized by his personal story. The environmental impact of building on the white sand shore of Alabama is distressing to read.
Dezember notes that 55% of owner-occupied home in the US are filled with people like me--seniors who will swamp the market in the 2030s as they downsize or die. That means our home will fetch far less than it does today.
Should we sell when the value is high and rent?
Since the stock market is also unreliable, selling and investing the money could also be risky.
Underwater explains the real estate game and how people like you and me find our investments gutted overnight. "Banks are amoral," Dezember reminds us. It's all about profit.
I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
Is real estate still a good investment? Perhaps if you are in it for the long run.
My folks bought a modest house in 1972 for $33,900. Between 2004 to 2005 it's value shot up by 72%. By 2009 when I inherited the house it's value had plummeted by 50%.
We weren't selling. It was our retirement home. Today the value has risen again, neighboring houses selling in the range of their high back in 2005.
Perhaps the house's value will plummet again. Who knows what will happen in ten or twenty years? But if we had not inherited a home, we would be renting. That $1500 a month expense would have made us penny-pinchers in our golden years, just as we were when we were starting out. Living without mortgage or rent has made all the difference.
Ryan Dezember was a journalist covering real estate for an Alabama newspaper when he and his wife purchased a modest home in 2005. Within years the marriage was over, the house up for sale. The house would not sell for what he owed. The housing market had collapsed.
It took ten years before Dezember could unload the house. He figures it cost him $60,000. He understood the real estate business, the deals and flipping that made billionaires overnight--selling housing that didn't even exist yet. Still, he was a sucker for the American Dream of homeownership.
Underwater explains the whole messy, disgusting process that ruined the lives of so many. People like my brother's friends who ultimately told the bank, accept the buyer's offer or we are walking away and you'll get nothing. (The bank opted for nothing.)
After we inherited my folk's house, we spent our days off doing yard work and upgrading the electric and appliances. We walked the dog in our so-to-be-neighborhood, noting the foreclosure signs and sale signs. It was heartbreaking. These same houses are now so hot, realtors are clambering for houses to sell.
Dezember's book is full of real estate details of the transactions in the Alabama beach community he covered. It can be overwhelming! The book is humanized by his personal story. The environmental impact of building on the white sand shore of Alabama is distressing to read.
Dezember notes that 55% of owner-occupied home in the US are filled with people like me--seniors who will swamp the market in the 2030s as they downsize or die. That means our home will fetch far less than it does today.
Should we sell when the value is high and rent?
Since the stock market is also unreliable, selling and investing the money could also be risky.
Underwater explains the real estate game and how people like you and me find our investments gutted overnight. "Banks are amoral," Dezember reminds us. It's all about profit.
I was given a free ebook by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.
May 17, 2020
I received an advance reading copy (ARC) of this book from NetGalley.com in return for a fair review. I very rarely read books about the economy, but this particular one piqued my interest. Author Ryan Dezember is a journalist who specializes in stories about real estate. Sounded kind of boring at first, but I was in for quite a surprise. Dezember detailed the economic downturn in 2008 that led to thousands upon thousands of foreclosures, defaulted mortgages and homeowners who found themselves owing more on their homes than its actual value--hence, the title 'Underwater'. He described the multiple 'flipping' of condos that were not even built yet. Some sold three or four times before they were completed--each time the selling price increased--giving the same realtor commission after commission. Many city officials were on the take, allowing contractors to pretty much do as they pleased. And then there was Dezember's own personal experience in keeping a home that he bought and couldn't sell. It was a jaw-dropping look at a terrible time, but like a train wreck, you just couldn't stop looking--or in this case reading! Dezember gets right to the point and doesn't pull back on his punches. Well written and well researched, you just won't believe how it all went down. As they say, truth is often stranger than fiction and in this case, the complex truth of why/how the market fell makes for a must-read.
January 23, 2021
"Nightmare" is not an exaggeration. What I learned in this book about housing, real estate, and investing frightened me.
July 12, 2020
I finished this last night and honestly had a hard time sleeping because it was upsetting to realize just how much control Wall Street investors and banks have over situations like this one. The final few chapters talk about new research that shows the blame for the crash has been misattributed to overstretched home buyers when in reality it was investors and flippers who strategically foreclosed that were responsible for the scale of the crash. He also covers the new “Wall-Street-as-landlord” paradigm coupled with Silicon Valley-backed AI for finding suitable listings and y’all, it was wild (and terrifying, to be honest).
I learned a ton and the book was very well-written. My only (mild!) criticism is that there were a few chapters that were particularly dense on technical details of loans and bonds and other financial concepts that was a little hard to follow, but I’m also no economic expert, so it may have just gone over my head.
Thank you to Macmillan & NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
I learned a ton and the book was very well-written. My only (mild!) criticism is that there were a few chapters that were particularly dense on technical details of loans and bonds and other financial concepts that was a little hard to follow, but I’m also no economic expert, so it may have just gone over my head.
Thank you to Macmillan & NetGalley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 18, 2022
Unsurprisingly, greed led to risky practices and a highly precarious market that, once a few bad loans started tipping, turned the whole market bad. I have a better sense of the 2008 crash and what led to it; Ryan Dezember does a good job of making it underground and approachable, even if he presents much if it from his personal experience. (He bought his first home in 2005ish in Alabama, and covered the Gulf Shores condominium-building corruption. His experience is both personal and investigative, and focused on AL with brief nods to what was happening in the rest of the country.) I also have more anger at housing and systems than I did before.
I've come away with the thought that middle class house flippers (not just limited to people who buy dated homes, renovate them, and sell them at a higher price… though I’m skeptical of the contemporary practice of flipping…) are rather scummy — those are the folks who took out second, third, fourth mortgages on their houses in order to buy more houses to hold or sell at a profit. When prices began to crash, and they couldn't sell their excess homes, a number of them just walked away from their payments, further compounding problems for first time home buyers who were left with more stringent penalties.
And financial institutions certainly didn't help, either, assigning variable rate mortgages and balloon payments, and allow for zero-cash down payments, or interest-only payments. And yes, they approved loans to people that perhaps shouldn't have had them, but that is only one piece of the puzzle.
It’s absolutely wild to me that some of the models for mortgage/rate calculations didn't factor in what if home prices started declining.
And now, large corporations like Blackrock’s Invitation Homes have bought up homes and are renting them out. Cultural norms have certainly shifted towards being more accepting of renting vs 30 years ago, when everyone was an owner-occupier of the place they lived, in part because of the loss of Gen X’s ability to access capital in the wake of 2008, and in part bc of the trauma of 2008. Renting allows flexibility without being tied down, and you don’t have to worry about things like paying for a new water heater (well, it’s implicitly baked into your rent). But, rental prices also fluctuate from lease to lease or year to year — one person interviewed for the book had rent increase 30% in the 3 years after Blackrock bought the house from their previous landlord.
A friend of mine who lived in Italy for a time mentioned that Italians have a different relationship to housing — apartment living in the metro areas vs house living in the country is more a matter of taste. As understood it, folks are happy renting their whole lives. This gets into larger thoughts about the cultural value of home ownership, homes as stores of wealth (some Boomers have banked on selling their 4,000+ sq ft homes as a way of bolstering retirement eggs… but who can afford to buy those houses? Who wants to take care of a giant house with a giant lawn? Especially when fewer Millennials are having kids?), affordability, city design, and the sustainability of suburban enclaves.
I've come away with the thought that middle class house flippers (not just limited to people who buy dated homes, renovate them, and sell them at a higher price… though I’m skeptical of the contemporary practice of flipping…) are rather scummy — those are the folks who took out second, third, fourth mortgages on their houses in order to buy more houses to hold or sell at a profit. When prices began to crash, and they couldn't sell their excess homes, a number of them just walked away from their payments, further compounding problems for first time home buyers who were left with more stringent penalties.
And financial institutions certainly didn't help, either, assigning variable rate mortgages and balloon payments, and allow for zero-cash down payments, or interest-only payments. And yes, they approved loans to people that perhaps shouldn't have had them, but that is only one piece of the puzzle.
It’s absolutely wild to me that some of the models for mortgage/rate calculations didn't factor in what if home prices started declining.
And now, large corporations like Blackrock’s Invitation Homes have bought up homes and are renting them out. Cultural norms have certainly shifted towards being more accepting of renting vs 30 years ago, when everyone was an owner-occupier of the place they lived, in part because of the loss of Gen X’s ability to access capital in the wake of 2008, and in part bc of the trauma of 2008. Renting allows flexibility without being tied down, and you don’t have to worry about things like paying for a new water heater (well, it’s implicitly baked into your rent). But, rental prices also fluctuate from lease to lease or year to year — one person interviewed for the book had rent increase 30% in the 3 years after Blackrock bought the house from their previous landlord.
A friend of mine who lived in Italy for a time mentioned that Italians have a different relationship to housing — apartment living in the metro areas vs house living in the country is more a matter of taste. As understood it, folks are happy renting their whole lives. This gets into larger thoughts about the cultural value of home ownership, homes as stores of wealth (some Boomers have banked on selling their 4,000+ sq ft homes as a way of bolstering retirement eggs… but who can afford to buy those houses? Who wants to take care of a giant house with a giant lawn? Especially when fewer Millennials are having kids?), affordability, city design, and the sustainability of suburban enclaves.
June 17, 2020
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Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare by Ryan Dezember is a non-fiction book that the author wrote after making it through the 2008 housing crisis. Mr. Dezember is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
Part memoir, part financial history Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare by Ryan Dezember gives the author’s perspective on the housing crisis, and how Americans are still feeling the effects of it decades later.
Mr. Dezember, like many people, found himself with a home that he can’t sell due to its worth dropping tremendously. The author felt it was his duty to pay back the money he borrowed, come hell or high water.
Did he do the right thing?
And if it was the right thing, was it for his sake or the bank’s?
Why did he feel so compelled to live up to his bad financial transactions when every bank and business do not feel obliged to do so?
These are some of the questions the author tries to answer in this book. Along with the analysis of his own financials misfortunes, the book also takes a look at the 2008 economic downturn. He describes what it feels like to own on your house more than its worth (underwater), as well as describing the flipping of condos in Alabama, sold and re-sold several times before they were even built.
The book goes back and forth between the author’s personal account, a look at the jaw dropping corruption which happened on a local level, as well as national, and even worldwide, implications. The author does capture, on a personal level, what a terrible time it was for thousands upon thousands of people. To see your home, and probably your biggest investment, go down the drain is heartbreaking and certainly has lifelong affects.
Like many books about disasters, this is a slow rolling, but fascinating narrative which is difficult to comprehend, upsetting when understood, but impossible to look away. I must suppose that the author dumbed down a few things to make the book readable for those of us who are not financial professionals. I think this was the right choice, while the truth is always more complex, it’s impossible to keep it all in one’s head and telling small stores, whether personal or about the shenanigans on the Alabama coast, it more relatable and understandable.
Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare by Ryan Dezember is a non-fiction book that the author wrote after making it through the 2008 housing crisis. Mr. Dezember is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
Part memoir, part financial history Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare by Ryan Dezember gives the author’s perspective on the housing crisis, and how Americans are still feeling the effects of it decades later.
Mr. Dezember, like many people, found himself with a home that he can’t sell due to its worth dropping tremendously. The author felt it was his duty to pay back the money he borrowed, come hell or high water.
Did he do the right thing?
And if it was the right thing, was it for his sake or the bank’s?
Why did he feel so compelled to live up to his bad financial transactions when every bank and business do not feel obliged to do so?
These are some of the questions the author tries to answer in this book. Along with the analysis of his own financials misfortunes, the book also takes a look at the 2008 economic downturn. He describes what it feels like to own on your house more than its worth (underwater), as well as describing the flipping of condos in Alabama, sold and re-sold several times before they were even built.
The book goes back and forth between the author’s personal account, a look at the jaw dropping corruption which happened on a local level, as well as national, and even worldwide, implications. The author does capture, on a personal level, what a terrible time it was for thousands upon thousands of people. To see your home, and probably your biggest investment, go down the drain is heartbreaking and certainly has lifelong affects.
Like many books about disasters, this is a slow rolling, but fascinating narrative which is difficult to comprehend, upsetting when understood, but impossible to look away. I must suppose that the author dumbed down a few things to make the book readable for those of us who are not financial professionals. I think this was the right choice, while the truth is always more complex, it’s impossible to keep it all in one’s head and telling small stores, whether personal or about the shenanigans on the Alabama coast, it more relatable and understandable.
October 12, 2021
Ryans focus on this topic is extraordinary but he missed the fact that for many years infomercials ran to sell people courses on how to become real-estate multi-millionaires. This brainwashed many to spend to learn how to flip homes which became an industry that naturally drove the crash.
It is true and useful to know that it was no subprime loans to NINA that caused the crash and the description of the mega-corporations buying up homes, the impact on new buyers, and the continued weakened housing ownership market in the USA is critical to understand how the country and its economics are changing and not for other better!
This generation is burdened with tremendous debt and is outpriced by renter corporations that charge more than they would pay with a mortgage. Every year their rents are increased and with children, it is difficult to leave school systems or find new jobs. Add the added insurance costs of ownership and Trump's removal of tax breaks for those with homes and you have a generation that renters who can not possibly afford their own home. More flexibility but at a tremendous cost.
And if they look for a home in an area with good schools it is likely that a corporation will outbid them. When there is fewer supply rents can increase and the cycle of unaffordable housing close to one work (within 1 hour) continues.
I read this book after the author appeared on NBC Nightly News and was astonished that what was once the bedrock of the American economy is being slowly and constantly chipped away by renter corporaitons who have billions and algorithms to buy foreclosed homes as well as anything in the markets they have targetted.
Americans are unhappy, many are outraged and their pain is shifting the polls & vote as most identify as independents and demand change.
It is true and useful to know that it was no subprime loans to NINA that caused the crash and the description of the mega-corporations buying up homes, the impact on new buyers, and the continued weakened housing ownership market in the USA is critical to understand how the country and its economics are changing and not for other better!
This generation is burdened with tremendous debt and is outpriced by renter corporations that charge more than they would pay with a mortgage. Every year their rents are increased and with children, it is difficult to leave school systems or find new jobs. Add the added insurance costs of ownership and Trump's removal of tax breaks for those with homes and you have a generation that renters who can not possibly afford their own home. More flexibility but at a tremendous cost.
And if they look for a home in an area with good schools it is likely that a corporation will outbid them. When there is fewer supply rents can increase and the cycle of unaffordable housing close to one work (within 1 hour) continues.
I read this book after the author appeared on NBC Nightly News and was astonished that what was once the bedrock of the American economy is being slowly and constantly chipped away by renter corporaitons who have billions and algorithms to buy foreclosed homes as well as anything in the markets they have targetted.
Americans are unhappy, many are outraged and their pain is shifting the polls & vote as most identify as independents and demand change.
November 21, 2020
I liked how this book focused on a specific region - southern Alabama - and the damaged wrought by unchecked greed and development. He recounts the 2008 meltdown quickly, and spends more time on a rather unknown consequence of the financial crisis - how private equity bought up tons of foreclosed homes to rent out. They push out would-be buyers and drive up rental prices in many desirable areas, forcing those on the edge further to the margin. One can only hope the pandemic and subsequent rental moratoriums forces some kind of reckoning, but with home prices going up and more people pushed out of homes, I doubt this predatory behavior will change.
I also liked Ryan's account of how his old neighborhood changed so rapidly, and the various tenants in and out of his burdensome house. He could have walked away, but like so many descent people, has the morals that corporate executives lack. The rich have disassociated themselves from the rest of us.
I also liked Ryan's account of how his old neighborhood changed so rapidly, and the various tenants in and out of his burdensome house. He could have walked away, but like so many descent people, has the morals that corporate executives lack. The rich have disassociated themselves from the rest of us.
July 13, 2020
I was e-mailed an advanced copy of this book because I am friends with the author. When I asked him what he wants me to write in a review he asked for an honest opinion.
This book contains interviews, quotes, and a whole lot of funny stories and one-liners from the authors 17 years of reporting on housing along the "Redneck Riviera" on Alabama's Gulf Coast, on Main Street, and on Wall Street. It's impressive how Dezember weaves everything together to form the story, while also including his own personal story of home ownership. I found this book to be informative, hilarious, and disturbing to whats going on in the United States, and how housing for the have-nots will permanently be effected. I especially enjoyed the cast of characters Dezember wrote about in Alabama as well as the authors writing style.
This book contains interviews, quotes, and a whole lot of funny stories and one-liners from the authors 17 years of reporting on housing along the "Redneck Riviera" on Alabama's Gulf Coast, on Main Street, and on Wall Street. It's impressive how Dezember weaves everything together to form the story, while also including his own personal story of home ownership. I found this book to be informative, hilarious, and disturbing to whats going on in the United States, and how housing for the have-nots will permanently be effected. I especially enjoyed the cast of characters Dezember wrote about in Alabama as well as the authors writing style.
June 1, 2020
4 stars
Underwater by Ryan Dezember
An absorbing and fascinating look at the housing crisis from the viewpoint of a journalist and an underwater homeowner. Dezember meticulously researches the collapse nationwide as well of his small Alabama beach town. I really believed I knew all there was to know about the recession and housing meltdown but I learned a great deal more in this book. This is a truly fascinating book! I really enjoyed the viewpoint of an underwater homeowner who chose not to walk away compared to those of speculators, flippers, other homeowners and banks.
I highly recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. The views given are my own.
Underwater by Ryan Dezember
An absorbing and fascinating look at the housing crisis from the viewpoint of a journalist and an underwater homeowner. Dezember meticulously researches the collapse nationwide as well of his small Alabama beach town. I really believed I knew all there was to know about the recession and housing meltdown but I learned a great deal more in this book. This is a truly fascinating book! I really enjoyed the viewpoint of an underwater homeowner who chose not to walk away compared to those of speculators, flippers, other homeowners and banks.
I highly recommend this book.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. The views given are my own.
June 13, 2020
It was really hard to get into this book. THere was a lot of Alabama businessmen and their names floating around. It was hard to keep track of them all.
However, I kept plugging along and it got more and more interesting. So much so, that I had a hard time putting it down.
I really loved the book when the mayor got arrested.
It was so interesting to learn about what the economists thought happened after the crash.
This book is a MUST read for anyone to know about the Great Recession, Alabama shores real estate, personal story on the housing crash, and the rise of the rental giant companies.
Bravo to the author for being honest about his struggles.
However, I kept plugging along and it got more and more interesting. So much so, that I had a hard time putting it down.
I really loved the book when the mayor got arrested.
It was so interesting to learn about what the economists thought happened after the crash.
This book is a MUST read for anyone to know about the Great Recession, Alabama shores real estate, personal story on the housing crash, and the rise of the rental giant companies.
Bravo to the author for being honest about his struggles.
July 30, 2020
Fascinating account of the 2008 financial collapse and the bursting of the housing bubble that led to it. Dezember provides a unique and nuanced perspective as a former reporter in coastal Alabama who had been reporting on the real estate boom & bust in the area, but also as the owner of a home purchased at the height of the bubble, and therefore unsellable subsequent to the drop in real estate prices. True to his reporting background, his novel is full of facts and figures and research backed findings. If you're interested in understanding how real estate contributed to the financial collapse and how the collapse might echo into the future of real estate, this is the book to read.
December 22, 2020
I’ve been a Realtor for 18 years. I learned the ropes as the market was reaching its peak. This changed since the financial crisis, which was horrible. The town where my office was located was one of the fastest growing in Massachusetts. It averaged more than 100 new building permits over the previous 50 years before dropping to 13 in 2008. This book is important history. The voting public isn’t as well-informed about the financial crisis as it needs to be. Housing and real estate should be a more important part of the national dialogue, and a bigger election year issue at the federal, state, city, and town level.
Michael Lewis’ The Big Short is also great.
Michael Lewis’ The Big Short is also great.
April 19, 2021
Fantastic, troubling book. Journalist Ryan Dezember weaves his own experience of becoming an underwater homeowner with the small town folks going through similar circumstances and with the disturbing market changes occurring without most people noticing--giant corporate entities gobbling up all the single family homes, turning them into rentals, and driving up prices. As the population of homeowners ages, there will be even more stock on the market by 2030, yet it will likely be out of reach of younger people to buy them. I hope the author will continue reporting on this topic--I would love to read more from him.
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to review a digital ARC in exchange for an unbiased review.
October 25, 2020
Half memoir, half journalism, this is an examination of the housing crash from the inside in a story that should be familiar to most of us by now. In this case the author held on to his ill-timed home purchase and spent the next decade or so renting it out at a loss and desperately wishing to get rid of it. The part that really caught me though was the condo-building rush along the gulf coast and the way that condo speculation created a ridiculous, exploitative bubble within a bubble that worsened the housing crisis. Pure greed in action. This is why we can't have nice things...
November 21, 2021
Excellent summation of the author's journalism for the last twenty years. I was with him in spirit for all of it: from the first and second interest-only no-doc mortgages taken out in 2005 at the top of the boom to the hanging on until I could finally afford to sell in 2021. It was eye-opening that there was more to the story than just the banks getting greedy and giving out mortgages to people who shouldn't have gotten them (like me).
August 30, 2020
Personal story interlaced with national stories about the 2008 housing crises. It’s misnomer to say it was all caused by subprime loans. There were far more defaults from middle class “investors” with 3-4+ mortgages. They were the first to go and took down subprime a year later. I also enjoyed a focus on the Phoenix market. To live it and see the investor side. Quick read, nothing mind blowing.
September 23, 2020
The foreclosure crisis told through the eyes of one reporter. Dezember tells the story with a mix of dispassionate reporting and a personal slant. His combination of fact-based reporting with individual narrative brings an economic event down to the stories of the human beings involved. This is a great book for understanding what happened during the Great Recession and how it could happen again.
January 2, 2021
The parallel macro- and microeconomic story of the housing collapse mixed in with the Old South characters and anecdotes made this an entertaining read that left me far more educated on the topic. With a ton of wit and raw human-ness, it’s a relatable story that includes tidbits that I’m sure I’ll share at dinner parties once those become reality again. Well worth the time to read.
July 23, 2020
This is a book that is hard to put down once you begin. It is both entertaining and informative. The author is a master storyteller that brings his characters to life. It was an interesting revelation to see the influence of Wall Street on housing.
July 29, 2020
I'm not entirely sure how to rate this book. It covers the housing market for the last two decades and has a lot of interesting information. I feel like the author passes on some of his feeling of defeat. I do feel more informed for when I decide house hunt again.
August 15, 2020
Apparently, majoring in English is a sure bet one has trouble understanding Economics.
did-not-finish
September 16, 2020DNF 25% I thought this was going to be about the US housing market, but it's mostly just been about big real estate deals on Alabama beaches.
July 11, 2021
Smart, exhaustive and somehow humorous too!
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