In Housing the New Russia, Jane R. Zavisca examines Russia's attempts to transition from a socialist vision of housing, in which the government promised a separate, state-owned apartment for every family, to a market-based and mortgage-dependent model of home ownership. In 1992, the post-Soviet Russian government signed an agreement with the United States to create the Russian housing market. The vision of an American-style market guided housing policy over the next two decades. Privatization gave socialist housing to existing occupants, creating a nation of homeowners overnight. New financial institutions, modeled on the American mortgage system, laid the foundation for a market. Next the state tried to stimulate mortgages-and reverse the declining birth rate, another major concern-by subsidizing loans for young families. Imported housing institutions, however, failed to resonate with local conceptions of ownership, property, and rights. Most Russians reject mortgages, which they call "debt bondage," as an unjust "overpayment" for a good they consider to be a basic right. Instead of stimulating homeownership, privatization, combined with high prices and limited credit, created a system of "property without markets." Frustrated aspirations and unjustified inequality led most Russians to call for a government-controlled housing market. Under the Soviet system, residents retained lifelong tenancy rights, perceiving the apartments they inhabited as their own. In the wake of privatization, young Russians can no longer count on the state to provide their house, nor can they afford to buy a home with wages, forcing many to live with extended family well into adulthood. Zavisca shows that the contradictions of housing policy are a significant factor in Russia's falling birth rates and the apparent failure of its pronatalist policies. These consequences further stack the deck against the likelihood that an affordable housing market will take off in the near future.

The definitive account of the housing bubble that caused the Great Recession—and earned Wall Street fantastic profits. The American housing bubble of the 2000s caused the worst global financial crisis since the Great Depression. In this definitive account, Adam Levitin and Susan Wachter pinpoint its source: the shift in mortgage financing from securitization by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to “private-label securitization” by Wall Street banks. This change set off a race to the bottom in mortgage underwriting standards, as banks competed in laxity to gain market share. The Great American Housing Bubble tells the story of the transformation of mortgage lending from a dysfunctional, local affair, featuring short-term, interest-only “bullet” loans, to a robust, national market based around the thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage, a uniquely American innovation that served as the foundation for the middle class. Levitin and Wachter show how Fannie and Freddie’s market power kept risk in check until 2003, when mortgage financing shifted sharply to private-label securitization, as lenders looked for a way to sustain lending volume following an unprecedented refinancing wave. Private-label securitization brought a return of bullet loans, which had lower initial payments—enabling borrowers to borrow more—but much greater back-loaded risks. These loans produced a vast oversupply of underpriced mortgage finance that drove up home prices unsustainably. When the bubble burst, it set off a destructive downward spiral of home prices and foreclosures. Levitin and Wachter propose a rebuild of the housing finance system that ensures the widespread availability of the thirty-year fixed-rate mortgage, while preventing underwriting competition and shifting risk away from the public to private investors.

"I am finishing up your excellent book Fix & Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom. I have probably read 6 fix & flip books over the past 6 months and your book is one of the best I have read."-ArtAre you ready to start an exciting career or side job flipping houses? Fix and Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom is written by Mark Ferguson, who runs Investfourmore.com a real estate blog with 300,000 views a month. Mark is also an active flipper, having flipped over 100 homes and is currently flipping multiple homes in today's hot market. Mark is also a real estate agent, a rental property owner and a trusted authority when it comes to real estate investing. This book contains all the details need to start flipping houses from scratch or to build your current flipping business bigger and better.In this book you'll discover how to:Finance your flips with banks, hard money, private money and moreFind killer deals that make it possible to make a lot of money flipping housesAccurately predict the costs and repairs that will come with a flipFigure out what houses you should buy and which houses you should stay away fromStructure offers and negotiateFind contractors and keep good contractors working hardSell your houses for top dollar quickly!Scale your business to get to the point of doing ten or more flips at one time (like Mark)Fix and Flip Your Way to Financial Freedom is a wealth of information on flipping houses. It will help you know what it takes to make it big in real estate and avoid many of the costly mistakes most new flippers make. Table of Contents (Chapter Level)About the Author Introduction 1. How Much Money Can You Make Fixing and Flipping Homes? 2. Why I Like to Fix and Flip Homes; Money, Time, Enjoyment...3. What are possible downfalls involved in flipping houses? 4. Why it is Risky to Buy Old Houses to Flip 5. How Much Money Do You Need to Fix and Flip a Home? 6. What are the Costs Involved in Flipping? 7. How much does it cost to fix up a house? 8. How to Determine What to Repair on a Rental Property or Fix and Flip 9. How Long Does it Take to Fix and Flip a Home? 10. How to Finance Fix and Flips 11. How to Finance Fix and Flips with Hard Money 12. How to Find a Portfolio Lender Who Will Finance Multiple Investment Properties 13. How to Make More Money Fix and Flipping Homes 14. What Is the 70 Percent Rule? 15. Should you use a contractor to repair a fix and flip or do the work yourself? 16. How to Find a Great Contractor 17. How to Make Sure the Contractor you Hire Will do a Great Job Repairing Your Home 18. Fix and Flip Case Study Part 1 19. Fix and Flip Case Study Part 2 20. How and Why I Lost Money on a Flip 21. How to Buy Real Estate below Market Value 22. How Can You Get a Great Deal on a House on the MLS? 23. Why You Should Become a Real Estate Agent if You Want to Buy Fix and Flips 24. How to Determine Market Value on Investment Properties 25. How to Sell a House for the Most Money 26. How Much Does it Cost to Sell a House? 27. Why You Should Always Use a Real Estate Agent to Sell a House 28. How to Find an Investor Friendly Real Estate Agent 29. How Can an Investor Get a Real Estate Agent to Find Them a Great Deal? 30. How to Determine Whether to Fix and Flip or Buy and Hold a Property 31. Is it better to Fix and Flip Houses or Buy and Hold Rental Properties? 32. How to Make One Million Dollars a Year Flipping Houses33. Bonus Chapter; How I Bought My Last 20 Houses

We all have fears, but if we can’t face the small ones how will we face the big ones? Kai is afraid to fly a little blue kite. But Kai is also very, very brave, and overcoming this small fear will lead him on a great adventure. Remember: all great adventures start with one little moment. You know the one. It’s like a gentle breeze whispering in your ear what you already know by heart: not even the sky is the limit . . . The only other thing you might want to know about this book is that there are at least three ways to read it. The first way takes only a few minutes. Just follow the rainbow-colored words. The second takes only a little bit longer. Just follow the words haloed with blue and red and the rainbow words too. For the third way, just start at the beginning.

This book explores how deregulation affect housing finance, and gives the broad patterns of development of institutions participating in mortgage markets. It also explores how the new housing finance system influences the cost and affordability of shelter.

Due to the financialization of housing in today’s market, housing risks are increasingly becoming financial risks. Financialization refers to the increasing dominance of financial actors, markets, practices, measurements and narratives. It also refers to the resulting structural transformation of economies, firms, states and households. This book asserts the centrality of housing to the contemporary capitalist political economy and places housing at the centre of the financialization debate. A global wall of money is looking for High-Quality Collateral (HQC) investments, and housing is one of the few asset classes considered HQC. This explains why housing is increasingly becoming financialized, but it does not explain its timing, politics and geography. Presenting a diverse range of case studies from the US, the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Spain, the chapters in this book include coverage of the role of the state as the driver of financialization processes, and the part played by local and national histories and institutions. This cutting edge volume will pave the way for future research in the area. Where housing used to be something "local" or "national", the two-way coupling of housing to finance has been one crucial element in the recent crisis. It is time to reconsider the financialization of both homeownership and social housing. This book will be of interest to those who study international economics, economic geography and financialization.