{"id":70539,"date":"2020-05-22T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2020-05-22T18:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/?post_type=article&#038;p=70539"},"modified":"2025-12-11T11:07:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T16:07:18","slug":"homewreckers-housing-vultures_2020-06-11","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2020\/06\/11\/homewreckers-housing-vultures\/","title":{"rendered":"The Housing Vultures"},"content":{"rendered":" A deteriorating bank-owned house, M<div class=\"leaky_paywall_message_wrap\"><div id=\"leaky_paywall_message\">\t<div class=\"paywall\" id=\"paywall-a\">\n\t\t<div class=\"fadeout\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-content text-center pb-xs-14\">\n\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\tloading=\"lazy\"\n\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=200\"\n\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Sub_PrintDigital_11062022-72ppi.jpg?w=400 400w\"\n\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 200px, 400px\"\n\t\t\t\talt=\"New York Review in various formats\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"paywall-img mb-xs-3\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-20 text-lg-30 mb-xs-1 color-ny-red font-giza\">Continue reading <br\/>for just $1.00 per issue!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Choose a Digital subscription or our best deal \u2013 All Access \u2013 that includes print and digital issues, full archive access, and the NYR App!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.nybooks.com\/ecom\/nyb\/app\/live\/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPMXM01&type=S\" class=\"button font-giza bg-ny-red color-white hover-text-white hover-expand sign-in-subscribe text-xs-16 mb-xs-3 paywall-offer\"><span>View Offers<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<hr class=\"mt-xs-0 mb-xs-3\"\/>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Or\u00a0register\u00a0for a free account to read just this article. <a href=\"\/account\/register\/?level_id=0\" id=\"register\">Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-label color-gray mb-0\">Already a subscriber? <a href=\"\/account\/signin\/\" class=\"paywall-signin color-gray\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"paywall\" id=\"paywall-b\">\n\t\t<div class=\"fadeout\"><\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"paywall-content text-center pb-xs-14\">\n\t\t\t<img\n\t\t\t\tloading=\"lazy\"\n\t\t\t\tsrc=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=200\"\n\t\t\t\tsrcset=\"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=200 200w, https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/PrintandDigital-2x_FreeNotebk_02112021-B.jpg?w=400 400w\"\n\t\t\t\tsizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 200px, 400px\"\n\t\t\t\talt=\"\"\n\t\t\t\tclass=\"paywall-img mb-xs-3\"\n\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-20 text-lg-30 mb-xs-1 color-ny-red font-giza\">Continue reading for just $1 an issue and get a FREE notebook! 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Choose a Digital subscription or our best deal\u2014All Access\u2014that includes print and digital issues, full archive access, and the NYR App!<\/p>\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/subscribe.nybooks.com\/ecom\/nyb\/app\/live\/subscriptions?org=NYB&publ=NY&key_code=EPKXM01&type=S\" class=\"button font-giza bg-ny-red color-white hover-text-white hover-expand sign-in-subscribe text-xs-16 mb-xs-3 paywall-offer\"><span>View Offers<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t<hr class=\"mt-xs-0 mb-xs-3\"\/>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-xs-16 mb-xs-2\">Or\u00a0register\u00a0for a free account to read just this article. <a href=\"\/account\/register\/?level_id=0\" id=\"register\">Register<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p class=\"text-label color-gray mb-0\">Already a subscriber? <a href=\"\/account\/signin\/\" class=\"paywall-signin color-gray\">Sign in<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n<script>\n\t\/\/ Set link current page variables\n\tvar $ = jQuery;\n\tvar paywall_type = 'register';\n\t$('.paywall-offer').each(function(index) {\n\t\tvar offerLink = $(this).attr('href') + '&current_page=' + window.location.href;\n\t\t$(this).attr('href', offerLink)\n\t})\n\t$('.paywall-offer').on('click', function() {\n\t\tdataLayer.push({'event': 'Paywall Click', 'paywall_type': paywall_type });\n\t})\n\tvar signinLink = $('.paywall-signin').attr('href') + '?current_page=' + window.location.href;\n\t$('.paywall-signin').attr('href', signinLink);\n\n\t\/\/ Push paywall custom event for gtag if it becomes visible\n\t(function() {\n\t\tif (!document.getElementsByClassName('article-main-content').length) {\n\t\t\treturn;\n\t\t}\n\n\t\t\/\/ https:\/\/www.simoahava.com\/analytics\/google-tag-manager-dom-listener\/\n\t\tvar targetNode = document.getElementsByClassName('article-main-content')[0];\n\t\tvar config = { attributes: true, attributeFilter: ['style'] };\n\t\tvar callback = function(mutationsList, observer) {\n\t\t\tfor(var index = 0; index < mutationsList.length; index++) {\n\t\t\t\tvar mutation = mutationsList[index];\n\t\t\t\tif (mutation.type === 'attributes') {\n\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log('The ' + mutation.attributeName + ' attribute was modified.');\n\t\t\t\t\tif (document.querySelector('.paywall')) {\n\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push({'event': 'Paywall Visible', 'paywall_type': paywall_type });\n\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect();\n\t\t\t\t\t\treturn true;\n\t\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t};\n\n\t\tvar observer = new MutationObserver(callback);\n\t\tobserver.observe(targetNode, config);\n\t})()\n<\/script>\n\n<div id=\"paywall-ad\" class=\"inline-banner-ad d-flex flex-column\">\n\t<p class=\"text-label-sm mb-xs-2 mt-xs-2 color-gray text-center\">Advertisement<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1600792242058-0\" style=\"margin: 0 auto;\"><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In an alternate reality, the one progressives wanted, the government wouldn\u2019t have bailed out the banks during the 2008 crash. When mortgage-backed securities began catching flame like newspaper under logs, the government would have prioritized struggling homeowners instead. It would have created a corporation to buy back the distressed mortgages and then worked to refinance those mortgages\u2014lowering monthly payments to reflect the real underlying values of the homes or adding years to the mortgages to make the monthly payments more manageable. If a homeowner missed mortgage payments, rather than initiating a foreclosure after two months, as was done by many banks during the recession, the government would have held off for an entire year, maybe more. In the event the homeowner still couldn\u2019t keep up, the government would have acquired the home, fixed it up, and rented it out until another person bought it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":1623312,"template":"","categories":[18773,18771,18750,18751],"tags":[],"coauthors":[18700],"class_list":["post-70539","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economics","category-ideas","category-politics","category-united-states-politics","article-type-book-review","article-form-review","_issue-2020-06-11","author-roles-by","author-cap-francesca-mari"],"acf":[],"parsely":{"version":"1.1.0","canonical_url":"https:\/\/nybooks.com\/articles\/2020\/06\/11\/homewreckers-housing-vultures\/","smart_links":{"inbound":0,"outbound":0},"traffic_boost_suggestions_count":0,"meta":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","headline":"The Housing Vultures","url":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2020\/06\/11\/homewreckers-housing-vultures\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/articles\/2020\/06\/11\/homewreckers-housing-vultures\/"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Farm_foreclosure_sale.jpg?w=101","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Farm_foreclosure_sale.jpg"},"articleSection":"Economics","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Francesca Mari"}],"creator":["Francesca Mari"],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The New York Review of Books","logo":""},"keywords":[],"dateCreated":"2020-05-22T18:30:02Z","datePublished":"2020-05-22T18:30:02Z","dateModified":"2025-12-11T16:07:18Z"},"rendered":"<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"wp-parsely-metadata\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"headline\":\"The Housing Vultures\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/11\\\/homewreckers-housing-vultures\\\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/06\\\/11\\\/homewreckers-housing-vultures\\\/\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/Farm_foreclosure_sale.jpg?w=101\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.nybooks.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/Farm_foreclosure_sale.jpg\"},\"articleSection\":\"Economics\",\"author\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Francesca Mari\"}],\"creator\":[\"Francesca Mari\"],\"publisher\":{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"name\":\"The New York Review of Books\",\"logo\":\"\"},\"keywords\":[],\"dateCreated\":\"2020-05-22T18:30:02Z\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-22T18:30:02Z\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-11T16:07:18Z\"}<\/script>","tracker_url":"https:\/\/cdn.parsely.com\/keys\/nybooks.com\/p.js"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/70539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/70539\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1652142,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/70539\/revisions\/1652142"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1623312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70539"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nybooks.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=70539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}