The public often misunderstands the concept of mortgage securitization so it is necessary to provide a brief description of the process, its origin, purpose, and current function. Although it is true that many of the financial products and structures in use today are incredibly complex it must be noted that the key component of it all, money and the forms it can assume, is a knowable and predictable commodity. Some of the investment structures created out of monthly mortgage payments can, and do, keep legions of economists employed. However, “what can be understood in a relatively clear way … are the forms money takes, by which [is meant] the underlying instruments created to allow people and institutions to crystallize and move money- to borrow, invest, save, and speculate.(Christophers, 2009)”
Prior to the creation of securities there existed a lively market in property in the United States. It was common practice to bid on property and to see the rise and fall of locally speculative property markets. The Depression brought about a slowdown in this process and presented serious barriers to the trade in property as credit became difficult for even good borrowers with jobs to obtain. The decline in home ownership also presented serious social consequences as the neighborhoods of Depression-era American began to fracture. People became disconnected from their homes and social networks by the process of eviction and unemployment. The system in place up until this point had achieved remarkable success in fostering the creation of vibrant networks of communities. This success represented the efforts of local agents to control land for
7
the prospect of the rent it could produce, ground rent being the source of wealth for many (Simmel et al., 1997). However, the system was flawed in the sense that land is an unattractive location for investment. It is illiquid, costly to maintain and sell, and prevents the extraction of profit until the end of a long period of stagnation, during which time market forces, changes in local development, or acts of God can destroy the investment (Weber, 2002).