Behind the Housing Crash: Confessions from an Insider

Just finished reading the book, and I recommend it. I have problems with it, but still give it 5 stars because it is a valuable contribution to economics. My main problem is that Clarey says not to completely blame the Fed for the housing crash. I disagree. They were 100% responsible. So why the high rating?In Austrian economics we blame central banking for the boom/bust cycle and we attribute it to "misallocation", and lately "moral hazard". Clarey provides a first-hand account of what that looks like -- indeed a valuable contribution. It is a vindication of what we have predicted and it provides the gore-ey details.However with regards to my disagreement with Clarey, let's suppose that the Fed had been restricted to its original charter -- providing loans to handle duration mismatch during crisis's. And let us suppose that interest rates were set by markets depending on paid-in capital and deposits of gold or silver. Further let us suppose that banks could only loan out said paid-in capital and deposits, and that there was no interbank market financed and set by the Fed. What would have happened to interest rate? They obviously would have risen right when the Fed was cutting rate. Could reverse-am loans and other liar loan products even exist? No. The Fed in its current revision is the problem

I am very satisfied with this book. The author explains the causes of the housing crisis from his own perspective in the mortgage industry. From my perspective as a licensed independent real estate broker, I saw the egregious behavior of realtors and mortgage brokers steering financially illiterate borrowers into toxic mortgages. They didn't care about the best interests of their clients, but only for their commission checks. The National Association of Realtors (N.A.R.) was at ground zero of the Housing Crisis, and their members (realtors) were in the best position to recognize and stop the crisis, but they did absolutely nothing to protect their clients. That's one of the reasons why I got out of the realtor business.

Aaron Clarey's book "Behind the Housing Crash: Confessions from an insider contains various topics from the primary financial system of banks to specifics in different ratios corresponding to different banking metrics such as Housing Supply to Equilibrium,Loan to value, and equity based loans. The way Clarey attempts to cover these range of topics is by providing anecdotal situations as well as providing an analysis into what made these loans unsuitable for transaction,while correspondingly providing a statistical overlay that would support his conclusions when diving into his central themes of economics; for example, during his underwriting times, he mentions individuals inflating home asset prices in order to use this fabricated value as collateral for an supplementary loan proposal, he dives into why the specific property was inflated and then after providing additional examples, he provides the reader with statistics on the overall marketplace so that the bigger picture is more evident. In conclusion, if you want to get a better grasp of what transpired into the years leading to the 2008 financial Crisis; this book will give you a solid foundation of the economics from a human point of view.

Behind the Housing Crash is a great read if you are looking for a boots-on-the-ground perspective of the housing crash. There is a glut of books and blogs on the macros of the crash (most notably "The Real Crash" by Peter Schiff) but this is a great read for its unusual perspective.Aaron tackles some of the more technical aspects of the economy he dealt with as an analyst during the boom, and it is interspersed with horrifying/hilarious anecdotes. These tales mostly pertain to the reckless and unaccountable greed practiced by bankers and real estate developers.Reading a macro-heavy book about the Housing Crash is worth your time, but if you're reading this review you probably already have your fill... reading Aaron Clarey's book on it will give you a great idea of the insanity he was nearly driven to as he was bucked, bullied and ignored for simply saying that a man under investigation by the FBI shouldn't be granted a loan, or that, with four times the houses as buyers on the market, that his bank ought not finance any more.Highly recommended.

Did you ever wonder how the housing crash happened? Aaron Clarey worked in banking and saw it from the front lines. Slimy bankers gave loans to anyone who could fog a mirror, then sold the bad loans as AAA grade investments. Entertaining in a dark way. For additional info, watch a movie called “ The Big Short “

This book will go inside closed doors to expose the moronic bankers and real estate developers. If you have any interest in learning about the housing crash, this is a must read. It gives a true insider's view about the deals scum bag bankers were doing that crashed the market. The POV is one I haven't seen anywhere because popular mainstream resources about the crash really only talk about the Fed and mega banks. Aaron doesn't go higher than a community bank in this book, which makes for degenerate people borrowing money that commission hungry bankers well know they won't pay back. The stupidity of bankers and degenerate people that Aaron writes about will have you laughing uncontrollably.

This may be Aaron Clarey's best work. It is his experience in banking leading up to the collapse in the housing market. There are numerous stories that cover the cause of the crisis, projections about how the crisis would (and did) play out, and recommendations that could prevent such a crisis from happening again. Parallels can be drawn to potential bubbles today, possibly in the stock market, auto loans, and student loans in 2017.Would recommend for anyone that wishes to learn about the housing crisis, wants an inside look at the finance world, or is just fascinated with stories like this.

In any organisation, it's the mid-level insiders who see just how bad everything is from top to bottom. Clarey, aka "Captain Capitalism", was just such an insider in American Credit Unions. Let's just say that the business and moral quality of the people he describes is, well, mixed. If you want to know why the UK banks got into so much trouble in the Oughties, read this, because only the names and the number of zeros on the deals are different. Greed, stupidity, pettiness, and downright moral failure from top to bottom. Other reviewers have said "repetitive" and I hope he takes some time off from his internet activities to produce a tighter second edition. I wondered why Captain Capitalism's informed rants on economics are also so heated, and knowing that this was his early experience makes the source of his passion and frustration clear. You want to know what it's like on the inside? Read this.