This study examines how applicants identified as Asian, Black or Hispanic differ in mortgage closing outcomes compared to the remaining applicants. First, the findings show that minority applicants are somewhat less likely to close a loan for purchase, but equally likely to close a loan for...

After allowing applicants to "lock" the interest rate, mortgage originators are concerned with protecting themselves from adverse outcomes due to interest-rate changes. One may expect applicants would strive to close applications when rates rose, while letting themselves fall out when rates...

This research examines the implications of contingent-claims models for empirical research on default. We focus on the probability of default over a short horizon given the current state of the world, "i.e.", the conditional probability of default, which more closely resembles the estimates of...

This article groups the remarks of a multiple listing service listing into common themes and then uses a hedonic pricing model to determine whether such comments are priced in a meaningful way. The comments provide information on the motivation of the seller, location of the property and...

This paper presents a game theoretic model of property tax assessment that allows a tax appraiser to either choose a high or a low assessment. The owner either accepts or challenges this assessment. A ‘‘fixed effects’’ regression model is used to evaluate the...

A key assumption in the Faustmann rule for financial maturity is that stumpage prices are constant over time. Timber price series, however, exhibit wide fluctuations over time which this paper models as a lognormal diffusion process. Comparing the diffusion results modeled here to the...

Using recent theoretical advances and an extensive panel data set on metropolitan areas, this study provides new tests of the contingent claims based model of default. The empirical modeling incorporates a full complement of variables that permit direct tests of the options-based model including...

The appraisal of the "market value" of homes serving as the collateral for mortgages is a fundamental part of the underwriting process. If a loan should default, however, it is not the retail market value that the lender obtains, but rather the "recovery value." In this research, we show how...