Product Description
From Countrywide’s former Senior VP of Marketing, the first engrossing inside look at Countrywide Home Loans, how the mortgage crisis started-and where it may end.
In July 2004, Adam Michaelson entered “The Vault”-an underground bunker at Countrywide headquarters-for a meeting about a new loan product that would allow borrowers to pay less than their minimum monthly payment. After the “finance jocks” proudly made their case, Michaelson asked one questi… More >>
#1 by E B Herrick on March 25, 2010 - 5:19 am
This book is very well written and presents an interesting viewpoint on a controversial and timely topic. The author’s intimacy with the subject matter to be refreshing. He takes an otherwise dull subject and draws all insightful parallels into important American themes. A must read if you are in this industry.
Rating: 4 / 5
#2 by John Content on March 25, 2010 - 6:41 am
This is a great book one that is very revealing and informative. I couldn’t put the book down and would highly recommend it to everyone.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Loyd E. Eskildson on March 25, 2010 - 8:48 am
The book purports to examine the marketing of a mirage, and the bad business decisions that brought the mortgage mess. (Sounds good!) The author also wants to dispel the “myths” that Countrywide et al were of sinister intent, that foreclosed homeowners were all either irresponsible loser, rampant spenders, or speculators, or that we should save everyone. Michaelson also promises not to reveal any business secrets. (Translation – no smoking guns, or useful material here!)
So, instead of useful of interesting material, the book is taken up with a few details of Michaelson’s marketing career – both before and during his Countrywide stint. Turns out he’s a marketing genius – selling 368 pages of nothing for $25.95, plus tax!
Rating: 1 / 5
#4 by C. Poolus on March 25, 2010 - 11:00 am
Adam Michaelson’s book is an eye opener, to say the least. I have to compare the book to a major water cooler gossip session, laying bare the motivation (greed), politics (of course) and inner workings of Countrywide from someone who was actually ON the inside. For those of us who’ve watched in horror as this economic disaster has unfolded, the book answers quite a few questions about how the landslide began, and how it evolved into the avelanche that’s wiped out the lives of so many.
The book is written in such a manner as to make the reader feel as though they’re receiving insider trading tips. There are even little excerpts of humor sprinkled liberally throughout the book, which, by the time you run across them, given the gravity of the subject, god knows you’ll need the laugh.
Interesting enough that I read it through without stopping.
Rating: 4 / 5
#5 by J. Walsworth on March 25, 2010 - 11:46 am
I just heard this author on NPR and he has nothing to say that any rational person would want to hear. His basic line (in a condescending tone) is that no one can blame him, or Countrywide, for selling high priced mortgages on expensive homes to people who could not afford them. After all, fast food companies sell food that is bad for us. And credit card companies sell credit limits to people who can’t afford the debt. So how can we blame him or his company for bilking all those irresponsible home buyers – or all the rest of us (and our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren) who will ultimately foot the bill for their behavior? Absolutely stomach turning.
Rating: 1 / 5