If you check out Alyssa Katz’ blog, you’ll see that the author of Our Lot obviously reads a lot of economics blogs. I hoped the book would distill a lot of information about the real estate bubble and it’s associated economics and make it understandable to an average person. The jacket copy promises that the book "helps … understand what really happened, how it affected our homes and communities, and how we can move on to a future we’ll want to live in." On those promises, the book succeeded partially on the second item and fails pretty badly on the others. The book does contain scores of sad tales of real estate villainy and loss. Horrible as these are, they bury the nuggets of real information rather than illustrate them.

Full review at my blog: http://reading.kingrat.biz/reviews/our-lot-alyssa-katz ( )

"Our Lot" provides a good synopsis of the national obsession with real estate. The early chapters explains how housing advocates pushed for greater lending to minority and other underserved communities that were subjected to historic discrimination through red-lining and "blockbusting." It also explains how greater home ownership by minorities was promoted as a national goal by successive administrations, i.e, Clinton and Bush. For a better explanation of how subprime lending lead to the current economic crisis, I would recommend "Chain of Blame," which better explains the role of exotic mortgage products and derivative securities promoted by home lenders and Wall Street. The later chapters of "Our Lot" discuss such varied topics as shoddy construction in California, mortgage fraud in Atlanta, dubious land schemes in Florida, and efforts to abolish rent control in New York. The last chapter discusses how government policy has promoted home lending over renting by, for example, employing the mortgage tax deduction (which the author views as a regressive tax) and lack of protection for renters. Overall, I would recommend this book to those interested in learning more about the book's subtitle, "How Real Estate Came to Own Us. ( )