ABSTRACT
This part introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters. The part offers the first major reassessment of the criticisms and follow-up studies; outlines the limitations of some earlier criticisms, as well as the unusual advantages of the Boston Fed study. It examines how lenders behave toward marginally qualified minority familes whose home mortgage loans were insured by Federal Housing Administration between 1986 and 1989. The part presents the importance of understanding the extent to which underwriting guidelines issued by secondary markets can either be too rigid or can disproportionately affect minorities. It provides one of the few systematic attempts to integrate the handful of legal analyses on discrimination in the appraisal industry. The part suggests that research is needed that is both institutional and historical in character. It shows that there is a “smoking gun” race effect in making loans to marginally qualified white but not to comparably qualified black borrowers.
