If you are a professional working on ABS and you want to have a handy collection of the client reports that were distributed by Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup), well this book might be very useful for you. The book covers a large breadth of topics and generally they are written quite well. But putting together 700 pages of reports written by different authors doesn't make it an organized book. Most of the chapters are neither a logical consequence of the previous one nor self contained, and they require you to be already familiar with the terminology. Furthermore, this book lacks examples of implementation details, and the mathematics involved doesn't go beyond the very basic. For example, you won't get much detail on how to structure a CMO or how to calibrate a prepayment model.
If you don't already know ABS and want to learn the details of securitization I advise you to consider the book of Stone and Zissu.

If you are a professional working on ABS and you want to have a handy collection of the client reports that were distributed by Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup), well this book might be very useful for you. The book covers a large breadth of topics and generally they are written quite well. But putting together 700 pages of reports written by different authors doesn't make it an organized book. Most of the chapters are neither a logical consequence of the previous one nor self contained, and they require you to be already familiar with the terminology. Furthermore, this book lacks examples of implementation details, and the mathematics involved doesn't go beyond the very basic. For example, you won't get much detail on how to structure a CMO or how to calibrate a prepayment model.
If you don't already know ABS and want to learn the details of securitization I advise you to consider the book of Stone and Zissu.

If you are a professional working on ABS and you want to have a handy collection of the client reports that were distributed by Salomon Smith Barney (now Citigroup), well this book might be very useful for you because it covers a large breadth of topics. But putting together a bunch of reports written by different authors doesn't make an organized book. Most of the chapters are neither a logical consequence of the previous one nor self contained, and they require you to be already familiar with the terminology. Further, this book lacks of detailed examples and the mathematics involved is very basic. For example, you won't get much detail on how to structure a CMO or how to calibrate a prepayment model.
If you don't already know ABS and want to learn the details of securitization I advise you to consider the book of Stone and Zissu.

By covering topics of great practical importance in the mortgage industry, both from the standpoint of mortgage-backed securities and from the mortgage origination process, this handbook should be helpful to those entering the field of fixed income securities and those who are seasoned veterans. The authors of the different articles emphasize the applied and practical aspects of the subject, and so no heavy guns from mathematics are brought in (as they could be in the discussions on term structure models and option-adjusted spreads), but even those readers interested in these tools from mathematics could view the handbook as an introduction to the key ideas used. In this regard the part of the handbook on prepayment analysis and modeling will be of great interest to those responsible for financial modeling, as will the part on option-adjusted spreads and durations. Readers will probably not read the handbook from cover to cover, but instead will select those articles that they have the greatest interest in. The handbook can be consulted as needed and compared with other more current literature on the topics discussed.

Financial revolutions are not as common as revolutions in other fields, due to the conservative nature of financiers and venture capitalists, but when they happen they do so with a vengeance. The mortgage industry is currently undergoing such a revolution, due not only to the innovations that are occurring in mortgage-lending but also to the willingness of homeowners to cash in on their equity. In addition, techniques from artificial intelligence (usually called "smart automation" in the mortgage industry) are being used to automate the loan origination process, particularly that of underwriting and estimation of borrower credit-worthiness. The mortgage loan origination process can now be tuned to the profile of the individual applicant and parameters such as interest rates, to produce a loan that is structured optimally for this applicant. In addition, the sheer number of regulations that must be complied with, both from municipal, state, and federal agencies can be daunting to financial and mortgage firms. But there are now technologies that have automated compliance. All of these developments are dependent on the concepts discussed in this handbook, along with others of course that are not included in it. No doubt as the mortgage revolution reaches maturity, this handbook will have to be rewritten, and might indeed include concepts that at the present time seem extremely radical or even alien, much as the current ones would have just two decades ago.

By covering topics of great practical importance in the mortgage industry, both from the standpoint of mortgage-backed securities and from the mortgage origination process, this handbook should be helpful to those entering the field of fixed income securities and those who are seasoned veterans. The authors of the different articles emphasize the applied and practical aspects of the subject, and so no heavy guns from mathematics are brought in (as they could be in the discussions on term structure models and option-adjusted spreads), but even those readers interested in these tools from mathematics could view the handbook as an introduction to the key ideas used. In this regard the part of the handbook on prepayment analysis and modeling will be of great interest to those responsible for financial modeling, as will the part on option-adjusted spreads and durations. Readers will probably not read the handbook from cover to cover, but instead will select those articles that they have the greatest interest in. The handbook can be consulted as needed and compared with other more current literature on the topics discussed.

Financial revolutions are not as common as revolutions in other fields, due to the conservative nature of financiers and venture capitalists, but when they happen they do so with a vengeance. The mortgage industry is currently undergoing such a revolution, due not only to the innovations that are occurring in mortgage-lending but also to the willingness of homeowners to cash in on their equity. In addition, techniques from artificial intelligence (usually called "smart automation" in the mortgage industry) are being used to automate the loan origination process, particularly that of underwriting and estimation of borrower credit-worthiness. The mortgage loan origination process can now be tuned to the profile of the individual applicant and parameters such as interest rates, to produce a loan that is structured optimally for this applicant. In addition, the sheer number of regulations that must be complied with, both from municipal, state, and federal agencies can be daunting to financial and mortgage firms. But there are now technologies that have automated compliance. All of these developments are dependent on the concepts discussed in this handbook, along with others of course that are not included in it. No doubt as the mortgage revolution reaches maturity, this handbook will have to be rewritten, and might indeed include concepts that at the present time seem extremely radical or even alien, much as the current ones would have just two decades ago.

This helped me understand how this works, with some of the jargon and some of the standard models that are used in valuation.

It was worth buying and reading. You should be able to achieve your goals and target your objectives properly with this book.

As other reviewers have mentioned this is a must for anyone involved with MBS ABS markets. Outstanding discussions on prepayment. Very detailed analysis of MBS ABS structures and related processes. A must for all people working with MBS.
Some modeling is hidden and not well explained...

As other reviewers have mentioned this is a must for anyone involved with MBS ABS markets. Outstanding discussions on prepayment. Very detailed analysis of MBS ABS structures and related processes. A must for all people working with MBS.
Some modeling is hidden and not well explained...

A fine guide book for the asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities markets from the original dominating force: Salomon Brothers (now Salomon Smith Barney). This comprehensive volume is an essential reference for asset backed securities and mortgage backed securities, albeit it is somewhat U.S. centric.

"Collateralized Debt Obligations and Structured Finance" by Janet Tavakoli completes and updates the essential structured finance collection. Tavakoli discusses synthetics which use credit derivatives techology and compares them to cash deals. She also exposes weaknesses in the ratings and in the structural elements that investors and structurers can correct, or at least negotiate value. She also talks about the risks of fraud, inadequate asset due diligence, and inadequate documentation & structural protections.

A clear and detailed book, written by the No. 1 expert in MBS from, Salomon Smith Barney, the best MBS underwriting and trading firm on Wall Street. A must for all people working with MBS.

A clear and detailed book, written by the No. 1 expert in MBS from, Salomon Smith Barney, the best MBS underwriting and trading firm on Wall Street. A must for all people working with MBS.

Lakhbir Hayre has created a comprehensive and authoritative reference guide for the asset-backed and mortgage-backed securities markets. In compiling this book, Hayre drew on the expertise of ABS and MBS specialists from Salomon Smith Barney, which was a pioneer in the development of these markets and still trades the largest volume of the securities. This huge volume includes plenty of charts, graphs and illustrations as companions to its enormously detailed and clearly explained descriptions and analysis. We [...] recommend this book as a useful reference for experts and an enlightening introduction for securitization novices.

it was a good well balanced book it was fun to reasd