Planet Money: Zombie 2nd Mortgages
17 September 2024 - 33 minsKaren MacDonough had paid her mortgage for years, raised her family, and lived a quiet life in her Quincy, Massachusetts home—until one day, a group of strangers appeared on her lawn, claiming her house was up for foreclosure. What followed was a surreal discovery of “zombie mortgages,” forgotten second loans from the housing bubble era that have come back to haunt homeowners like Karen. As real estate prices rise, debt collectors are reviving these dormant debts, threatening homes across the country.
This episode is from our friends at Planet Money, a podcast about economics...possibly the biggest thing that we all collectively try not to think about, only to have it greet us at the grocer...
Series Episodes
The Borrowed Nature of Biomimicry
Behind every perfect nature-inspired design is a far more complicated story.
31 mins
4 August Finished
100 Objects #11: Brannock Device
In 1925, the world saw the birth of what just might be the greatest gadget in American History: the Brannock Device.
27 mins
31 July Finished
The Finnish Baby Box
A simple cardboard box helped transform Finland into one of the best places in the world to raise a child.
33 mins
28 July Finished
100 Objects #10: Nunchaku
In the early 1970s, Bruce Lee made nunchaku (nunchucks) cool, but the nunchucks craze coincided with something much bigger: the birth of a radical new Asian American identity.
36 mins
24 July Finished
The Original 100 Objects
Neil MacGregor reflects on creating the landmark series that changed how people think about history. Then, revisit the Rosetta Stone, the artifact that unlocked ancient Egypt.
44 mins
21 July Finished
100 Objects #9: Missing Children Milk Carton
In 1982, a twelve-year-old paperboy, Johnny Gosch, vanished from a quiet Iowa street and sparked an unlikely campaign: the faces of missing children printed on milk cartons by the billions.
33 mins
17 July Finished
