Homeowners are thinking about walking away from their mortgages. Banks are thinking about which homeowners are most likely to walk away.

Richard Thaler recently asked why so few people have walked away from their mortgage. Today, the New York Times reported that more homeowners are thinking about it. They aren’t the only ones thinking about it. Banks are trying to figure out who is strategically defaulting.

Sometimes lenders go after borrowers walking away from their homes if they have other assets, according to Florida real estate attorney Larry Tolchinsky.

“Banks are pulling credit reports to see if it’s a strategic default,” he said. “If you’re behind on all your other payments, you’re okay. But if you’re not, they’ll come after you.”

Assorted links

1) A classroom nudge for college professors. Include one lie in each lecture and ask students to point out the error. They’ll pay attention to the material more closely.

Hat tip: David de Souza

2) Enviromedia, friend of the Nudge blog and the creator of greenwashingindex.com, a tool for ferreting out misleading green ads, has unveiled a new web site, greendetectives.net, to help people decode the language of climate change. The United Nation’s climate change conference is this month in Copenhagen.

3) Philadelphia now requires that lenders and homeowners meet in person prior to foreclosure. Will these meetings lessen foreclosure rates?

Hat tip: Christopher Daggett

4) Tips for remembering your reusable grocery bag.

Hat tip: Katie Astofer

5) Because it’s just too good to resist. From a 1952 Life magazine.

Hat tip: Thought Gadgets

Mandatory European home energy ratings = Potential paper for aspiring economist

The European Union’s commitment to fighting global warming has meant a growing trend in European countries of incorporating energy audits and ratings as part of the home sales process. Relative to other options, boosting buildings efficiency standards is usually the most attractive economic and political option to policymakers because of the large piece of the energy pie that buildings take up. (In the EU, buildings account for 40 percent of energy consumption.) As part of the European Union’s Directive on The Energy Performance of Buildings, all member countries are expected to have energy performance certificates available as part of a required information packet when a new home is sold or leased.

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