主要描述房地产投资的风险管理 This chapter discusses the legal instruments and ramifications associated with financing real estate, such as default, foreclosure, and bankruptcy. The probability of one or more of these events occurring and the rights of the parties if it occurs ultimately affects the value of the various property rights. These legal considerations should be kept in mind as we discuss the risks associated with mortgage lending in later chapters. Clearly, the legal rights of borrowers and lenders affect the degree of risk assumed by each party and, thus, the value of entering into various transactions. The availability of various legal alternatives can be viewed as a way of controlling and shifting risk between the various parties to a transaction. The probability of default or bankruptcy by a borrower and the legal alternatives available to each party affect the expected return to the lender from the loan. In later chapters we will discuss how the amount of the loan relative to the value of the property is used by the lender to control risk. The reader should keep in mind the fact that loan covenants as we discuss in this chapter also control the risk.