Handbook of Mortgage Backed Securities

Frank J Fabozzi

1 Excellent but Compiled Work
I have seven years of experience selling these products, and I use Fabozzi's book often. This is a good reference, and a good treatment of mortgage and asset backed securities. I only gave it four stars because the fact that this is a compiled work of research material interrupts the flow of ideas. On the other hand, there is some merit to getting different angles on the subject from different viewpoints.

One caveat. Mortgage derivatives used to mean calls and puts on mortgage backed securities. Today, however, entire portfolios of mortgage risk are laid off in the form of credit derivatives.

Tavakoli has the best treatment of that topic in the book: "Credit Derivatives".

2 A major reference
A vast collection of articles by practitioners on Wall Street, this book covers a broad number of topics on Mortgage Backed Securities. While not a scholarly approach, 'street research' typically aims to educate the fixed income portfolio manager.

3 Fabozzi handbooks are overrated
It's the industry standard. Everyone has one. It stands alone in its field. And if you're reading this you're probably going to buy regardless of what is written here.

But I've found this book (along with some of the other Fabozzi 'Handbooks') to be overrated. Basically, the format of 30 or so different authors each writing a chapter in the form of an article diminishes the usefulness of the book. There is no narrative, pedagogical or otherwise. The format leads to significant gaps in coverage. The quality of the chapters is uneven, as is the level of detail covered.

Don't misunderstand me -- the Handbook isn't bad, by any strecth of the imagination. It's just not as good as it could be. It has almost no fluff, and all the information in it is good. And the competition is a very slim field. For many things Fabozzi is not only your best choice, it's your only one.