We study the U.S. origination-to-distribution mortgage financing market from the mid 1990s to the late 2000s. Mortgage loan brokers originated close to two thirds of the mortgage loans in this period. We examine whether stricter licensing requirements of loan brokers raise lending standards by...

Using the future residence of home sellers, we compare a seller who will relocate to another state and thus will likely not provide referrals with a seller who remains in the state and thus might bring referrals. We find that moving-out-of-state sellers' residences take more days to sell than...