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/* Selling mortgage packages to big investors */
Many mortgages were held by mortgage companies like [[Countrywide]] and [[Washington Mutual]], as well as investment banks such as [[Bear Stearns]], [[Merrill Lynch]], [[Lehman Brothers]], [[Morgan Stanley]] and [[Goldman Sachs]], as well as commercial banking chains like [[Wachovia]] and [[Bank of America]], which have thousands of local offices.
The speculative real estate bubble went far beyond individual homes, it infected as well as kinds of commercial real estate, such as office buildings, shopping centers, apartment complexes, hotels, casinos and even and empty lots. People bought high expecting to sell higher, and were stunned when the market collapsed. People who loaned money to real estate forms firms were confident of a 20% return, but more likely lost 25%. The value of office buildings plunged 43% after the peak in Nov. 2007. Most investors who bought in 2007 probably lost all their investment.
===Misuse of Credit Default Swaps===
