The subprime meltdown has been among the main topics of discussion for many of the news agencies for most of 2007. One can't help but wonder if the media has infact helped fuel the meltdown. This seminar will have a slightly different focus -- it will be in the form of review of some recent industry articles describing subprime mortgage collateral trends and some early warning economic indicators for the subprime meltdown. After the review of the industry publications we will describe one of the common techniques used to analyze and value mortgages backed securitizations.