"Passing the code is the most important aspect of the story for the American homeowner and energy consumer."

Nor, it seems, can many other American homeowners.

All American homeowners had a feel for the value of the right to repay their mortgage at any time.

The American homeowner became, to Rubin and the research department, a sort of laboratory rat.

In essence, that is what many American homeowners do when they add a bank's origination fee, or points, to their mortgage.

The magazine also said American homeowners are adding decks at a rate of three million a year.

American homeowners, consumers, and corporations owed roughly $25 trillion during 2008.

By any measure, American homeowners have taken on far more debt in the last few years.

Ask an "underwater" American homeowner with a $350,000 mortgage and a $250,000 house.

Between 2006 and 2011, American homeowners saw the value of their homes drop by seven trillion dollars or so.