After decades of Soviet communism, consumers in nations like Ukraine are still learning about aspects of free-market economies, including the use of mortgage lending in buying homes.

That particular development is what Berry College economics professor Gary Roseman plans to study next summer, during a three-month research project in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine.

“Mortgages right now are used in only a very few of the real estate transactions that occur, but it’s going to increase as people become more familiar with it,” he said about the research topic in which he first took an interest during a shorter visit to Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan in 2002.

“It’s an underutilized form of real estate financing,” he added, estimating that well below 10 percent of home sales use mortgage lending. “They have that Soviet legacy.”

Roseman, a faculty member at Berry’s Campbell School of Business since 2000, will conduct research between May and August 2006 thanks to a Fulbright Scholar grant. The professor will be based at Dnipropetrovsk University of Economics and Law during his studies.

Typically now, he said, several generations of a family might live together until some of them can save enough to buy an apartment up front, rather than on a loan.

Other times, would-be buyers might make two or three large payments over a period of two years — often making the first payment before the construction of a new apartment complex begins.

Roseman expects his research to focus initially on the obstacles to creditors or lenders that want to get involved in the mortgage market.

One challenge is that property surveys are often not thorough or proper, so an adjacent property owner might build a new apartment complex infringing on the property of an existing one. This can lead to overcrowding problems such as excessive traffic and heavy demand on water and sewer usage, Roseman said.

Another problem creditors encounter is the question of if or how they can foreclose on buyers who fail to make their loan payments.

“The legal position of creditors is not clear right now, as it is in Western countries,” Roseman said.

The Fulbright Program, an international educational exchange, is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. During its 59 years of existence, thousands of U.S. faculty and professionals have studied, taught or done research abroad, and their counterparts from other countries have come to the United States for the same reasons.