Make Jet

When borrowing money for a mortgage, homebuyers are primarily concerned with simply qualifying. Still, paying attention to the length of the loan is a borrowing tip that can save you a ton of money.

Home Loans

In the mortgage industry, the length of your loan used to be the only major issue you had to deal with. How times have changed! In the current market, the variety of loans that exist are simply stunning. Of course, the massive increase in loan options has inevitably led to massive confusion.

Borrowing Tip

Regardless of the type of loan you go with, you should always try to keep your loan term as short as possible. The shorter the loan period, the less you will pay in interest. Here an example using 15 and 30 year loans.

Assume our first homebuyer gets a $100,000 loan at 8 percent interest. He length of the loan is 30 years with a monthly payment of $733.76. For this mortgage, our homebuyer is going to pay $164,155.25 in interest over the life of the loan.

Now, take the same scenario, but reduce the term of the loan to 15 years. Our homebuyer is going to see the monthly payment bumped to $955.65 per month. Over the length of the loan, our homebuyer is going to pay $90,000 less in interest payments over the life of the loan. On top of this, the house will be paid off in half the time.

When borrowing money for a home purchase, you have to carefully budget your finances. If you can afford increased monthly payments, however, a shorter loan length is going to save you a lot of money over time.

Dan Lewis is a mortgage broker with www.gwhomeloans.com - San Diego mortgage brokers providing home loans and refinances. Visit gwhomeloans.com/services.html to learn more about options for San Diego mortgages.

The temptation of getting into the runaway housing market is understandable. Simple savings accounts are returning less than 2% per year. CDs and bonds are not much better. “Safe” funds are yielding 5% pre-tax. And real estate is surging, offering both equity appreciation and tax protection. However, if you are in debt, it’s important to make sure you restructure it and consolidate it before taking the leap into the housing market.

So many see the risk of taking on a house that is beyond their means as worth taking in order to create value and build a financially secure future. The problem is that the lenders, once predominantly banks prone to conservative lending standards, now include pension funds, insurance companies and other investment entities eager to place loans to keep their money working.

It is not the lenders who will be hurt. They will move swiftly to foreclosure, recover the house, and resell it. It is the borrower who gets burned. Bankruptcy laws are changing in October and it will no longer be convenient to file bankruptcy to avoid creditors. Individuals, once protected from forced liquidations, will find that to be the norm rather than the exception. So it is more important than ever to learn how to renegotiate or restructure debt before one is forced into bankruptcy court.

Renegotiating debt is best done before you are too delinquent. With a solid payment history with your lenders you are more likely to find them willing to work with you when you approach them. Debt can be restructured a number of ways but there are some cardinal rules to observe so that you preserve your ability to control the restructuring of your debt.

1. Do not wait until the debt has been turned over to a collection agency. By then it is too late to deal with the original issuers of the debt who might have an interest in helping you. They have discounted and sold off your debt when it is turned over to collections. That means they have written off what they would have conceded to you to a third party. The third party’s only motivation is to make money off your bad situation.

2. Before you seek debt relief, develop a personal budget that is viable and a plan which you can handle. Now you are ready to lift the telephone and call for help.

3. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Advising the lender of a looming problem allows them to help you avoid it becoming a major issue.

4. Be persistent. “No” is easy for creditors to say. You will hear it a lot. Call back and try to get to someone else. Talk to the same person repeatedly until they begin to get to know you and start wanting to help you.

6. Be pleasant. You need to develop a rapport with the other person so they want to help you. Getting mad often makes things worse.

Debt restructuring is a basic form of negotiation. You have a need. The lender also has a need. You have a solution to offer. They have to be convinced to listen to you. You have to convince them of your sincerity and why they should gamble with your plan. Don’t ask for a hand out. Ask for approval of a specific plan.

A plan that works for you should give them something as well. The two primary commodities are time and money. If you have money, but not enough, explain your situation and offer to pay off the debt at a discount. If they sell off your debt they will be lucky to get 50 cents on the dollar. Obviously you should be able to settle between 50% and 100%. If you offer to pay the full amount, but over time, you will be saving a lot in money and keep you credit rating from being impacted. But be sure to negotiate the interest. It does you no good to extend your payment period if you are also going to be paying a higher interest rate. Interest rates are negotiable.

The most important aspect of personal debt restructuring is to ask before you get in too deep and before they start chasing you to pay. A good customer’s case always sounds better than a plea from a habitual problem customer.

Once you have successfully restructured your debt and reduced it to something you can manage, your foray into the housing market will be much less stressful and, in the end, much more successful.

Alabama is undeniably a stereotypical southern state, but the state and real estate market hold undeniable surprises.

Alabama

Alabama is distinctly southern and darn proud of it. If you have a taste for college football, country music and NASCAR, Alabama is a paradise defined. To the surprise of many, Alabama also has a more modern flavor with Huntsville being the home of a major chunk of the U.S. Space Program. For golfers, the collection of golf courses winding through the state, known as the Robert Trent Jones golf trail, make Alabama one of the top golfing destinations in the continental United States. Personally, I prefer the annual iron bowl college football war between the Auburn and Alabama universities, but to each their own…

Huntsville

Home to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville is undoubtedly the pyrotechnic capital of the south. With a distinct southern charm, the city is laid out well with parks, botanical gardens, lake areas and a close proximately to numerous outdoor activities such as fishing, hiking and hunting. While many cities make a haberdash of mixing in the new with the old, Huntsville gets it just right.

Mobile

Pronounced “Moe beel”, Mobile is a busy port city with a little known history. If you’ve ever thought of going to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, you’re better off going to Mobile. Yep, the city was the first to celebrate Mardi Gras in the United States and maintains the tradition to this day. In fact, Mobile looks striking like New Orleans, having been established by the French. It is a beautiful southern city, with spring being the best time as a bevy of flowing plants awaken from their winter slumber. The colors and fragrances are simply amazing.

Alabama Real Estate

Alabama real estate prices are very reasonable when compared to the rest of the country. Throughout the state, an average home will run you $200,000 or less. The appreciation rate is a little low, but still a respectable 7.5 percent for 2005.

Whether you are a home owner trying to sell your home or an landlord trying to lease it, you should consider the lease/purchase approach. It can result in higher cash flows, larger profits and fewer headaches.

Have you ever dealt with bad renters? Late payments? Stains on the carpet? Calls late at night about a stopped toilet? Sometimes being a Landlord is not a fun game, especially when you have a nice home and bad tenants.

Have you taken advantage of the recent low interest rates and refinanced your home to the maximum? What about a home equity loan or other form of second mortgage? Do you know how much you can walk away with from the closing table after paying all mortgages and associated costs, like realtor fees? Many people walk away with very little or nothing. Some even have to pay. If this scenario applies to you, it may make sense to delay the sale of your home. It may be possible to generate positive cash flow and lock in a higher selling price with a FSBO (for sale by owner) lease/purchase agreement.

Here’s another scenario: You want to sell your own home, but it’s not moving as fast as you would like (or as fast as the “fast-talking” realtor who convinced you to list it). You’ve thought about renting it to cover your mortgage payment, but nobody wants a short-term rental with no idea when they have to move out. And what if the tenant WON’T move out when you have it sold? A FSBO lease/purchase agreement could be a solution.

So you decide to leave it vacant. You make two, three even four mortgage payments. Your insurance company cancels your homewoner’s policy because it has been vacant for more than 30 days (it’s true, they can do it so read your policy!). You don’t want to severely discount the price, yet you need to do something NOW! Here’s a FSBO solution - lease with option to buy or lease/purchase (also referred to a rent to own).

What does the FSBO lease/purchase of a home mean?

LEASE + PURCHASE OFFER = LEASE/PURCHASE AGREEMENT

At some time in your life, you have rented a house or apartment, so you are familiar with a lease agreement. If you have ever bought or sold a house, you are familiar with a purchase offer. The lease/purchase agreement is a hybrid of the two - a lease agreement combined with a purchase offer (sometimes called “rent to own” or an “option,” or that is, the right to buy at an agreed upon price).

Here’s an example of how lease/purchase works. Let’s say you have a house worth $100,000. The “going rent” in your market for that house may be about $800 per month. A lease/purchase agreement would read essentially as follows:

Lease Term: Two Years Monthly Rent: $800

Purchase Price: $100,000 Rent Credit: $400/month

Usually, part of the monthly rent will be credited towards the price of the house. In the above example, 50% or $400 per month is being credited. So if the tenant decides to buy after one year (lawyers call this “exercising their option to buy”), they would pay $100,000 - $4,800 = $95,200. If the tenant/buyer does not purchase the property, the owner would keep all of the monthly rent. The best part is, the $400/month is considered “option consideration” by the IRS and does not have to be reported as income until the house is sold or the lease/purchase agreement expires!

As you can see, there are many benefits a lease/purchase can provide you, including:

Immediate relief from mortgage payments

Fast Solution to the “Nice House in a Slow Market” scenario

Guaranteed no vacancy

No need to severely discount the purchase price

Tax deduction (since the property can be treated as “rental” for tax purposes)

WHY DON’T I JUST LIST IT WITH A REALESTATE AGENT?

It can’t hurt to list with a realestate agent or broker. However, most realestate brokers simply “list” your property. This means they stick it in the multiple listing computer and wait for a bite. The first problem with this method is that there are thousands of other homes in the computer that read just like yours. If you want to move your house FAST, you have to offer something different. The lease/purchase is that special something that makes your house attractive.

The second problem is that most Realtors don’t know what a lease/purchase is, how it works, and how to market such a deal. Most Realtors will not get involved with a lease/purchase, because they simply want a higher fee (after all, they have to make enough money to pay for those large display ads with their picture on it!).

For more information, check out JSC Rent To Own Homes/

MLS is the Multiple Listing Service.

The MLS is a database - an extremely convenient way to know what properties are for sale at any given moment. This makes it very useful to real estate agents and brokers.

Basically, the MLS is like a huge property warehouse. When a property is available for sale, it enters the warehouse. When it is sold, it leaves the warehouse.

The MLS only contains information since real estate cannot actually be stored in a warehouse. This information comes from the various brokers that exist in the scope of an MLS.

Why the MLS works for home buyers

First of all MLS is very convenient. Buyers can browse through the available properties listed on an MLS.

Using the MLS also does not cost anything. It is a free service that is sponsored by the Realtors advertising their available properties.

Options Galore

On the MLS, a buyer is not limited to choosing among a few available properties. Usually, the MLS makes available many available properties that are for sale.

In the olden days, when information was limited, a buyer would only be able to visit a few homes per day. He or she would also need to communicate with the agent for details and such.

With MLS, the buyer can start browsing from the comfort of his or her home. Details regarding the property are also listed there.

Aside from the written details, MLS usually provides pictures of the property. Other advanced MLS implementations even have other surveying tools that help buyers come to decisions regarding their desired property.

Fitting the Bill

MLS also helps the buyer by narrowing down choices to those that fit the buyer’s desires. The buyer supplies information on his or her desired property to the MLS site. This information includes desired area, size of property, age, location, and others. The buyer is then given a set of houses that fit that description.

Communication

MLS also makes it easier for the buyer to contact the realtor. Details the realtor are listed along with the property to allow straightforward communication between buyer and realtor.

Conclusion

It may be hard to believe but the real estate industry has benefited a lot from MLS. MLS is the next step in real estate evolution. It is relatively safe and is very convenient. As the MLS grows in popularity, more and more realtors avail of its listings. For the buyer, this can only mean good things more choices, better decisions.

From the book No Smooshing!

For years, I’ve carried on a not-so-friendly debate with some of my artist friends from the West Coast about their ideas of what constitutes a good subject. We seem to be able to agree on certain things, like apples and orangesand even certain landscapes. But when it comes to their paintings of dilapidated old farm buildings, we part company.

Some folks see rundown farmhouses and caved-in barns as romantic. Artists paint pictures of buildings with weathered boards, leaning at impossible anglesand people take those paintings home and hang them on their walls.

But for me, I see those same abandoned farmsteads as unspeakably sad. After all, each one of those boarded up farmhouses represents the death of someone’s hopes and dreams for the future of their children and themselves.

I get the same sad feeling whenever I pass through a small town that was once a thriving place, full of life and activity, but now sits empty and lifeless, slowly crumbling back into the black earth from which it sprang. Last week, I was lost on some back road (not an unusual situation for me) when I came across just such a ghost town.

There was no name that I could see, but there were three buildings, huddled next to each other against the prairie wind, and I could still make out some faded letters above their doors. The first one had been a general store, the second a garage, but it was the third building that captured my imagination. On its side was printed the word “Hotel.”

Hotel? The word seemed so incongruous. After all, what could have been the attraction in this little town that would have warranted a hotel? There didn’t seem to be anything of interest in the area, and if any place in the world could have been said to be in the middle of nowhere, this little town was it!

And how did people get to this village in order to stay in this mysterious hotel? I saw no railroad tracks, and there’s only one road running through town.

The garage implied the town was still alive when cars came into general use, but cars have been around a long time, and that still didn’t explain the need for a hotel in a town with only two other buildings.

Perhaps that’s why my artist friends find old buildings and farmsteads so intriguing. There’s definitely a sense of mystery about themstories that will never be known. On that much, we can agree. But no one can convince me those lonely scenes are picturesque.

I can hardly look at old towns like that without being overcome with a sadness that’s difficult to explain. What are the stories of those forlorn storefronts? Why did people come to that little town and stay in their little hotel? What about the rusty skeleton of a combine on the edge of town, its bones bleaching in the sun?

I don’t know, and I never willand ghosts don’t talk. Just don’t try to tell me that such a scene is something I’d want to hang on my wall and look at every day.

© 2004. Gary E. Anderson. All rights reserved.

About The Author

Gary Anderson is a freelance writer, editor, ghostwriter, and manuscript analyst, living on a small Iowa farm. He’s published more than 500 articles and four books. He’s also ghosted a dozen books, edited more than 30 full-length manuscripts, produced seven newsletters, and has done more than 800 manuscript reviews for various publishers around the nation. If you need writing or editing help, visit Gary’s website at www.abciowa.com. abciowa@alpinecom.net

Negotiation is where many FSBO home sellers really have problems. The wrong attitude or a slip of the tongue could cost you thousands. Here are a few pointers to keep you on the right path:

1. Show interest in selling the house. In an effort to project a sense of strength many people either take an aggressive “take it or leave it” attitude, or they appear to be overly relaxed, almost disinterested. It is better to have an open mind, stay calm, be helpful.

Carefully investigate and analyze the facts. Make an intelligent response to the buyer. Being helpful makes it easier for the buyer to relax and be more willing to see your point of view.

2. Listen carefully to what the buyer has to say. Try to learn about the buyer’s needs, wants, desires, fears, frustrations and problems that need solving. This will give you the information you need to work with the buyer and close the deal.

3. Don’t let your personal feelings get in the way of accepting a good offer. Don’t get thrown off by the little eccentricities of people. You may not like the buyer, but that doesn’t matter. A little patience on your part could make you thousands of dollars. After the sale of the house, you never have to see him again. Keep emotions and finances separate.

4. Use time to your advantage. If at all possible, try not to be squeezed for time. Find out if the buyer has to move in by a certain deadline. The closer the deadline, the more they will be willing to pay a little higher for a quick close.

5. Close using the mortgage payments rather than the price of the house. You would be surprised how little the monthly mortgage payment changes when the asking price changes by several thousand dollars. You can easily work out mortgage http://www.mortgage-rate-canada.com/canadian-mortgage-calculators.html payments at: lators.html If you can find out income related information from the buyer, it will be easier to use this technique.

6. Stack the benefits in your favour. Try to include several factors that can be negotiated instead of just the price. For example, you can include blinds, furniture, tools or other items to enrich your offer. Try to trade-off some of the bonus items instead of reducing the price.

7. Create a win-win situation. If the buyer feels like they are getting the short end of the stick it will be difficult to close the deal. They have to feel like they are winning. Here’s how Roger Dawson put it in his book, “The Secrets of Power Negotiating”: “When you get the gold out of their teeth, that’s not negotiating. That’s stealing. When you get the gold out of their teeth and they thank you for it, that’s negotiating.”

If you follow these points you will certainly be on the right path to selling your house for a higher price. However, there are many tactics and strategies you can use or that the buyer will use on you. A little time spent on preparation can literally save you thousands.

You can learn more about how to negotiate for a higher price by handling the offer properly and other powerful strategies at: http://netman-ecommerce-guru.com/home-selling-secrets

Going through this information will take you a couple of hours, but it is most profitable time you will ever spend.

About The Author

Neeraj Varma

For FREE info on selling your house for a higher price, email: real-estate-info@getresponse.com or go to: http://www.mortgage-rate-canada.com

neerajvarma@yahoo.com

As I write this, there is a considerable concern about the dangers of urban life, triggered by the terrorist attacks on the USA. As some of you know, I have been a student of disaster preparations and a real estate consultant for those seeking “secluded and survival properties” for over thirty years.

At one time, I had a several hundred item checklist for my “Survivalist” clients to read and check off for me so that I could guide them to what they considered to be the most Utopian place to live safe and secure with their family. I guess it could be said that some of my clients were — at least eccentric, but the common thread running through all of their needs and wants was to be able to live safely and securely regarding all possible or likely threats, whether man made or natural.

The most common concern of those who wanted to find a better place to live was a fear of urban riots and terrorism. After that, the concerns were safe schools for the children, a low crime rate, clean air, clean water, friendly communities, and quite often they wanted as little intrusion into their personal lives, as possible, from the various government agencies.

There was always the concern about earthquakes from those who came from California. There was concern about tornadoes from those in the Midwest. One of the greatest concerns about power outages came from those in the northern areas. Concern about hurricanes and terrible storms came from those who lived close to the coast and from those in the south. There was also an often, at first unstated, fear of nuclear, biological and chemical attacks.
So to sum it up, the so called Survivalists were just people, people like the rest of us in many ways, and people interested in having a better life, free of violence and trouble from any predictable natural or man-made sources. They just wanted what we all want, a better life! Now, since the eleventh of September, the concerns of those “Survivalists” are exactly the concerns of nearly everyone. We are getting quite a few calls and thousands of contacts on our web sites, from those looking to get out of the city and come to the country. Rural Living is making more and more sense to more and more people.

Some of those who hired me in the past wanted to purchase caves or played out coal mines so that they could have an affordable way to have a safe “bunker”. Some people have been taught by the media to invalidate anyone who has that bunker mentality. However, we seem to think it’s just fine for all of our government officials to have numerous bunkers and shelters and safe places to go. Most highly placed government officials, at county, state and federal levels; have a selection of these safe and sheltered places to go. We don’ t but we purchase their retreats with our tax dollars.

Some of those past clients wanted a special remote access property, one with difficult or impossible access such as a winding mountain road or a tunnel into the property which they could close off for their own personal security and for that of their family. Some wanted energy efficiency and many wanted to be able to grow most or all of their own food. This was always a very small micro percentage who wanted these things and far fewer who were willing to pay for them. There are hundreds of people, outside of government officials, who seek a safe place to be in the case of disaster, but few of them ever take the step to purchase one.

In all of those years of searching for “perfect places” and Utopian retreats I learned a lot and eventually presented seminars several times. Some of those preparing for the worst and hoping for the best were the Survivalists. Some where those concerned about personal and community preparations such as the Mormons, Conservative Christians, Buddhists, Home Schoolers, Naturists, Organic Gardeners, Vegetarians, and lots of hopeful hermits, back to the soil, Mother Earth types and all manner of folks seeking refuge from the rigors and turmoil of urban and suburban life.

I’ve found the best place, in my well informed opinion, over all, is Sussex County Delaware. I live here myself. I help others move here for the same reasons and others. I’ll tell you why this area is my first choice for safety, lifestyle, security, and permanent “survival” of the best and highest kind.

Other than the first half mile distance inland from our coast we have had virtually no damage from any of the hurricanes which occasionally reach us. We have lots of alerts each year but only a few storms that actually reach us or affect us. In those rare instances when the storms do reach us, they nearly always fail to reach farther than a half mile from the waterfront. In fact only twice since 1955 have the storms done any damage five miles inland, in my experience. On those two occasions it was some downed tree limbs and some flooding of streets or roads at little country bridges and that’s about all. For the coastal areas there is flood insurance which is required, so the beach front area homes and businesses that were harmed were soon repaired.

The quality of our air is wonderful except for a quarter of a mile or less along the Delaware Bay. There we get some very light and nearly undetectable aerial effluent from the Delaware City refineries under certain weather conditions, almost no one is even aware of this minor fact.

Although we are due east of Washington D.C., we don’t get polluted by the air currents from there. From an airplane you can see the D.C. air pollution stop dead at the Chesapeake Bay, which is fifty miles or more from this area. The tempering effects of the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, Atlantic Ocean and all of our myriad Inland Bays give us a climate like that of South Carolina.

Thomas Jefferson gave us the nickname “Diamond State” because he found our soils and growing season to have a worth like diamonds. This is due to the rich values in farming and gardening that are available in southern Delaware now as it was then.

Our climate is the MOST suitable climate for nearly all American plants. According to the National Park Service botanist our local state and federal parks have the greatest number of different plants of any land location on earth. We have a long and rich agricultural history and a great place to learn about it.

We have a large retirement community here in Southern Delaware due largely to our almost nonexistent property and income taxes. Our taxes are among the lowest in the nation. As a result of this retirement community we have fully capable hospitals, lots of restaurants for every taste, theater, numerous first run movie theaters, music festivals, poetry recitals, over a dozen writers’ groups, great book stores, coffee shops, bake shops and one of the best selections of adult education opportunities anywhere. We also have tax free shopping in over 200 “factory outlet stores”. Our lifestyle is so relaxed here that we are known as Lower, Slower, Delaware. We even sell hats and t-shirts to celebrate this slogan.

More and more people are moving here to telecommute to jobs all over the world. I specialize in helping teleworking folks to find affordable, wonderful homes where they can enjoy life and work at home. You can work in your pajamas, work from the pool or garden or even work naked if you want! We have high speed cable modems, in many areas of Sussex County.

We seldom get much snow here. When we do get a few inches or less it is usually gone, as a result of the warm climate and sea air, within a few hours. When someone moves here, knowing how bad the snows can be in the northeastern United States, they often ask me what to do in preparation for the snow storms. I tell them just get an extra bottle of wine or two and a couple of logs for the fireplace. By the time they’re done with the wine and before the logs are used up, the snow will have usually melted.

Of course we are famous for our beaches and our summer resort life but you can find out all about that in several of my other articles.

Give me a call or e-mail us and we’ll find you something to fit your needs and budget. But call now so you can start enjoying what we all know is the best place in America to live, work and play. My informed survival advice to you is to get out of the city now, leave the urban strife and get a better life. Come to Sussex County Delaware and learn to enjoy the Lower, Slower, Delaware life.

By www.JodyHudson.com copyright 2001

Source of article is:

http://www.kate-jody.com/essays/safesecure.html

Many homeowners in the United States watched the value of their property appreciate more than fifteen percent last year. Many of these homeowners are tempted to cash in this equity for a wide variety of reasons. It is important to borrow smartly or your newfound windfall could end up costing you. Here is what you need to know to manage your equity smartly and avoid common mistakes.

If you are considering using your equity to repair or remodel your home, this is a savvy reason to borrow against your equity because it will improve the value of your home. By the same reasoning, consolidating your high interest debt using equity is also a smart move. Borrowing against your home is a good idea to eliminate your debt in this case, not clear it out for more.

Home equity loans do not give you free money; while the equity you have in your home belongs to you, the money you borrow belongs to the mortgage lender. Any equity you borrow against is secured by your home just like your primary mortgage. Fall behind on your payments and the lender will take your home to repay the debt.

When you borrow against equity it is important to leave yourself a cushion to protect yourself against economic uncertainty. The rule of thumb is to preserve at least 20-25% of your homes appraised value in equity. If you borrow more than this you risk owing more to a mortgage lender than your home is worth should the economy go south and take home values with it. To learn more about savvy uses for equity, refinancing your mortgage, and avoiding common homeowner mistakes, register for a free mortgage guidebook using the links below.

To get your free mortgage guidebook visit RefiAdvisor.com using the link below. Louie Latour specializes in showing homeowners how to avoid common mortgage mistakes and predatory lenders. For a free copy of “Mortgage Refinancing: What You Need to Know,” which teaches strategies to find the best mortgage and save thousands of dollars in the process, visit Refiadvisor.com. Claim your free guidebook today at: http://www.refiadvisor.com Baltimore Mortgage Refinance

Mortgage elimination programs are all the rage these days. In the event that you don’t know what they are, it’s a really basic concept. You apply more money to the principal balance on your loan or you make payments at times other than once per month, and ultimately you lower you balance and pay your mortgage off sooner than the original term. It sounds great, but be careful what you read, because there are a lot of these mortgage elimination programs that either don’t make sense or just plain scams.

I clicked on a website gloating that it had a program that would eliminate your mortgage in under a year. Wow! A 30-year home loan eliminated in one year. Sounds great; you’re in, right? Not so fast. When I subscribed to a mailer to get more information, I received a very cryptic message that said the program was currently put on hold because the US patriot act makes it impossible to proceed with the necessary offshore banking transactions, which were necessary to make the process a success. Now, I’m not sure what all this means, but I do know I don’t want someone sending my mortgage payments to some offshore bank account. This sounds like something straight from a John Grisham novel.

I’ve already written about the inverse mortgage, which holds that paying one’s mortgage every three weeks instead of every four will help eliminate your mortgage in five years or less. Although the jury is still out on this program, I’ve done the math, and it simply doesn’t add up.

Finally, I’m still investigating a program called, Mortgage Cycling. Although I don’t know all the detail on this one, I do know that it involves taking a home equity loan and adding this money to your principal mortgage. Again, I’m not getting it. Why take more money out against your real estate, so you can pay it back on the same house. Isn’t this sort of borrowing from Peter to pay Paul?

At any rate, I’ll keep investigating. Meanwhile, beware of any mortgage elimination program. If you want a safe way to eliminate your mortgage more quickly, please refer to the wealth-building program, Winning the Mortgage Game.

Mark Barnes is an investment real estate and real estate finance expert. Get his free mortgage finance course at http://www.winningthemortgagegame.com and learn more about his wealth-building system. Mark is also the author of the new novel, The League, a shocking, sports-related conspiracy. Learn more about his suspense thriller at http://www.sportsnovels.com