Mortgage-Free!: Radical Strategies for Home Ownership (Real Goods Solar Living Book) - Softcover

Rob Roy

4.09

66 ratings by Goodreads

9780930031985: Mortgage-Free!: Radical Strategies for Home Ownership (Real Goods Solar Living Book)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0930031989 ISBN 13: 9780930031985

Publisher: Chelsea Green Pub Co, 1998

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This is a banker's worst nightmarea book that tells you how to live without being enslaved to financial institutions.Chelsea Green has produced a formidable series of books on innovative shelter. But every alternative building strategy, no matter how low-cost or environmentally benign, requires a complementary financial strategy. the accepted path is to go hat-in-hand to a big financial institution, such as a bank, to borrow a lump sum that is repaid over many years. By the time the loan is repaid, the homeowner will have paid several times the original amount in interest.The literal meaning of "mortgage" is "death pledge." Author Rob Roy is offering an escape route from a lifetime of indentured servitude. "Mortgage-Free! Radical Strategies for Home Ownership" is a complete guide to strategies that allow you to own your land and home, free and clear, without the bank. Included is detailed advice about: Clarifying and simplifying your notions of what's necessaryFinding land that you love and can affordTaking control of the house-building process, for the sake of sanity and pleasureLearning to take a long-term perspective on your family's crucial economic decisions, avoiding debt and modern-day serfdom.

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Review:

The origins of the word "mortgage" are Old French and translate roughly to "death pledge." Rob Roy takes a radical approach here to help the reader understand how mortgages work; explains clearly how, if you have a mortgage already, you can maximize your equity sooner and save tons of money; and how, if just starting the process of acquiring a home for yourself, there are clear alternatives to a standard bank mortgage that will save you massive amounts of money, time, and financial headaches.

Roy covers the following subjects in detail: the grubstake--the essential financial asset that will stay with you for life; how to find land that you love and can afford; how to seize control of the house-building process; how to clarify and simplify your ideas of what you really need; and how to construct a low-cost home. Included in the book is Roy's own personal story of mortgage-free living, as well as those of others. His wry humor makes for an entertaining read, and his ideas, examples, and advice are clear-headed, logical, and hopeful. His financial calculations and charts are clear and imminently sensible while being real eye-openers. Your banker may not want you to read this radical book, but it amounts to a guided, rational plan for home ownership and financial liberation, and will no doubt soon be considered a classic. --Mark A. Hetts

About the Author:

Rob Roy knows what it means to live mortgage free. As director of Earthwood Building School since 1981, he has instructed many in the arts of natural building, and renewable energy. He is also the author of Earth-Sheltered Houses, Cordwood Building, Timber Framing for the Rest of Us, The Sauna, and Stone Circles. Rob and his family live in West Chazy, New York. You can learn more about Earthwood Building School at www.cordwoodmasonry.com.

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