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57 of 62 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
No secrets...your lender HAS to tell you, January 22, 2004
This review is from: The 106 Mortgage Secrets All Homebuyers Must Learn--But Lenders Don't Tell (Paperback)
This book is so bad on so many levels that it barely merits one star. I'll chip it the star on the basis of one chapter that may be informative. First, the title. There are no secrets in this book. Most of this is information readily available with a minimum of research(Fannie Mae). As far as your lender not wanting you to know...many of the so-called "secrets" could cost a lender their license, fines or even jail if they don't disclose. Mr.Eldred should know that the information on the Good Faith Estimate has to be more accurate than he portrays. Further, in regards to fees such as the Yield Spread Premium, if the lender is a bank or a correspondent lender they do not have to disclose those fees at all. Only mortgage brokers do, making theirs the most transparent transaction. Some of the other fees he references to aren't even within the scope of a lender to control (title fees, etc.). Mr.Eldred's "hints" on how to "improve" your income and debt are borderline fraud. People DO go to jail for this. With automated underwriting there is very little room to push the issue of "compensating" factors as Eldred suggests. This is a sensationalized rendering of how to get a mortgage. It's as if he took the examples of the worst 1% of lenders and applied them to the other 99%. The chapter on ARM's is good in showing that there is usually a benefit to this product, with little of the risk imagined. Overall, one would be much better off getting "The Mortgage Kit" by Thomas Steinmetz, now in it's 5th edition. Avoid the phony expose lure of this book.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding guide to financing, October 6, 2003
This review is from: The 106 Mortgage Secrets All Homebuyers Must Learn--But Lenders Don't Tell (Paperback)
I previously read Eldred's book,Investing In Real Estate.It's the best,comprehensive, and most sensible guide to investing that you'll find (read the reviews for youself). Likewise, this book on financing goes way beyond the other authors that I have read. (Sidenote: I cannot figure out what the Seattle reviewer is talking about, Mortgage Secrets deals exclusively with the ins and outs of financing techniques, saving money, cutting mortgage costs,and building equity faster. This book says nothing about using high leverage to get rich in real estate. As to infomercial hype, Eldred actually lambasts these gurus and warns how their "techniques" can lead the gullible to financial ruin. He even cautions strongly against home equity loans.) If you want to learn your financing options as well as the "tricks of the trade", you won't find a better book than this one. Although I'm in the business, I liked this book because a much more educated borrower gives us true professionals a stong advantage over our competition. Read Mortgage Secrets, then work with a broker who follows the insights that Eldred reveals. I'll make more money and you will get a better deal.
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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I think I've seen this guy in info-mercials, October 2, 2003
This review is from: The 106 Mortgage Secrets All Homebuyers Must Learn--But Lenders Don't Tell (Paperback)
I found that I could not get through this book. I may give it another try but I can't get too far without getting irritated again. The author seems to have no shortage of criticisms for those that work in home financing. He provides a laundry list of what he believes to be myths that those folks perpetuate. I'm no expert in financing (that's why I'm reading the book) and these criticisms may be totally valid, but for reasons I'll describe I don't trust what he says. He writes with the kind of condescension that can only be achieved by someone who doesn't even consider that he could perpetuating some myths of his own. This book's title is somewhat misleading. One would think it would focus heavily on financing. However, while he does touch on it, talk of financing is used to segue into how you (yes, YOU!) can get rich by investing in real estate. He is, or is a disciple of, one of those guys in the infomercials that say how easy it is to leverage your McDonald's wages into purchases of multi-unit complexes. Yes, real estate can be an effective wealth-building tool. However, this guy is fanatical to the point that he can no longer be objective. The prime, and most irritating, example that keeps emerging in the book (as far as I made it) is his apparent belief that real estate investment is free of risk. He suggests that you should use renters to allow you to buy multi-unit properties on a small income. I live in Seattle, and when the bubble burst there was suddenly a GLUT of rental housing in the area - having vacancies makes it pretty damn hard to make those payments. He also recommends paying your mortgage off quicker instead of using the extra money on other investments. Why? Because those other investments are risky he says. Hey, Mr. PhD - real estate prices can drop just like any investment (just ask residents of San Francisco). If your house is suddenly worth less than when you bought it - all of that extra capital being used to pay off the mortgage in 15 years instead of 30 is going in the toilet. The author proposes some interesting hypotheses worthy of exploring. Unfortunately, it is hard for me to trust any of his conclusions because I question his ability to think critically.
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