Untapped Riches: Never Pay Off Your Mortgage -- and Other Surprising Secrets for Building Wealth [Paperback]

Susan Cutaia (Author), Anthony Cutaia (Author), Robert Slater (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2, 2007

Most people believe they lack the capital required for serious wealth-building, unwittingly tying up money in equity they could be investing elsewhere for greater return. "Untapped Riches" offers 40 wealth-building and wealth-protection strategies, flying in the face of conventional wisdom to argue that there is both good and bad debt - and that the former is essential to generating cash flow and building significant wealth. This valuable, empowering book shows how anyone can get the cash they need, and use it to make a radical difference in their financial health.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

"Like most people, you've probably dreamt about making smart investments that would eventually allow you to do things like take one extra vacation a year…or own a nicer home…or even just rest a little more comfortably knowing that there's money in the bank. Maybe you even have a specific investment opportunity you'd like to take advantage of and know would pay off…but don't have the cash at your disposal to even get started.

Now you can stop being frustrated, because if you own a home, you're sitting on usable equity you didn't even know you had! Untapped Riches is an eye-opening book that dispels longstanding myths and misconceptions about financial health, showing you that there is both good and bad debt, and that the key to building wealth is leveraging the capital you already have…money that would otherwise be tied up, giving you significantly less return than you could otherwise acquire by making smart investment decisions.

Untapped Riches shows you how to use new mortgage instruments and flexible loans, with sound information on ""smart loans,"" interest-only mortgages, 1031 exchanges, and negative amortization. The book proves that you don't need a raise, a second job, or a get-rich-quick scheme to increase your net worth. You already have everything you need right now. This book provides you with 40 wealth-building and wealth-protection strategies you can use immediately to achieve your financial goals.

Flying in the face of conventional wisdom -- and backing it up with proven techniques and hard-won wisdom -- Untapped Riches will change the way you think about money, mortgages, and investing, and help you get the cash you need, and really put it to work."

About the Author

Anthony Cutaia has more than 30 years of experience in the financial markets. He began his career as a stockbroker, investment advisor, and a real estate developer, with a portfolio in excess of $120 million. He is a Realtor, mortgage broker, and member of the national Federation of Mortgage Brokers. Susan Cutaia is a mortgage broker. Together, they run the Cutaia Mortgage Group, Inc., and host a weekly television program called Talk About Mortgages and Real Estate. Broker Magazine rated them number one in Florida for generating the most real estate revenue. They live in Boca Raton, Florida.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 17 and up
  
• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (January 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814473962
• ISBN-13: 978-0814473962
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Dangerous Advice, April 21, 2007

By 

Truth Teller "Tim" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Untapped Riches: Never Pay Off Your Mortgage -- and Other Surprising Secrets for Building Wealth (Paperback)

This type of thinking is what has led us to the credit crisis, real-estate implosion and record foreclosures. It works great when real-estate goes up, but if the value goes down, the mortgage is worth more than the house and the owner is underwater. This causes people to mail in the keys to the bank which add to the real estate glut.

This book is the road to financial ruin and a little research will tell you that this is what happened to the author. Look forward the the sequel: My life as a homeless person: How to buy the best cardboard boxes on the street with no money down.

Seriously, use fixed rate, conforming loans and do it the old-fashioned way. You will come out ahead.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Missed Fortune - Light, February 27, 2007

By 

James R. Venney "Murdoc" (South Miami, FL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Untapped Riches: Never Pay Off Your Mortgage -- and Other Surprising Secrets for Building Wealth (Paperback)

Smart loans, option ARMs, Pick A Payment what every you want to call them are blunt instruments used by the not so sophisticated buyer. While the concept presented in Untapped Riches does have some validaty a similar and more powerful concept is presented in a much more comprehensive and meaningful way in Douglas Andrew's Missed Fortune. Untapped Riches is a good place to start but will leave most with too little knowlege to do anything meaningful.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More Strategies Please!, January 9, 2008

By 

Michael Pellegrini (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Untapped Riches: Never Pay Off Your Mortgage -- and Other Surprising Secrets for Building Wealth (Paperback)

I was really looking forward to reading this book but I have to say, it's been a bit of a let-down. The basic premise of the book is to take out a "New Smart Loan" aka an option-arm, and make the minimum payment (negative amortization). Then take the rest of the money you would have spent on a regular mortgage payment, and invest it into an account that earns compound interest. That's a valid idea, and I'm sure it works if you have enough discipline to follow through with it and not spend the money elsewhere, but that's pretty much all they talk about. I keep looking for some other strategies to imply, but they aren't there. What's frustrating is that they keep dragging this one concept on and on, writing new chapters that all say the same thing, and constantly fall back on their "New Smart Loan." I honestly wouldn't recommend this book.