Mortgage-Free!: Radical Strategies for Home Ownership

by Robert L. Roy

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0930031989
• ISBN13: 9780930031985
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Chelsea Green Publishing Company
• Length: 353 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

An Excellent Resource for All

Roy start his book with the basics; how to save money in your current situation. Many of these suggestions are simple, yet effective. I especially liked his comment that "eating out is entertainment, not sustenance". Roy shows us how to reduce our monthly expenses so that we will be able to save enough money to buy property with strategies that are later developed in his book. Another section that was extremely useful to me and my husband was the section where Roy describes all of the things he did wrong when he first purchased land and built on said land. I am sure that learning of his mistakes will prevent us from making those same mistakes when we decide to buy our land and build. As a couple looking toward homesteading in the near future, this book was worth it's weight in gold to us. I am sure we will refer to it often in our quest for our little slice of the American Dream.

A Radical Idea and an Excellent Resource

Once in a while, I read a book that makes me question something I always took for granted. For example, it was Ageless Body, Timeless Mind by Deepak Chopra that showed me people don't have to grow old and brittle before they die. It was Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki that taught me what it really means to be rich. And I credit Mortgage-Free!, by Rob Roy, with being the book that proved how people can own a comfortable, beautiful home without taking out a mortgage.I decided to read Mortgage-Free! because the title intrigued me. Little did I know that it would be such a fantastic book, or that it would relate so closely to the theme of my website, SustainableWays.com (for which this review was originally written).I always thought that having a house was synonymous with having a mortgage. But when you really think about it, a mortgage is not much of a good deal. The author shows how most people who take out a mortgage end up paying nearly three times as much as the house they live in is worth. Even worse is the inevitable nature of debt as a work trap:"An unholy percentage of American men and women are working largely for their houses, at jobs they would not choose were pay not the overriding consideration. I spent nearly five years at that game, surrounded by co-workers caught in the mortgage trap. My escape was made possible largely by our mortgage-free home." -Rob Roy, Mortgage-Free! It's the author's own experiences in walking the talk that really makes this book and excellent investment. Yes, the ideas may seem outrageous, but Rob Roy makes it undeniable that they are, in fact, do-able. Not only does he describe his own 25-year success in building and owning mortgage-free homes, but he also provides a number of examples of others doing the same thing. On top of that, this book is rich with book recommendations, phone numbers, and other starting points. Basically, he covers every base so well that the only reason you'd have NOT to follow his advice is down-right laziness.This book will best serve people who are independent, open-minded, and logical. But if you're a die-hard conformist that scoffs at anything unconvential, then this book is not for you. Even though the ideas and methods presented in Mortgage-Free! will be most useful to people living or willing to move to rural areas, anyone can benefit from the knowledge provided in this book. Even now, as I'm flipping through it, I'm continually amazed at how helpful and thorough this book really is. It touches on everything from eating well, to helping the environment, going to college, and so on. This is definitely a holistic, integrative piece of work. Ultimately, this is a book I felt I had to buy because of its usefulness as a reference. If you read it more than once, you'll realize that Mortgage-Free! isn't really about owning a home. Even if you don't end up owning or building a house, this book will have served you well in that it'll have made you question something that you nor

Freedom Awaits

Far from being just another book about ways to buy real estate, Rob Roy's book 'Mortgage-Free' encompasses an entire way of life that can set you free from the oppressive, credit induced, treadmill existence that ever-increasingly dominates & enslaves people to debt & by doing so greatly decreases their quality & enjoyment of life. Rob combines Thoreauvian based economics & plain old down-to-earth common sense with wisdom gained from his many successful years of Mortgage-Free living. He offers hope, inspiration & practical, proven techniques to those who would dare to actually take charge of their own lives & realize that there are alternatives to huge indebtedness. Filled with genuinely useful information & examples, Rob reveals not only his own personal triumphs, but also mistakes he has made along his own Mortgage-Free journey & he does this in a very readable, entertaining, as well as enlightening fashion. Buy a copy or use one of Rob's own money saving techniques if you must & check with your local library- Either way I think you truly owe it to yourself to read this book before you set out on your own personal home-ownership journey. Good Luck to you all!

Enter a New World

Most people go through their lives blindly following a set way of accomplishing the act of living. A few question that path. Rob Roy has produced a book that can lead to a profound change in doing life. If you want to step out of the normal and to reexamine the way most people go about finding and buying shelter then read this book. Based on a few simple and old ideas, this book leads you down a path toward financial independence. How to acquire shelter and not end up owing your life to financial institutions is a mind opening exercise, well worth the price of this book. Step by step he teaches you how he accomplished his goal of mortgage free living. Even more importantly he encourages the reader to do the same. What would you do if you had a mortgage free home? Following his strategies could open up a whole new world for the reader. A world of infinite possibilities!

This book is a must if you want to build without a mortgage.

The author speaks from experience which is comforting to know, if you are going to venture out into the lonely waters of building your house without a mortgage. Must of your friends and relatives look at you like your crazy when you mention the subject. So to have a book from an experience person on this subject lends much credibility to the book and author. This book is written well and is easy to read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.