No Such Thing as a 30 year fixed Mortgage and I can prove it

I'm wondering why the people have that have all this so called discretionary income to begin with even have mortgages.  Why aren't they just paying cash???

Any time you have to recruit more agents to sell your product and they in turn have to recruit agents my gut tells me to stay away.  I don't think it is the best way to spend your time and question the ethics of getting involved in such a scheme.  As REALTORS we have a fiduciary responsibility to our clients. 

A fellow Realtor gave a presentation which I attended.  I am not in the mortgage business and do not want to be.  It is not just about you and your loan.  It is about getting you involved as an agent also.  Do all of these Realtors reveal to their clients that they are making money if they get them to sign up for this program?

There has been another program in the Maryland - DC - Virginia area called Dream Homes that promised people that they could help them pay off their mortgages in a very few years.  It is now being investigated.  Buyer beware.

My comments are not meant to disparage anyone that believes in the MMA program.  It is meant only to convey my personal reaction to the talk about how great this program is and no data that I have seen that verifies any one successfully accomplishing it.

Tchaka...I understand that and I certainly agree with you.  It was really meant as a rhetorical question.  With the MMA program the emphasis is on discretionary money paying down the mortgage.  Well, either you have a lot of discretionary money and want to do that or you don't have the discretionary money and so you won't end up paying it off early or you have the discretionary money and would prefer to put it to better use such as you suggest.

My point is, I don't believe you have to spend $3,500 (that is the amount you needed to pay in order to sign up) to do what you will probably do no matter what.

At this late hour I hope I'm still making some sense (or have finally begun to).

Thanks Tchaka.

Kathleen

Gotcha.  I already wrote this off due to the $3500 sign up fee. 

I hear ya on the late, I can barely read this screen! 

I like the exchange that is going on here.  The give and take is tremendous. 

Kathleen - The problem here is that folk think that more money can be made by recruiting people to do what needs to be done as opposed to doing what's right for your clients.  IMHO - I would rather be able to get my clients to understand the power of money and how this program can work when utilized the correct way. 

The problem with some of these programs is they are only explained once and although someone may think they know what is going on...  It can take many explanations for the information to sink in and be made a part of the conscience.

Hi Matthew...I agree.  I am a REALTOR precisely because I want to help people buy and sell real estate.  We are told that we are not lawyers and therefore should not give legal advice,  If I wanted to get into the mortgage business or financial advising I would learn as much as I could about those fields. 

Right now I'm sticking with real estate and have no interest in recruiting folks so I can make money off of their efforts.  I'm satisfied with the income I earn through my own initiative. 

Mike Norvell,

   Thanks for your balancing post! I too have spent some time researching the MMA w/U1stFinancial. I have to admit,

   I'm still undecided as to the overall benefit. I just can't seem to make a commitment one way or the other. I think that I wantto like it because I really want to say that I have that "magic pill" to make your financial woes go away! My current take is this, I haven't heard an overwhelmingly convincing argument to refute the MMA other than its cost, but I still remain sceptical... I've gone as far as putting some information about it on my website, but I use it more for advertising as a way to generate more traffic to my Mortgage Practice. I am an Agent, but I haven't made the time to pass the on-line exams to earn commissions yet. (I know some will be surprised that you have to pass an exam to earn commissions).

My biggest knock on this is that anyone who can pass the exam can market this, and that the associated greed of some MLMers will make bad recommendations (not a knock on the industry as a whole). As a Personal Mortgage Consultant, there are enough bozos in the industry that suggest the wrong mortgage products. I can't imagine someone with no Financial Service background selling the MMA...

Interestingly, I was recruited by a Financial Advisor and a CPA. Both are successful and respected in their professions. The Financial Advisor is a Co-Author for a book , Stop Sitting on Your Assets. 

I hope to hear some more debate on the topic. 

Happy New Year!

Your website link to me to some Ayn Rand site. 

It sounds good in theory, but you are forgetting the time value of money. $1000 30 years from now is not the same as $1000 today. Also, thatdiscretionary income that you are putting into the MMA has to come from somewhere. Most likely investments. So, you have fewer investments and your savings are a wash in the end.

Without offering an opinion I have to say that there is a good strong debate going here which is an excellent learning medium.  But everyone missed one big point.  We get to write off interest and for most of us that interest is our largest tax benefit and most of us need all the tax help we can get.  Yes we exchange a positive for negative but at least we don't pay interest with no return (ie equity through appreciation and tax benefit).  There is some good to come from interest..."Some".   

Who wrote that blog on Tax Effective payments...oh it was me.  Check it out for more insight:  http://activerain.com/blogsview/438621/Points-and-The-Tax

Financial Education has been kept from the public for a long time. This is how many make their money and that is why there is such an astonishing amount of negative comments and frustration. Many do not take to the concepts that Robert Kiyosaki presents either but he has done OK. Keith continue to present the accurate information on how a consumer can work the system. It is about time that consumers were put in the loop so they may decide what works for them. We cannot force them to drink but we can show them the numbers. It is our responsibilty to fdo so. Australia has been living this way for a long time. Thanks. Good luck. My client is ecstatic that his mortgage will be paid off in 11 yeatrs and the IVESTMENT portfolio on a modest 6% return will be 1.5 million.  Helping him to acheive that has generated great testamonials.

I agree that this is more of a marketing piece and that the whole discussion was based more to promote the use of an MMA.  The loanacceleration link however, now points to some type of objectivism site, so does this mean that program no longer works or is now defunct?