Mind Your Own Mortgage

By Robert J. Bernabe

I picked this book from the Booksneeze collection because we are always contemplating buying a house or condo. We haven’t up till now because of moving, finances and currently debt reduction. It was interesting to read through this Mind Your Own Mortgage (MYOM) concept of turning shopping for mortgages into the equivalent of shopping for gas.

There is a cost associated with a mortgage: lender's fees, points, third party fees, to name a few. They have always kind of frightened me, because I was like “I have to come up with a down payment AND closing costs, wow.” But this helped me see that I can control those costs and know what they are before entering into the loan process itself.

One of the main things that Bernabe is trying to break away from is shopping for mortgages based on monthly payment. He gives clear examples of why this type of mortgage shopping works against you and how you can correct it. It’s actually quite exciting to think about payoff solutions that he has put forth in this book. He refers to them not only as a snowball but also as an avalanche pay off process, cutting down a 30-year loan to 18 or 20 through refinances and smart money management. That is a considerable savings.

My one complaint is the constant referral to the MYOM website, which is referred to as an appendix. As of this posting that “appendix” has a thirty-dollar yearly fee to access it! And the forms that he refers to are not available in the book at all.

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