Rosie Rains - Are You Sure You Don't Have a Problem?
Text Size 
There’s a widespread lack of understanding about what debt is, how to manage it, and how to use it to your benefit.
That’s where I come in. When people ask me what I do, I sometimes give them a flip, off-the-cuff answer. I say, “I dig people out of a hole or make sure they don’t fall into one in the first place.”
I ask all of my clients a basic question: is your mortgage contributing to your wealth? I like this concept so much that I had the phrase trademarked.
Wealth from a mortgage? This is a hard concept for many people to wrap their minds around.
“But, Rosie, how can a mortgage possibly help my bottom line?” one of my puzzled clients recently asked me. “It’s debt! That’s the opposite of wealth, isn’t it?”
She wasn’t the first one to voice that doubt. And the parade of clients who raise the question in exactly the same way has helped me to understand the widespread confusion over the recent fast-paced changes in the market. Consumer choices are proliferating. Loan officers pitch products such as the “option ARM,” “3–1, “5–1,” “7–1,” “one-month MTA,” “neg am,” and “advantage ARM.” The average mortgage shopper requires help in order not to get eaten alive by the big bad wolves.
Every bank, mortgage firm, and lending institution in the country needs a strong “borrower beware” message displayed prominently in its offices. James Agee’s well-known warning about playing poker is relevant: “If you look around the poker table, and you don’t see a sucker,
then you’re the sucker.” The same could be said of the table at all too many mortgage closings.
So in this book you will hear my story, that of a minister’s daughter from a lower rung of the economic ladder who worked her way up to wealth. My client list consists of wealthy executives from the entertainment industry— actors, celebrities, and directors—as well as single nurses,
retirees, and the plain old upside-down desperate. Using interesting case studies, anecdotes, and stories, I’ll help you draw conclusions about your own financial situation.
I will also divulge the secrets I’ve learned along the way. I will introduce different types of borrowers and outline strategies for each of them. I will lay out the pros and cons of using a mortgage broker or dealing directly with lenders. And I will explain mortgage products in easily
understandable terms.
I know I can do all this well, in ways that can help you avoid the pitfalls and capitalize on opportunities, because that’s what I’ve been doing for my clients for years.
Zak Horne is one side of the mortgage coin. But perhaps you believe he is a special case and not one from which we can draw general conclusions. So let’s have a look at the other side of the coin, shall we?
To learn more about maneuvering through the mortgage market or to purchase my book, go to
www.rosierains.com
_________________________
Reprinted with permission from McGraw-Hill
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
