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

Offering 40 wealth-building and wealth-protection strategies, many of which fly in the face of conventional wisdom, Untapped Riches will change how readers think about borrowing money, investing, and mortgages. Challenging the idea that it is more financially sound to be debt-free, the authors believe that there is both good and bad debt -- and that the former is essential to generating cash flow and building significant wealth. Real estate tycoons know it’s all about leverage. Now, the authors, who made their own fortune in real estate, show how anyone can get the cash they need, and really put it to work.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

System is Flawed, 2008-12-15
The neg amort loans that were pitched in the book have backfired. Banks will no longer do them, they probably will be banned by new laws. Anywy the author went bust and shut down his offices. Right now investigated by the FBI and IRS. Those who saw big problems here were right.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Untapped Riches, 2008-12-02
It was informative and eye-opening. I have trouble with the idea that you should keep a mortgage after retirement if on a fixed income. If you have a huge 401k or other retirement planned where you will be taxed high and heavily, then may make sense.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Untapped Riches, 2008-07-14
When you understand money you know that if you can use OPM (other people's money)where the interest is tax deductible and the gain is non-taxable up to .5 million (married couple)you have it about as good as it gets. This book shows you many ways in which to more efficiently use money. If you can put $100,000 in your house replacement account and you have a $100,000 mortgage, you have paid off your house, you just haven't transferred it yet (but you could at any time). This is for people with discipline - if you go out and blow the "safe" money, it is your own fault.


1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

Read Chapter 7... nuf said., 2008-04-12
Looking at interest-only loans today. I would like for you to decide about this book. Also if you do thing ethically and try to not to stay in the grey areas, you will prosper through honesty. It isn't always about being wealthy.

Excerpt on Pg 66 on Interest-Only Mortgages:

"One concern that people have about interest-only mortgages is the fear that they will be subject to much higher interest rates after the initial five- to ten-year interest-only period ends. But with interest rates at historic lows, many variable-rate interest only loans are capped at 12% or less over the span of the mortgage. That is a rate that many Americans need not fret about."

However Chapter 8 goes more in to depth about the risk associated with this type of mortgage. It is unusal that the author make you aware of this program's risk but seems to want you to try them.... "It's not the responsibility of the government--of Big Brother--to tell you how to manage your money." (2007 pg. 79)

I couldn't recommend this book except to show how Americans thought during 2006-2007 about our "Titanic-like", ever-increasing, foolproof economy.


2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

Negative Amortization GOOD???? There's a possibility this may work. There's also a possibility i could win the lotto tomorrow., 2008-03-13
Untapped Riches by Anthony Cutaia attemps to educate the reader and make aware that a stigma exists within the banking industry that is passed on to mortgage borrowers that the best way to acculumlate wealth is to remain debt free and to pay off mortgage as soon as possible.

While the book's information regarding 1031 exchanges can be found in any real estate 101 book found in any book store or department store, this is the first book among MANNNNY that i have read which brings to light the possible tax savings one can bring about by procuring a cost segregation study. While informative, this specific information seems more tailored to builders or those who own multi family or commercial building worth millions at a minimum rather than the average "weekend real estate investor".

The book's main argument is that instead of getting fixed rate loans at a higher apr, one should keep monthly payments at an absolute minimum by way of new "Smart loans", interest-only loans or short term ARM's that allow the borrower to make payments as low as 1% even if it means risking negative amortization or ABSOULELY 0% equity after many years of payments. The author's idea is that the savings in this lowered monthly payment when placed in an alternate investment vehicle such as CD's or bonds, When compounded, generate more income rather than being "dead moneY" or equity when used as payments to acelerate a principle balance. The book argues that being that mortgages are set up where most of the payment is applied to interest within the first 15 years, and that statistically speaking, most people sell or refinance within 7-10 years it is better to leave the cash out of the banks hands and "let your money work for you"; Using historic real estate appreciation rates in several US cities, the book recommends repeatedly withdrawing more equity in the form of refinancing and then using that money to buy more real estate.

The book cites areas such as West Palm Beach FLorida and uses appreciation percentages as high as 8% per year in many of it's examples. I'm sure that this book was written prior to the current economic recession we are in as statistically speaking, odds are you will not be in an area where real estate is appreciating at even at 1% nor will you find a place where cd's are generating a 5% R.O.I.

Overall the book is an interesting read for anyone who is interested in finding alterative ways to structure mortgages however in the current state of economy, how many banks are actaully offering these "SMART LOANS" or NEGATIVE Amortization loans? Will a bank really cash out a borrower and allow the loan to NEGATIVE AMORTIZE where the loan exceeds the value of the property? many may find the techniques used in this book as over extending and rather risky. While I like how the book promotes the idea of less equity vs personal investment and the power of compounding in the current state of economy and real estate recession, a lot of the ideas i do not believe are applicable. To the average weekend real estate investor with limited experience, using these techniques = foreclosure. To the seasoned real estate investor with a good understanding of leverage the idea's here "could in theory work." ... COULD...

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