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Rob Roy From Chelsea Green: As a wave of foreclosures sweeps the country, many people are giving up hope for owning a home of their own. They have good reason to turn their backs on the banks, but not on their dreams. In this revised edition of Mortgage Free!, Rob Roy offers a series of escape routes from enslavement to financial institutions, underscored by true stories of intrepid homeowners who have put their principles into action. From back-to-the-land homesteads to country homes, here is a complete guide to strategies that allow you to own your land and home, free and clear, without the bank. Included is detailed advice about: * Clarifying and simplifying your notions of what’s necessary; * Finding land that you love and can afford; * Taking control of the house-building process, for the sake of sanity and pleasure; and * Learning to take a long-term perspective on your family’s crucial economic decisions, avoiding debt and modern-day serfdom. Peak Oil Resources Review: Chelsea Green's webpage for Mortgage Free has an encouraging jumping-off point: mort•gage (mor´-gij) n. from Old French morgage, mort gage, literally “death pledge” How comforting. Not really though. Rather, the comfort and (dare I say) hope come what Rob Roy has put forth in this newest edition of Mortgage Free. It is a book that gives you a fresh look at the what home ownership is and why it can be a life-giving state of life or a back-breaking burden. Given that most folks pay on a mortgage for 30 years or more when it is all said and done, I posit that owning a home is often more of a burden. Instead, it should be your soft place to land, you castle, your retreat. This book will help you reorient your perspective to at least entertain the possibilities to avail yourself of such an abode. He begins by examining the modern standards of homeownership with a nearly life-long mortgage with its travails and pitfalls. Then Roy begins his counsel of setting money aside, cultivating the opportunities and know-how to select and secure land that will facilitate a mortgage free existence. After briefly reviewing some building strategies to get you headed in the right direction, he serves up some of the most inspiring elements of his book; the real stories of real people who have done what he and his family have done. Sure, it is wonderful that he could do it. The inspiration comes from those who duplicated the effort. Know that this book likely won't help you become mortgage free if you are living in the suburbs or city. It is not set up that way and the strategies within won't usually apply. However, if your goal is to extricate yourself from such a living arrangement, you will benefit from this book. Like most things that run countercurrent to prevailing cultural winds, thinking differently will open up opportunities that you never knew existed. This may be a jumping-off point for you to live the life and manner that you have always desired, but never knew how to acquire (short of a large inheritance or some other large influx of funds). It could be your roadmap to retirement. That is up to you. It depends on what your goals are and the timeframe that you would like to accomplish them in. In the final analysis, Mortgage Free gives you options. It is up to you to go deeper and learn more about executing these options. In doing so, may be able to cast off being tied to the "death pledge" and replace that condition of life with one that is infinitely more meaningful and satisfying... that of a Homeowner.
Rob Roy knows what it means to live mortgage free. As director of Earthwood Building School since 1981, he has instructed many in the arts of natural building, and renewable energy. He is also the author of Earth-Sheltered Houses, Cordwood Building, Timber Framing for the Rest of Us, The Sauna, and Stone Circles. Rob and his family live in West Chazy, New York.
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Mortgage
Free! Second Edition Innovative Strategies for Debt-free Home Ownership