Three Tips to Kick the Mortgage Game
Mortgages cost us huge amounts of money taken directly out of our pockets all year long. Adding interest and fees to escrow and bank processing and we end up almost throwing our money away. And in the first 5 years of a Mortgage very little money goes to the equity on a house. So why not try DIY “Do It Yourself” House Building and break free from depending on a Mortgage when you can live totally mortgage free? Here are 3 Tips just for you.
1. Finding Inexpensive Land – Finding inexpensive land is not that daunting of a task. Try checking out your local real estate office and asking the Realtor for inexpensive land also to keep your name on file in case any land like this pops up and call them back now and then to show your interest. Also check online and run a search titled “inexpensive land in ( write in the state or place you want land in ). Also check out the big internet auctions sites for land. I have found numerous inexpensive land opportunities doing this. If you can not afford to buy land straight up, some companies are in business just to sell land. And I find they can finance fully through their company and some don’t even do a credit check.
I have owned land that cost me approximately $4,000 for 5 acres, and presently have 7.8 acres that cost $7,500. While property prices have gone up since the time when i purchased land, the same acreages today would go for about $8,000 for 5 acres and $12,000 – $15,000 for 7.8 acres in the areas where the properties are located.
2. Building Your Own House – Learning how to DIY House Build really is not that difficult. You will be surprised how easy if you find an easy way to explain and show you. Scout out on the net on house building forums and ask questions where they learned how to build a house. Also you could do something called shadowing. Shadowing is when you follow and watch a professional actually doing the job which in our case building a house. Housing contractors might let you follow them around for a couple of days, especially contractors who operate out of their own home based company like a local contractor. Or even better spend a summer employed building houses. You can also build one step at a time as the money comes in so that you are not borrowing for building materials. When everything is finished (and it might take two to five years) you will have no rent, no mortgage, and only utility payments and property taxes. In a 1000 square foot home on 5 or even 10 acres of land you can literally end up with $200 or less monthly expenses, and never have to worry about foreclosures or not making a rent deadline.
3. Making Money totally from your own Land – This can be done in numerous ways. Numerous home based and internet based opportunities exist, and there are way too many to explore in just one article. The land itself can be utilized to farm, which can earn you a small income, and supplement your groceries. If your land is heavily wooded with large trees, you can make money by having some of your timber harvested. An added benefit of having timber on your land is firewood if you decide to heat by wood from a wood stove or an outdoor wood burning furnace. This can greatly cut your heating expenses in winter. There are more exotic things you can do such as building a greenhouse to raise and sell exotic plants or trees, building ponds to raise exotic fish, or a work shed to make unique crafts or furniture which you can sell.
If you are creative, the opportunities and benefits of purchasing your own land and building from scratch are almost unlimited.
