Unless your have been living under a rock you likely heard the story of the guy that paid off his mortgage in three years at the age of 30. His name is Sean Cooper and he then proceeded to write a book on personal finance called Burn Your Mortgage. So when he contacted me about doing a review of his book of course I agreed to read a copy.
The book is broken up into three main sections the first covers the basics of personal finance, while the second is a detailed look at buying a house and the third is about dealing with home ownership. I honestly was a bit concerned about having to read the first section. I’ve read SO MANY personal finance books over the years that I generally don’t learn much reading them anymore. But Sean did a solid job on this part of the book, he outlines the basics well and even gave me a few ideas on things to look into for cost savings.
The second section is where I think the book really shines. He does a great job of walking a novice through the process of buying a house. While of course he can’t cover every detail depending on you live he does a great job of process from dealing with house inspections, making a offer and even some tips on how to deal with a hot housing market when you decision window is a lot smaller. If you have never bought a house before you really should read this book so you know what to expect.
Then finally the last section is a good summary of what a home owner is now responsible for and things you will need like house insurance. If you have been a lifelong renter the transition could be a shock so I thought this was an excellent idea to include. Then the last chapter is some general advice on renting out your home if you wanted to go down that path.
Perhaps the only thing that generally I disagreed with was his advise for when living in an expensive housing market increasing what you are willing to spend to get a house. I fundamentally don’t agree. If you can’t afford the house at a reasonable ratio of the house price to your income, I personally don’t think you should buy. But that is the function of my experience, I don’t live in Toronto where house prices are literally climbing the ceiling. So I understand the context of his advice even if I won’t follow it myself.
But overall it was a solid book and well done. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
Now the fun part. I was also given a few extra copies of the book to giveaway. So yes, you can now win your own copy of the book. To enter leave a comment on this post with a valid email address by May 12, 2017 at midnight CST. I will randomly pick two entries to win a copy of the book which I will mail to you. Winners will be contacted by email. Good luck to everyone.
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Update: Winners are Olivier and Theo…please check your email accounts for an email from me. It may have gone into your spam filter.