Do you hate your mortgage?!?

I'm guessing a majority of you might have said, "YES!" How about if I told you that mortgages are one of the greatest financial vehicles ever created? Have I gone off the deep end?

Mortgages, plain and simple, allow ordinary citizens like you and me, to acquire assets in the form of homes that normally would have taken us entire lifetimes to save and pay for. Additionally, mortgages allow people to obtain appreciable assets with little to no money down and therefore link the mortgage owner to the gains on that significantly valued asset. Mortgages also provide Americans with their largest itemized tax deduction, allowing many taxpayers the chance to actually use a Schedule A, and surpass the standard deduction.

So WHY ARE MORTGAGES SO UNPOPULAR? Mortgages represent debt. Mortgages represent the largest single expenditure on most budgets. A look at the interest versus principal payments over the term of a typical home loan is enough to make most people sick to their stomach. And in your haste to "rid" yourself of this burden, you pay extra principal payments or get into 15 year loans. And of course, the current sub-prime lending mess has put a bad light on "risky" loans that were once used by savvy investors but have been sold by overzealous mortgage brokers (and even some home builders) to unaware, uneducated, undisciplined, or risky investors/homeowners.

Take a read through the following article which shows that when used properly, and when used as an "income leverage" tool and NOT as a "debt leverage" tool, that mortgages can significantly provide an incredible wealth building mechanism.