Brad and Lisa Deffenbaugh

We have been living the "Mortgage Free Way" for over a year and have already paid off the mortgage of one our investment properties. As a result, we have saved over $100,000 in interest payments. Using the Mortgage Free Americans system hasn't hampered our ability to pay our bills, finance our kids' college, or enjoy daily life. In fact, using the Mortgage Free Americans system has given us renewed hope for our financial future and revitalized our lives. With Mortgage Free Americans we know that we're well on our way to achieve financial freedom and security!

Our Story...

Our two daughters were in college, six mortgages were due on the fifth day of each month, holidays, birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, fundraisers, electrical bills, phone bills, cable TV bills, food, water, gas, clothes, entertainment, the list went on and on and on. My wife Lisa and I felt like a sieve when it came to holding onto money. There were more holes in our wallets than you'd find in Swiss cheese.

Then, miracle of miracles, interest rates began to fall. We began to perk up as the rates went lower and lower and we knew that all we had to do was refinance our investment properties and we'd see some additional income. But we'd already done that-twice. We'd bought our apartments during Hawaii's infamous "bubble" period and thought that an adjustable rate was just fine as we were planning on selling the units for a profit and reinvesting the return. But the real estate market went south and the adjustable rates got out of hand. We refinanced them into fixed rate interest loans. Then, a dip in interest rates in the mid-90s allowed us to refinance them again.

There's a problem with refinancing. Every time you do it, you re-extend the loan for 30 years and lose all the payments you've been making up to that point. So, if you've been paying your mortgage for five years then refinance it, you end up making payments for 35 years. Oh, and you kick in a couple thousand bucks for the "privilege." Banks love people like Lisa and me. We're the reason they can afford those beautiful buildings and furnishings. So, there we were with six mortgages draining our pocketbooks, two daughters in college and the usual expenses of living. Our options were limited. We were unwilling to sell our investments at a loss, but every month they were costing us money. Refinancing seemed the logical choice despite the cost (six mortgages at $2,000 each to refinance meant a $12,000 bill) because it would give us some breathing room and we could build the cost (the $2,000) into the loan itself and not have to pay the cash out of pocket.

We had another option. We could sell an apartment or two. When we factored in the costs to brokers, agents, escrow companies and banks we could see that wasn't going to be a very attractive path to take either. We hadn't suffered this long to break even or lose money. We felt that eventually the economy would improve and we were in a tight spot but holding our own.

Mortgage Free Americans

Lisa wears several career hats. While attending a real estate meeting, she heard a presentation by Walter Peters about Mortgage Free Americans. He spoke of a new method of mortgage and debt repayment. Lisa and I were juggling six mortgages and over $450,000 in debt so she listened closely to the speaker and arranged a private meeting so we could analyze our needs and determine if the this method could help us. Now, if you're still with me you'll know that Lisa and I have made some mistakes along the way to our financial goals. Some of our purchase choices hadn't panned out and the bottom had dropped out of the market and left us holding several "alligators" (properties that ate away at our income instead of being investments that gave us a return). Hey, nobody's perfect! Every one of those properties had the potential to be a good investment. We just needed to climb over that mortgage barrier. Having been under the bank's thumb our entire lives, we couldn't see how to beat their system. After all, the banks created it.

During the first meeting-mostly informational because were coming in at ground zero with no knowledge-with Walter Peters, a few lights flickered on in our heads. We called in a few professionals-our accountant, a developer friend, a lawyer and other persons we respected-and asked their opinions. To our surprise, one of them had already signed on and was a Mortgage Free Americans customer. He was the accountant who had gone into real estate development. He viewed Mortgage Free Americans as a vehicle he and his customers could use to turn personal and real estate debt into value. Others couldn't conceive how the system could possibly work but asked us to keep them posted if it did.

Our second meeting with our Walter answered questions that had been nagging us and had been raised by our professional friends. Most of them had been concerned that Mortgage Free Americans wanted to control or manage our money and had strongly advised us against that. As you may already know, Mortgage Free Americans has no interest in handling your affairs. Their interest is in teaching you a method of managing your finances so you can destroy your debt and create value in your investments. That's it. I looked at it like taking a class: you pay the teacher and receive his or her knowledge. You can apply what you've learned or not. It's your choice. We signed on with a clear idea of the goals we wished to achieve.

The investment into Mortgage Free Americans is well worth the savings in thousands upon thousands of dollars of interest. Up to this point we'd been in a battle against banks, interest and the vagaries of the real estate market with no weapon with which to fight. At last we finally had a small club. Putting our plan into action was simple. In fact, we already had most of the work done before consulting with our representative. We just didn't know how to use it effectively.

We have been living the "Mortgage Free Way" ever since and have already paid off one of our mortgages. Here's the kicker. Using the Mortgage Free Americans system hasn't hampered our ability to pay our bills, finance our kids' college, or enjoy daily life. In fact, using this system has given us renewed hope for our financial future and revitalized our lives. With this new weapon we know that we're going win the war for our financial security. Lisa has a new goal now (it's a secret) and I can tell you that it has been a long, long time since she's made one.

Thanks, Mortgage Free Americans!

Brad and Lisa Deffenbaugh
Honolulu, Hawaii

Occupation: Elementary School Principal
Neighborhood: Hawaii Kai