135: Real Estate Money Questions Answered by Jordan Goodman
Jordan Goodman is often called the money-answers man. He has been giving advice on money for decades after starting his own newspaper and working for Money magazine for 18 years. Jordan has been on just about every major network and many national radio shows talking about money as well. On today’s episode of the InvestFourMore Real Estate Podcast, I talk to Jordan about money and real estate. He has many great ideas and simple things people can do to save money, pay off their mortgage faster, or invest better with real estate.
How is Jordan qualified to talk about money?
Jordan grew up wanting to be a journalist. He went to Amherst College and received his masters degree from the Columbia University School of Journalism in 1977. Jordan started his own newspaper, reaching 4 million people per week before working for Money magazine. Jordan worked for Money for 18 years, teaching people how to save, invest, and take care of their money. Jordan has appeared on The Today Show with Ted Koppel and has written 14 books.
What does Jordan think about investing in real estate?
Jordan has learned a lot about money over the years. He loves real estate as an investment, especially when traditional investments like CDs and money market accounts pay almost nothing. Jordan loves to give people an easy way to invest without buying houses. He likes secured real estate funds, which is like crowd funding. The difference between secured real estate funds and most crowdfunding sites is secured real estate funds are leveraged against many different projects instead of just one.
Secured real estate funds earn 8% interest, and investors can start with as little as $5,000. The fund lends money to real estate investors at a maximum of 70% of the value of the property. The money is used for a variety of real estate projects, from rehabs and commercial properties to new construction. You can find out more at http://securedrealestatefunds.com.
What is mortgage equity optimization?
If you watch real estate videos on YouTube at all, you have seen the ads about paying off your house early. Jordan talks about what those programs are all about and how they work. Basically, this is mortgage optimization:
- A homeowner gets a home equity loan on their property but keeps their first loan in place.
- They use the home equity line of credit to pay off a chunk of the first loan.
- A homeowner uses the home equity loan as a checking account. They deposit all income into it and pay all bills with it.
- Because the home equity loan interest is calculated based on a daily balance, paying everything into the line can reduce the interest on the loan.
- As soon as the line of credit is paid off, the homeowner takes out the full balance of the loan again, pays down their first mortgage, and repeats the process.
Jordan talks more on the podcast about how this works. It is not for everyone, but it is a great way to help people build wealth and equity when they are not very good savers.
What is the Heroes Come First Program?
Jordan also helps people through the Heroes Come First program. This program allows heroes (EMT, Firefighters, Military, Police, and many others) to get a discount when they buy houses. The way it works is real estate agents who agree to take part in the program will refund part of their real estate commission to heroes. Real estate offices can also sign up for the program to gain more business.
How to get in contact with Jordan
Jordan has a ton of experience in the money business and in using money more effectively in real estate. You can hear Jordan on his own podcast: The Money Answers Show and on his website moneyanswers.com.