Book - Pay Off Your Mortgage in 2 Years

K

kramer2006

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Hi all,

Has anyone read the BBC book "Pay Off Your Mortgage in 2 Years", or seen the TV series last year? Just wondered if the smart folks on AAM have any opinions on it, or even the premise behind the show. Is paying off your mortgage in 2 years possible for most Irish people, many of whom have jumbo mortgages. How does the financial advice given on this show compare with our own Eddie Hobbs?

K.
 
Hi

I saw about 4-5 of the 8 episodes. Each episode had a different unit (single person, family, elderly couple, etc) of people trying to pay off their mortgage. It was fascinating to watch but I won't be doing it!
His first idea was to change the peoples lifestyles - out with takeaways, going out to dinner, having a bottle a wine etc.
Then the people had to come up with a business idea and/or they may rent out their house and rent soewhere small and dinghy for themselves.
The business ideas went from being a fitness/pilates instructor to walking dogs to selling jewelry on and on.
One couple pulled out.
btw the business idea was going with your current job so no time off work at all.
I look forward to next years episodes to see how they got on, I can't see many of them doing it and those that will, will I say be mightly cheesed off!
 
Would love to clear the mortgage in two years but do not think it is feasible in my case or for that matter anyone with a new home/mortgage.
 
Most of the advise from what I remember about the series seemed to revolve around getting a 2nd job for both partners, setting up a business, not having a life etc etc. It was discussed on AAM (i think) before but can't find any links now.
 
As far as I can remember, most of the participants had relatively small amounts of mortgage debt. I just can't see the premise working with anyone in Ireland who has bought a home in the last 3 years.

There's a couple of interesting points made about the series on the following site:

[broken link removed]

including:

Next René finds all of the ways the person can save money (by shopping sensibly, eating properly, etc.) and make money (businesses, property, get rich schemes). But, major flaw number two, he never seems to take taxes into account! He'll often say something like.. "You need to pay off £120,000 in two years, which is £5,000 per month. If you can earn £5,000 per month, you can pay your mortgage off in two years." This is a blatant lie.
Click to expand...

A lot of the book is pretty basic, sort of like "An Idiots Guide to Mortgages" ...
 
kramer2006 said:
Has anyone read the BBC book "Pay Off Your Mortgage in 2 Years", or seen the TV series last year?
Click to expand...
If that's the one that had one middle class family living off porridge only (almost literally!) in order to reduce their mortgage then it was definitely discussed here on AAM at the time. Use the search facility to find previous discussion(s) of it. Sounds like it could have been done as much (or more) for the entertainment/freak show aspects as for the personal finance education aspects.
 
I remember it well. I was aghast. There was no mention of the strain having two jobs would put on a person, never mind a relationship. Especially sad was that he never took into account that kids actually want to spend time with their parents. Also, if you're working all hours, where the hell do you get the energy to shop and cook??? I know I'd be living on takeaways.......and goodbye to all the profits.
 
Pay Off Your Mortgage in 1 year is on Ch.4 at the moment (8) with Sarah Beaney. Is it the same type of program? These people seem to be renovating abroad in order to sell on and pay their British mortgage.

P.S. It's One year to Pay Off Your Mortgage.
 
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liteweight said:
Is it the same type of program? These people seem to be renovating abroad in order to sell on and pay their British mortgage.
Click to expand...

Nope, the 2 Year program is about living frugally and taking on extra work in order to pay the mortgage in record time, as the previous posters have said. Seems a lot more achievable (and less risky) than Sarah Beeny's current programme. The episode I saw had a couple building a huge development somewhere in eastern Europe (and borrowing heavily) in order to pay off their mortgage in Britain. Not for everyone.
 
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