Here is an excerpt of a review of “Why Physician Home Loans Fail” on whitecoatinvestor.com for our Utah physician friends:
The book I’m reviewing today, Why Physician Home Loans Fail Josh Mettle is a niche within a niche. The book is extremely useful for those it is aimed at- doctors who will be buying a home within the next year, especially if they plan to use a “doctor mortgage loan.”
The Awesome Foreword
Josh came to me a couple of months before publication and asked me to write the foreword. In my foreword, I explained what regular blog readers already know- that when doctors exchange their scrubs for a business suit and step into the financial world, they are at a severe disadvantage. Although home ownership can be wonderful, both personally and financially, it’s important to do it at the right stage of life for it to work out well. I have mixed feelings about “doctor mortgages.” In some respects they’re wonderful in that they allow doctors to buy a home they can clearly afford despite not meeting traditional underwriting criteria. They also allow a doctor to use his income to fund retirement accounts or pay down high interest student loans instead of funding a down payment. However, they also often enable doctors to buy homes long before they really should (like residency.)
Strengths of the Book
The book is only 124 pages and can easily be read in an hour or two. The entire book is physician-specific and is liberally sprinkled with actual, real-life horror stories that happened to doctors buying homes. You can learn a great deal from the mistakes of others.
Weaknesses of the Book
The initial draft of the book I saw was far too pro-home-buying. Between my foreword and Josh’s chapter on buy vs rent, I think that’s been fixed. The only other complaint I think someone could make is that the book is self-serving to its author. Not only does publishing a book help establish you as an expert in a field, but some might say all the horror stories in the book are included to subtly entice the reader to seek out a real expert on physician home loans when they might not need one. I have no doubt that part of the reason for writing a book like this is to increase his business. That’s hardly a sin. The fact remains that it is the only book in this niche within a niche, so I guess Josh is THE expert on the subject at this point. And it’s not like you’re choosing between using a loan officer and not using a loan officer when you get a mortgage. You might as well get one who works regularly with people in your situation.
Click here to read the full review.
