Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Home owners liberated from financial death grip

  Most people have come to realise that the word ‘mortgage’ literally means ‘death grip’.  What a lot of folk do not know is that a home mortgage scheme, instigated and introduced  back in 1989 has set over 270 NZ home owners free from this financial strangle hold.
Over three decades ago two of our local churches namely Whakatane Christian Fellowship (Liberty Centre) and the Whakatane Baptist Church saw the potential to help people toward home ownership without the burden of having to find crippling mortgage interest payments throughout their adult lives.
Most of us spend our working lives, and beyond, paying off a bank mortgage and when we finally get free we watch our children commence the same cycle.
These church groups asked, ‘What if there was a way to circumnavigate this financial treadmill.  What if there was a way to release borrowers from having to pay interest when you lend them money?’ 
 They did the sums and through prayer, perseverance and determination found the formula for success.  Since then a growing number of potential home owners have discovered that such a system (named Liberty Trust) is open to every New Zealander no matter their belief, creed or race?       

No, it is not a scam or some magical formula.  It certainly contradicts the norm and when you grasp the potential and ongoing benefits for generations of families you have to admit the whole idea is simply brilliant.

Back in those early days a survey was conducted among church members.  Through this, it was discovered that the average mortgage amounted to $35,000 and together the surveyed group owed $2million.  Collectively they would be paying a further $7million in mortgage interest over the remaining life of their mortgage (yes, interest payments were exorbitant back then).  The challenge was to implement a fool-proof system which had the ability to turn such massive interest payments into a benefit for borrowers and their families. 

In a nut shell this is how Liberty Trust worked; each family (or individual) contributed at least $20 per week into the trust fund.  As soon as there was enough money in the kitty the first family (by ballot) would re-finance with an interest free mortgage. That family would then re-pay their mortgage (interest free) to the fund until their loan was re-paid.  They were still paying the same monthly payments as they would have on their previous bank loan, but now both the interest and principal were paying off the loan.  This meant the borrower was able to repay their mortgage many years earlier and thus save a fortune.

At the start of the scheme The Liberty Trust attracted 100 applicants and was administered by 5 volunteer Trustees.  The figures showed that the last contributor would receive their interest free loan after twelve years.  Sceptics said such a system would not work, they were wrong, it worked back in the eighties and with care and fine-tuning is still relevant and very much alive today.  Along the way changes have been necessary; the ballot system for acceptance of loans has been circumvented and is now replaced by a fairer ‘first come, first served’ basis.  Participants are now able to choose how much they will donate.  
The Bible calls interest payments 'usery' If you talk to the people of Liberty Trust they will tell you that they are no longer caught in a crippeling 'death grip' (mortgage) situation. God’s word is truth and the proof is not only in the $20million that has been lent and re-lent to families all over New Zealand but also in the testimonials of people released from a financial death grip.  Samantha (our daughter) and her husband Greg took up the challenge. They will soon be completely mortgage free and able to plan for their children's higher education. For this family, Liberty Trust has proved a blessing indeed.                                   





     

Monday, March 25, 2013

Where has it all gone?

I am so proud of our kids. Of course, they are no longer kids, in fact the four of them have given us a virtual army of grandies.
Sarah, our eldest has managed to shed an amazing 70 plus kilos. She has done this through sheer hard work, walking long distances every day and watching her diet; not touching one of those many weird diet fads that cost you the earth and get you back to where you started.

I watched her finish a quarter marathon last week. Amazing effort she looked fantastic and came in well up in the field. Yes she used to be a big girl but now has not only changed her looks, lifestyle and outlook on life...through her facebook site (sarahandandrewcrawfoski) and a weight loss blogg (weighout), Sarah is helping many ladies with the same problem.

Our son, Matthew was also a big boy. Tall (well over six foot) but very over weight. That was five years ago. You should see him now! Matt shed 53kilo by the same method...just walking, and he has kept the weight off.
We will not talk about the parents!!! who have now become the larger members of the family. Yes, we must do more walking.

What I did wonder was... When folk go to the gym and say they have lost a couple of pounds or a kilo or three, WHERE DID ALL THAT FAT GO?
Is it hovering around in the ether, lying somewhere in big splodgy lumps or is someone employed to gather up the stuff. Is there a 'waste' management department a greenie who swipes every fallen kilo of overweightedness and turns it into bio fuel.
Oh well, something to think about.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Well swipe my little pink booties... I have been trying to get back on to my blog for the last two months. I have found the secret passage at last. In the words of the old 'Famous Five' tv programme (a send up of Enid Blighton's well known kids stories)
'Look!! Timmy has sniffed out a secret door, perhaps if we pull this overhanging branch three times it will open... stop it Timmy' said Julian... 'stop doing that to my leg...'
 'Come on George', said Dick,
'No sha'nt' grumbled George, 'Anne and I are going to see Aunt Fannie, she has promised us lashings of ginger beer...'

Anyway, this has nothing at all to do with my desire to once again begin blogging. Sadly the only person reading my blog has gone on holiday and I an sure that having found my scribblings covered in cobwebs he has given up in disgust.

New Zealand is currently draught distressed. All provinces now declared a drought zone and most councils have instigated water rations. Poor old farmers are suffering but the tourists are having a hiho time... best summer for many years.
We are now living midway betwixt Rotorua and our old stomping ground, Whakatane. Lake Rotoma, which is known as the gin lake (nothing to do with mothers ruin) due to its pristine water is looking wonderful. The summer revelers with their wretched surf skis, thumping music and shrieking kids on their bouncy water biscuits, have all but disappeared. This fact has raised the timid rainbow trout from the deep and onto my Tasmanian Devil lure.  Caught a 57cm beauty yesterday, smoked it with a bit of salt and brown sugar... Deee liciousss.

Tomorrow is roading day. We have a long drive to our elevated house site. It is so rough by the time I get from the house to the main road I have to put my teeth back into my mouth. My wife, who is fed up with the bouncing, has become so damaged by it all that she failed her warrant of fitness and will need a rebore.
So we will be raking and spreading shingle, grading it with Andrew's (son -in-law) digger and mixing dry cement in with the top few centimeters. We tried this system once before and as long as you put plenty of water onto the drive having compressed it thoroughly, you end up with a very firm surface.

That's about it for now but for anyone who is interested (is there anyone out there?) I have written a historical/fiction novel. Set in England in the Mid sixteen hundreds. I will put a couple of chapters onto the blog 'home page'.