Erica's Story
In 2006, she purchased her first investment property, which was a duplex home in the city of Milwaukee for $125,000. This was before the recessed economy and the memorable housing market crash of 2008. So many people lost not only their livelihood, but also defaulted on their mortgage loans and lost their homes and security.
She was an inexperienced 19-year-old young adult with a decent credit score and a consistent employment history. Her mortgage broker approved her for a mortgage loan,and she purchased her duplex. Her loan was an 80/20 loan, which consisted of 80% of the loan being an adjustable-rate mortgage loan (ARM), and 20% of the loan being a balloon payment. She rented out half of her duplex and lived in the other half for about five years. Throughout those years, she watched her property depreciate in value.
