I'll bet you've seen the whole spectrum of mortgage delusions.

That thing about paying off credit cards is particularly lame, but it works because most people don't really grasp compound interest. "Look, you're paying 12% now on that Visa, pay it off with your mortgage and you're only paying 6%. Isn't that great!!??". Well, no, because you might have paid off your credit card in a year or two at 12%, but you're signing up to pay it off at 6% over 30 years by rolling it into a mortgage.

HELOCs are another game in which psychology plays a big role. Somebody with a $100,000 line of credit tends to feel rich, having that kind of liquid money at their disposal, and they tend to forget that it's just a pipeline into their equity. They feel richer by $100,000, when in fact they're poorer by the interest they'll pay and the equity they'll bleed.

5. Loan Sharking - (clever mortgage salesmen love you and have YOUR financial interest at heart...Yeah right...Ditto real Estate Agents, home builders, Real Estate attorneys, tax accountants, etc...They are all just looking out for you!!! Believe me, they LOVE You and your home buying ways!)

The financial industry exists to bleed you; your blood is their profit. If you're smart you won't hemorrhage to death, but if you're not, you can look forward to bankruptcy and the modern equivalent of involuntary servitude for the rest of your life.