For many, owning a home is the American Dream. A place to call your own, no more throwing money at rent. That dream is so ingrained in us that millions of Americans go into hock up to their eyeballs to make it come true. Couples with bad credit accept horrible loan terms just to get that mortgage. Singles sometimes don’t even try because they think they can’t do it alone. And then, once that house has been attained, many of us are so busy trying to pay for it that we think we’ve gone as far as we can go.

Carolyn Frame thinks differently.

Carolyn Frame thinks we can all get out of the rat race. And she is ready to show everyone how.

Frame, president of CFA Northwest Mortgage Professionals on Bainbridge Island, has been teaching people how to improve their financial status through real estate and smart money management for 25 years.

“It’s all about developing the right mindset,” Frame said. “And investing in assets that will make you money. All of the most successful investors have real estate in their portfolios.”

Frame’s company hosts Cash Flow Game Night free of charge, eight times a month in various locations throughout Kitsap County. These fun nights involve playing the Cash Flow Game, which was developed by Robert Kiyosaki, author of the bestselling book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The game serves as an educational tool to help players understand their finances and learn how to create passive income. Income that you earn every month outside of any salary you earn from a job, through real estate investing.

“We read the book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, and it inspired us to invest and to teach others how to do it as well,” said Frame.

“Working, getting paid, paying bills, this is the cycle of the rat race,” said Frame. To break this cycle, your monthly passive income must exceed your monthly expenses. Then you’ve been set free. You can choose to work. You can choose where you work. You’re out of the rat race. That is financial freedom.

“It’s all about making money work for you, instead of you working for money,” said Frame. “In eight minutes I can show people what to do.”

That’s all well and good for older, wealthier people, but what about singles or couples with tight budgets, or people looking for their first home? Many people can barely even conceive of owning a house of their own, let alone investing in multiple properties.

Frame doesn’t see barriers.

“Once people understand the power they have within, they can accomplish anything,” said Frame.

And she is full of stories that show this to be true. The three schoolteachers on Bainbridge Island who pooled their resources to purchase a home. The divorced woman who had great credit, money in the bank, but no real income yet from her new business, but who was able to use stated income to get approved for a home loan. The young woman who bought a house two years ago for $90,000 — when she was 18 — and recently sold it to invest in another home. First-time homebuyers who purchase duplexes, living in one side, renting the other out, combining their own home purchase with a real estate investment.

To help her clients accomplish these goals Frame works hard, gets creative, and takes her role as an advisor very seriously.

“I want to find the right solution for my clients, not just stick them in a loan that may not meet their needs.” She said.

For Frame that means doing pretty much whatever it takes, even if it takes a couple of years. She would rather help a client find a rental, and then have them wait, save money, work to improve their credit, and have the ability to make the right choices.

“Many times people get set up to fail,” said Frame. “That’s not what I want to do. I had a couple that would come into my office every Sunday for five years, working on their credit and their budget. Six months ago they bought their first house. I probably made a dollar an hour, but it doesn’t matter. It’s about enriching people’s lives, and doing whatever it takes to get them there.”

CFA NW Mortgage Professionals will soon be offering new seminars on the five critical steps necessary for acquiring investment properties. To learn more about these seminars, or to find out when and where the next Cash Flow Night will be held, contact CFA NW Mortgage Professionals at 800-807-9347.