The Wall Street Journal Complete Homeowner's Guidebook: Make the Most of Your Biggest Asset in Any Market by David Crook

From the Publisher

Your Map for a Brave New Real-Estate World

The days of real-estate mania—when you really couldn’t go wrong with buying a home, then selling it in a few years for a lot more than you paid for it—are over. Inflated prices and the “subprime” mortgage crisis have finally burst the bubble. Now, more than ever, it’s important for current and prospective home buyers to understand just what they’re getting into when they take that plunge—and to think smarter when it comes to making the most of their biggest asset.

The Wall Street Journal. Complete Home Owner’s Guidebook shows readers how to become savvy home buyers—and eventually owners—not only in this new, uncertain era but in any market:

• Understand the benefits and pitfalls of owning versus renting
• Make sense of the housing market—ask the important questions, factor in the unforeseen costs, and explode the big myths of home ownership
• Take advantage of current opportunities if you’re a first-time home buyer
• Overcome the challenges if you’re looking to trade up or cash out on your home for retirement
• Make the best profit on your home in any market
• Understand why your home—your number one asset—really isn’t such a
great investment

Publishers Weekly

Crook, editor of the Wall Street Journal Sunday, offers a clear, no-holds barred look at the pros and cons of owning a home-rather than renting one from a bank via a mortgage-along with its ultimate costs. The author debunks popularly held views about the wisdom of viewing a home as a piggybank and how that can easily lead to financial disappointment. Owning a home is essentially an expense, he contends, providing repeated proof that few home buyers build accessible wealth through home ownership except in bullish real estate markets. His advice on making the purchase decision, especially in a weak housing market, along with how and when to use debt to do so, are invaluable. For those aspiring to own a home and those trying to manage the affordability of their biggest asset, this is a must read. It is applicable to home buyers and owners of all economic backgrounds, and in any phase of their financial life from the newly employed to the retired. (Dec.)

Elizabeth Nelson - Library Journal

Crook (editor, Wall Street Journal Sunday; The Wall Street Journal Complete Real-Estate Investing Guidebook) offers an up-to-the-minute guide for home owners and home buyers concerning "the decades, the lifetimes even, that we spend living in our biggest financial assets without understanding how to manage them." The real estate market has changed dramatically in the last few years, and Crook's aim is to question widely held beliefs about the investment benefits of home ownership and guide home buyers to think smarter about home buying in any market, especially our current one. Chapters are arranged to cover the home-buying cycle, from the first-time buyer through free and clear home ownership, and can be read individually for a look at each point in the cycle or all the way through for a complete picture of the financial issues facing home buyers. Recommended for public libraries.

Product Details

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents