Book Description
Finally, the most informative, fully illustrated, step-by-step guide to designing and building your own home wine cellar! This beautifully photographed and illustrated full-color book covers all of the details of locating and preparing the right construction area. It includes the latest designs, as well as up-to-date racking and organization styles and techniques. Perhaps most important, this book addresses all the thorny challenges of temperature and humidity control--just where most home wine cellars fail. Having a wine cellar is a hot trend among homeowners, and contractors throughout the country are including them in new construction. This copiously illustrated hammer and nails book is by far the best DIY guide available.
Customer Reviews:
If I have never heard of wine or a wine cellar, this book might have been helpful.......2007-06-08
I am planning to build a 2,000 bottle cellar myself and have found the published literature on the subject inadequate. After purchasing this book, I am no better off than I was prior to reading it. The book is so general that unless you do not know what wine is, it will tell you almost nothing you do not already know. It spends an inordinate amount of time discussing things like how to install and use a wine cooler. I own two wine coolers already and I assume almost everyone planning a wine cellar knows what a wine cooler is and how to turn one on. It spends a bunch of time on wine drinking, selection and pouring which is not what anyone buying this book is looking for. It also spends time discussing how to put shelves in a closet or under stairs, all of which is common sense. I need help on what type of vapor barrier to buy, how thick the studs should be, what is the best lighting to use, what coolers are best, what insulation will handle moisture the best, how to level a basement floor prior to installing tile, what types of wall finishes are best, what wood is best for racks, what stain is best, what themometers and humidity sensors are best, most efficient and best looking floor plans, etc. This book offers no solutions to the real issues with building a cellar. I found more real information doing a few hours of web blog searches than I found in the same amount of time reading this book. I found the Richard Gold book on the subject much more informative even though it focuses on passive cellars and has no pretty color pictures.
not very complete..........2006-11-13
This book focuses only on certain techniques and material (timber). A bit disappointing.
Not really a "Complete Guide" .......2006-10-12
Parts of the book were helpful and the photos were interesting. However, aside from asthetics, the critical issues in building a cellar are the vapor barrier, insulation and cooling system. It would have been helpful to have more technical advice or at least technical advice that was easier to follow. For example, an explanation of why the vapor barrier must be on the outside everywhere (to keep condensation away from the insulation) would be more helpful than just a bald statement that it should be. The diagrams are clear as far as they go, but the explanation on how to put a vapor barrier up and insulate a ceiling is confusing in the absence of an explanation of the purpose of the vapor barrier. For example, if you have wires, pipes and ventilation ducts in your basement ceiling as most people do, what is the best approach? Should you drop the ceiling and then install a vapor barrier followed by insulation or is there something else you can do? Likewise, a discussion of the pros and cons of using a glass vs. solid door, whether to have electrical outlets inside and if so how many and why, whether to place the light switch inside the room or out, and a discussion of how to properly ventilate the cooling unit to optimize operational efficiency all would have been helpful. Finally, since the author is in the business, I would assume that he uses particular brands of cooling units and has specific recommenations regarding size, makes and models--all of that would have been useful information.
To be fair, I did a lot of research and nobody seems to be able to write clearly on this subject and there is a lot of conflicting information on various aspects of design and construction. Still, now that I've been through the construction process, it seems that someone with expertise should be able to write a sufficiently detailed publication to give a novice or a novice working with a general contractor who isn't a wine cellar pro an understanding of the critical elements of design and construction to help them anticipate the issues involved in building a cellar. The book falls short in that regard.
I agree with the reviewer above that this book could have been half as long. As someone who was already inclined to build a cellar, I was already familiar enough with wine to know how to serve it. I wasn't looking for a contractor's advice on that subject. What I was looking for was detailed information on planning/design issues and construction methods. The information in this book that I found helpful on those topics was less than complete and was limited to about a dozen pages.
About a quarter of what I needed.......2006-08-08
This is a pretty book. It has nice pictures of some very pretty cellars. From a practical standpoint though, only about 25% of it is actually worthwhile. They should offer a scaled down version at at quarter of the price.
Beautiful, useful, book. Only two complaints..........2005-08-19
This a beautiful, useful book well worth the purchase price. But I bought it to tell me how to build a home wine cellar (which it does) and I was disappointed to discover that it doesn't include any actual floor plan examples, with dimensions, showing a sample layout of a real wine cellar for, say, a small collection, a medium collection or a large collection of bottles. I'm new to this and need suggestions from someone who has done a lot of this. That's what I bought the book for. Also, I would have appreciated some recommendations on brands of cooling equipment and maybe a few names, websites, etc. of different equipment and furnishings the author has found superior to the competition. An appendix listing equipment and furnishing suppliers would have been great, like a recommendation of a good set of prefab racks to buy. In other words, I've read the whole book and still have to design my own floorplan from scratch and still have to spend a lot of time researching websites to decide on the brand/model of cooling equipment I want to use. I suspect the author already knows which is best, and I wish he had told me!
Book Description
Leading real-estate author Robert Irwin provides home builders with valuable money-saving tips to building a home from the ground up in Tips & Traps When Building Your Home. Featuring a self-test to determine whether the reader is more suited to hiring it all out or doing some of it alone, this user-friendly guide outlines the perilous traps that often come with building your own home. Irwin helps readers determine whether or not to hire out the entire process or whether to act as the primary contractor. Once that is decided, Irwin then helps builders determine:
- How building and contracting effects home-owners' insurance
- Whether or not to hire an architect
- If building plans need to be presented to the local zoning board
- Contractors' and builders' adherence to electrical codes, sewage codes, and occupancy codes
Customer Reviews:
A must buy for people want to build their own home.......2007-05-01
This is not the book to teach you all details of how to actually construct your home, but it's extremely useful to help you understand the process and get things started. Excellent "tips" and "traps"!!!
Light on detail but useful - a good companion book.......2007-04-02
If you are looking for a really thorough book, this isn't it, but many of the tips are very helpful. Read it with a highlighter and just mark the good stuff and then refer back. I bought this along with Woodson's "Build Your Dream Home for Less" and found that the two together were a great pair. Woodson's is very thorough and takes you through step by step, and Irwin's had a lot of additional tips that Woodson's didn't. Irwin tends not to define many of the "trade" terms he uses and for people who aren't handy, it's frustrating. On the other hand, Woodson does define most terms so if you read both, you're in pretty good shape. This book is not the be-all, end-all book but definitely worth buying - it should save you some money if you are general contracting your home.
Tips and Traps When Building Your Home.......2006-02-27
If you're new to building homes, this is a good book to get you started.
Very Good.......2004-03-15
This is a very good book that is easy to read. Now, there were some things that I disagree with, as well as other "expert" developers, but overall the tips and traps were right on. So, this is a book that you should read if you are building a hime, but also read at least one other good book. Because of some of those things that were too specific (i.e., not mentioning other reasonable options), I nearly gave it four stars. However, it is worth reading and normally would warrant the five stars.
Great Book, Easy To Understand..........2001-05-17
This book was the first book I read on building. It has also been very informative and simple to understand.
If you are beggining in building this is the perfect book for you.
The Author really knows what he is talking about. Unlike some other books out there written buy someone who has never done it....
Average customer rating:
- Great Book!
- Good Beginner's Guide
- Very thorough survey of a great investment strategy
- GOOD BOOK
- Great Book - Real Estate Investing
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How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing
Robert Irwin
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
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ASIN: 0071396497 |
Book Description
A PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
The perfect introduction on how to get in on today's hottest investment opportunity
Stock markets rise, and stock markets fall, but real estate is almost always a sure thing, especially in today's increasingly unpredictable investment climate. That's why more and more average Americans are becoming interested in pursuing real estate investing. How to Get Started in Real Estate Investing shows them how.
Writing for investors with little or no experience in real estate, bestselling real estate author Bob Irwin walks readers through all the ins and outs of real estate investing. In a friendly, reassuring, no-hype style, he fills them in on everything they need to know to start building a winning real estate investment strategy of their ownfrom how much money they'll need to get started, to how to find and evaluate properties, to the basics of financing and taxes. He delineates the seven major techniques used by successful real estate investors and provides guidelines for choosing and adapting the right one for individual readers' goals, personalities, and budgets.
Customer Reviews:
Great Book!.......2007-01-17
This is a book I find myself returning to time and time again. The insights are multi-dimensional; and every reading is a fresh experience. Contains a lot of insiteful information for the beginner investor mostly; but also for the experienced investor. I recommend this book.
Good Beginner's Guide.......2007-01-07
Robert Irwin has written a good book on how to get started in real estate. His beginning story with Leslie, David, and Leo really simplify the thought process of investing. It was a great idea to use one's first residence as an investment property. This gives a fresh outlook on real estate investing. Now real estate could be purchased on 2 fronts. He gives good points to the beginner which seasoned investors may already know. Unfortunately he only scratches the surface of real estate without giving real world examples and numbers. All in all the tips and traps illustrations should serve as a good outline to all real estate investors.
He definitely followed the KISS (Keep it simple ...) acronym and it is a refreshing read.
Very thorough survey of a great investment strategy.......2007-01-01
Irwin describes in excruciating detail how the steps to take to get started and maintain a real estate portfolio. Evidently, he's written 40 books and it makes sense because he's extremely knowledgeable. He goes into the ins and outs of looking for the right property and buying it with the help of "the right agent." He even describes what the "right agent" looks like: middle aged, honest, pleasant... Irwin writes about the tax benefits and the prospects for good tenants. There are some great tips throughout (he describes Fannie Mae and other real estate institutions and terms) but there's nothing too clever- all of the information is basic and straightforward (nothing clever like another book I just read ("How to Take Advantage..."by Morse). It's a great read, but if you're looking for inspiration to buy a house, look elsewhere like Bach's "Start Late Finish Rich" for women- this book doesn't say WHY you should buy a house.
GOOD BOOK.......2006-11-21
Borrowed this from a friend and bought my own copy now. I liked the easy going intro and it is a beginner's guide / summary of all the investing options for real estate.
Great Book - Real Estate Investing.......2006-11-10
Great book. I got it fast and read it through in four days. It really proved useful in my research and as a guide.
Thank you.
Harry
Book Description
The publication of Edward Said's hugely influential Orientalism in 1981 called into question the entire history of the Western study of Islamic culture, condemning this scholarly tradition as one that presented inaccurate and deliberately demeaning representations of Islamic peoples and institutions—so much so that the words "Oriental" and "Orientalist" have come to take on the most negative connotations.
But what is Orientalism, and who were the Orientalists, and how did Western scholars of Islamic culture come to be vilified as insidious agents of European imperialism? In Robert Irwin's groundbreaking new history, he answers this question with a detailed and colorful story of the motley crew of intellectuals and eccentrics who brought an understanding of the Islamic world to the West. In a narrative that ranges from an analysis of Ancient Greek perceptions of the Persians to a portrait of the first Western European translators of Arabic to the contemporary Muslim world's perceptions of the Western study of Islam, Irwin affirms the value of the Orientalists' legacy: not only for the contemporary scholars who have disowned it, but also for anyone committed to fostering the cross-cultural understanding which could bridge the real or imagined gulf between Islamic and Western civilization. Dangerous Knowledge is a both riveting and entertaining history, a bold argument, and an urgent redress of our conceptions about Western culture's relationship with its nearest neighbor.
Customer Reviews:
A political feud with Edward Said.......2007-04-08
This book is an extension of a political feud thats been going on in academic circles since Edward Said published his book "orientalism". As a short summary, that book contended that many western scholars in their studies of the other cultures had both gotten things wrong and served as an important extension of the european imperial/colonial governments who used to rule large parts of the world.
The feud actually has little to do with actual scholarship. In some sense, its an extension of the wars in the middle east. Said was Palestinian. Harsh lines were drawn on both sides and whole dispute is almost completely political. Ironically, the almost histerical tone of attacks on Said did more to spread his ideas than he himself did. As in many of these cases, a response was not sufficent. It had to be proved that he was a criminal liar whose book consisted of fabrications. The book and its ideas had to be banished from any serious discussion. At times it seemed that the concern was really over someone from the middle east speaking about it from an academic point of view rather than europeans or Americans.
And so Robert Irwin decided to ride to the defense of Orientalism in this book. His argument is basically that Orientialism is and always has been above politics. And that the people in the field didn't agree with each other enough to have an ideology as Said suggested. Problem is that Irwin himself digs up all kinds of material that goes counter to his own arguments. For example, he shows all kinds of scholars who did serve the ends of empire and government. But he tells us without proof that they are just exceptions in a sea of scholars with unquestionable motives. It didn't quite convince me.
For his own reasons, Irwin chooses not to engage in debate with Said. As with many Orientalists, he chooses the route of avoiding debate of the subject by a direct attack on the credibility of Said and his work. This can work in some cases (See Black Athena), but it requires that the errors and misrepresentations are such that the entire premise of the work of the false. Irwin doesn't reach anywhere close to that standard. In fact, his own analysis of orientialism tends to support Said's case. Its also a very difficult thing to discredit analysis of a field of study.
The field of "orientalism" as Robert Irwin and many others had known it is simply obsolete. Travel and computers have changed the world. There isn't a need anymore for western scholars to interprate for Americans or Europeans for that matter what "orientals" are like. There are large english-speaking academic communities made up of people from those cultures both in those countries and in the west. If we want to know about Iraqi culture/history for example, its much better to talk to an Iraqi professor from the culture rather than having an "orientalist" like Bernard Lewis offer outsider theories on what Iraqis might be like.
More generally, the time of outsider academic analysis of cultures and political systems is almost over. The debate over orientalism is largely meaningless these days. Its just a leftover extension of the wars of the middle east.
Good Counter Polemic.......2007-01-29
This book seems to have been written in large part as a response to the late Edward Said's famous (some would say notorious) Orientalism. In the latter, Said argued the Orientalism (in the limited sense used by Irwin, though Said clearly had a broader use in mind), the scholarly activity of investigating the Orient, is inextricably bound up and indeed is a driver of Western racism, imperialism, and colonialism. Irwin disagrees strongly, and in this decently written book, provides some very good criticism of Said. Irwin attacks Said on a narrow but important front; is Said's account and interpretation of the scholarly tradition of Orientialism correct? Most of Dangerous Knowledge is a chronologically organized history of Western scholarly contact with Arabic traditions. Irwin limits himself primarily to Arabic studies because this is where Said concentrates his critique. Irwin makes a very good case that Said misrepresents this scholarly tradition and misunderstands much of its historic context. According to Irwin, and the examples he cites are convincing, Said appears to have done only a superficial job of examining this tradition, perhaps to the level of not actually reading some of the historic figures criticized. Its worth mentioning that this narrative is worth reading in its own right and that while Irwin has not produced an in depth intellectual history, his historical account is informative and quite readable. In the course of this narrative, Irwin addresses some of Said's broader assertions about the nature of Orientalism and the Western tradition. Most of these criticisms seem well founded. In the last chapters of the book, Irwin turns to specific discussion of other aspects of Said's book and some of his other writings. Irwin continues to be quite critical, and again his critique makes sense.
Its important to specify that Irwin, unlike some of Said's critics, does not have a contemporary political axe to grind. Said was best known in this country as an outspoken advocate of the Palestinian cause and critic of the state of Israel. Said's work has been attacked as much for his stands on these issues as for his scholarly work itself. Irwin is careful to specify that he shares many of Said's opinions on these controversial issues.
One area where I disagree with Irwin is his repeated statements that Orientalism was written in bad faith, that is to say, Said knowingly produced the distortions and errors characteristic of his book. I find this unlikely. Most great deceptions involve self-deception and it is likely that Said sincerely believed that his interpretations were correct. Said's defect doesn't appear to be insincerity but a lack of intellectual rigor and a preference for highly intellectualized constructs over real data. This conclusion would be consistent with some of Said's other positions. His proposed solution, which he advocated without any irony, to the Israeli-Palestinian problem was a single, democratic state. A proposal so impractical as to be almost humorous.
The Discontents are Dull.......2007-01-12
"Dangerous Knowledge" should serve as the standard work about those often quirky scholars in the West who pursued the difficult and mostly little regarded study of the languages and civilizations of the Middle East. However, a history of scholars is unfortunately less interesting than the history itself. "Dangerous Knowledge" seems to have been written largely for an opportunity to refut and criticize the works of the late Edward Said, who famously charged most Western scholarship as tainted by racist and imperialist attitudes. Author Robert Irwin makes a good case that this blanket condemnation is both wrong and unscholarly, and a disservice to our efforts to come to grips with problems that have suddenly become crucial.
Discredited Anecdotal Approach!.......2006-12-14
Like many other Orientalists, Irwin is bitterly obssessed with Edward Said and this book is dedicated to refuting Orientalism, the late thinker's classic masterpiece. Had Irwin read Said properly though, he would have not written this long celebration of supposedly disinterested scholarship highlighting orientalist academic achievements etc... To begin with, and to state a point that is a given in the humanities these days, Orientalism for Said was not just an academic discipline (which is all what Irwin talks about) but was a style of constructing and approaching the "Orient" as being inherently different from the "Occident" and as being static, unchanging, inferior. As such Said uses the term Orientalism with reference to literary figures such as Flaubert, philosophers such as Marx along with low grade Orientalists such as Bernard Lewis. He was not interested in writting a history of Oriental Studies. What he was concerned with was an analysis of the system of cultural representation and imaginative geography that was Orientalism in its political, academic, artisitc, and literary forms. His critque of Orientalism was not based on the idea that Oriental Studies made no academic contributions; he rather tackles the assumptions that inform it (along with other realms of cultural production such as literature) and its relationship with its imperial context etc... Ignoring Said's analysis, Irwin ends up with a weak Orientalist critique and a trite anecdotal study that has very little relevance to contemporary scholarship. In many ways this book illustrates rather than refutes Said's points (especially Said's critique of cults of specialists that refuse to recognise their contextual connections with the surrounding world)!
Hey, it's exactly the same as "For Lust of Knowing".......2006-12-11
I bought this book without realizing that except for the title, it is exactly the same as Irwin's book, "For Lust of Knowing." It has the same number of pages and the same words on each page. If you already have one of these books, you won't need the other!
Here is my review of the book. As you will see, I'm explaining the original title in this review. I think I prefer that title, but it isn't all that important.
This book is fun to read. It discusses the history of Orientalism and tells about some of the leading Orientalists. It also defends Orientalism as a legitimate scholarly field. And one may want to know why this topic of study needs any defense.
The reason becomes clear right from the start. Ed Said wrote a crazy rant against the whole enterprise. That ought to have had little effect on academia. But it did: plenty of people praised that book! And by now, to say that one is an Orientalist is to risk being branded as a servant of Imperialism, and maybe as a Zionistlover as well. I can see that Irwin is not too happy about the decline of Orientalism as a scholarly field.
Nor can Irwin be too happy with the discrediting of Middle Eastern Studies that has resulted from the acceptance of Said's nonsense by quite a few supposed intellectuals. That has resulted in Middle Eastern scholars being dismissed by some as a bunch of anti-scholarly racists and bigots who use their positions not to further knowledge but to propagandize against human rights and truth. Irwin is clearly embarrassed by the fact that his field is now associated with Said's polemical work. Yes, those who study the Middle East are under attack from both sides due to the politicization of the field.
I have to admit that I'm not the proper person to deliver an attack on Said's book "Orientalism." For one thing, the book is such garbage that I wouldn't know where to start. For another, what I say would count for very little. Not only am I not a scholar in that field, I also am an opponent of Said's entire war on human rights. I see Said as one of the biggest liars of the past century, and I feel that he was a truly evil creature. It would be difficult for me to convince most of those who like Said's works that I could write a genuinely unbiased and fair appraisal of the trash that he wrote.
That is one reason why it is good to have a view from an Orientalist who attacks Said on scholarly, rather than political grounds. Irwin certainly does not defend Israel or Zionism, and he defends Said from accusations of supporting terrorism (cleverly claiming that he merely praises terrorism "with faint damns"). I think Irwin is wrong here, but that's not the issue. The question is whether there is any merit in what Said wrote, and how much damage his stuff has done to the field of Orientalism.
Irwin says that "it is a scandal and a damning comment on the quality of intellectual life in Britain in recent decades that Said's arguments could ever have been taken seriously." And he notes that in some cases, folks sided with Said just to be anti-Zionist and anti-American. It sure must be fun for some people to taunt those who support human rights for Jews. But I think that the cost is severe if the whole field of Middle Eastern history and Orientalist studies is thus mangled. As for Said himself, I wonder why he did such a thing in the first place. Why, instead of attacking the Israelis or the Jews, or the Blacks, or the Americans, or the Christians, or whatever group he wanted to slander did he pick on those who simply studied the Middle East? After all, many of those scholars were anything but Zionists! I don't know the answer to that question. Maybe Said felt that to truly smash the rights of Levantine Jews to life, liberty, and property, he'd have to smash truth. And I guess he figured that the best way to attack truth would be to outlaw the right to study it. That would leave Middle Eastern studies in the hands of lying and taunting propagandists and give some chance to get "scholarly" approval for the abolition of human rights in the Levant. That's just my wild guess. Irwin merely says that he can't believe that Said's work was written in good faith.
I would like to see Middle Eastern studies be a scholarly field once again. If I were a few decades younger, I might even want to work in that subject to help that happen. But I now think the first task here has to be to expose and repudiate the barrage of anti-Zionist lies that have become part of the canon offered to many students. And that can't be done by partisans alone. It needs works such as this one, written by those who value truth and want the field to be rescued from those who merely want to use words to fight a tribal war.
Oh yes, the title. In "The Golden Road to Samarkand" by James Elroy Flecker (1884-1915), Ishak says:
"We travel not for trafficking alone;
By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned:
For lust of knowing what should not be known
We take the Golden Road to Samarkand."
Obviously, Irwin's point is that the Orientalists were not in their fields primarily to serve as agents of Imperialism, but, almost always, out of genuine love of knowledge.
I recommend this book.
Book Description
Going the ""for sale by owner,"" or FSBO, route can save homeowners an average of $10,000 in real estate commissions.
The numbers are staggering: in 2002, 1.68 million people attempted to sell their homes ""by owner,"" and a whopping 2.25 million are projected to do so in 2005. This will side-step real estate agents, allowing sellers to pocket more profits. Online FSBO options also are accelerating: In 2003, an astonishing 840,000 ""FSBOs"" used online listing services.
For years, the For Sale By Owner Kit has been a must-have resource, filled with essential checklists, sales forms, and sample ads designed to simplify the entire home selling process. Included in this new edition are revisions to chapters on:
* ""Staging"" a home to maximize its appeal.
* Pricing a home for quick sale.
* Managing all the necessary, but complicated, paperwork.
* Writing an air-tight, carefully worded sales agreement.
* Hiring fee-for-service agents.
Several entirely new chapters discuss handling disclosures and inspections fairly and honestly; getting full-service agents to work with you; and, most important, a detailed discussion on online home listings.
To maximize the value of The For Sale By Owner Kit, the new edition includes the following services from Owners.com, the largest online FSBO service:
* A Web page on Owners.com that readers can customize for their own property with photos and detailed description.
* A private e-mail box to use for online respondents.
* An answering service that can be used strictly for property inquiries.
* Hit list statistics to see how often the listing has been viewed.
* Buyer preapproval cards from E-Trade Mortgage.
Customer Reviews:
More conversational than helpful.......2007-05-31
This book talks you through the process and has some useful information, but spends more time on soft stuff and has very little of the info I needed, such as how to negotiate and points open for negotiation, how to write up the contracts, all the steps between the offer and closing, etc.. But, if you want a pep talk that you can do it, this is the book for you.
If you want a book that's actually useful, try the FSBO Handbook by Piper Nichole. It included stuff I never would have thought to ask about, but definitely needed to know. Written to be useful, not conversational. At each stage of the process, the FSBO Handbook gave me the info I needed.
BE VERY Carefull with the Free Listing Offer.......2006-01-27
I bought the 4th edition of this book, and this is the 5th Edition. I took advantage of the free Owners.com listing and am now regretting it 18 months later. I signed up with the Owners.com listing service this book recommended. Do not put your email address or phone number in your listing because your listing never goes away. I don't know if owners.com sold my info, or someone else copied it from the website - but the way it looks - I think it is identical to the Owners.com info and my belief is that they are the ones letting my listing be copied. But I've got a google alert for my email address - and every month, some new FSBO website is advertising my ancient listing (sold a year ago) with my personal information as a new FSBO. The companies listing it have no contact info to ask them to stop doing it. I've put in a complaint to the FTC. But I get phone calls from realtors to this day trying to convert my FSBO to a realtor listing. Here are the websites serializing my listing without my permission: http://www.fsbohouselisting.com/ http://www.changemystreet.com/ there are several others - but I didn't save the website. So be careful.
Valuable Practical Guide for Selling Your Home FSBO.......2006-01-26
I used the valuable, step-by-step, practical information in this book to sell my first house by owner, a rental house at that. Book does a great job explaining the FSBO process from start to finish, with lots of good advice on all decisions involved and troubleshooting problems along the way. I found one of the FSBO companies with a local office to be of great help with the earnest money paperwork, and free advertising on CraigsList brought in both leads that signed to buy the house. (ARG! My first buyer did not work out.)
10 out of 10.......2005-02-07
This book really is a kit. It has a coupon for a free online listing and a sign you can use in your yard. I'm selling my own home for the second time and this is a great primer and reminder of how to do it. It tells everything you need. I learned about it from a Robert Bruss column in my newspaper where he gave it a 10 out of 10 and called it the best of the "for sale by owner" books. He's right.
Very well written and thorough.......2005-01-10
This is a very well written and thorough book. Everything is hear to tell you how to sell your house - from marketing to closing. I used this book and signed up for the "internet only" option on BuyOwner. That's all I needed. I got between 1 and 5 inquires per week and sold the house within the month. I ended up saving over $14,000. Anyone who uses a realtor these days is just throwing their money out the window.
Book Description
From the bestselling author of Tips and Traps When Buying Your Home
Robert Irwin has been one of the nation's top real estate authors for more than 20 years. His 1991 bestseller, How to Find Real Estate Bargains, continues to be one of the most popular guides to finding real estate bargains and buying them at rock-bottom prices. Thoroughly updated and revised, this new edition is for reader in the market for a bargain home for themselves or as an investment for resale profit.
Irwin fills readers in on everything they need to know to quickly decide if a property's potential payoff outweighs its risks. With nearly 50 percent all-new material, the second edition features new chapters on:
- All types of repos, including HUD, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, FDIC, GSA, and SBA
- Property tax, ATF and IRS, p robate, bare land, and Recreational property sales
- Finding bargain properties in strong markets by working directly with sellers
- Using the Web to find the hottest bargains
Download Description
Robert Irwin has been one of the nation's top real estate authors for more than 20 years. His 1991 bestseller, How to Find Real Estate Bargains, continues to be one of the most popular guides to finding real estate bargains and buying them at rock-bottom prices. Thoroughly updated and revised, this new edition is for reader in the market for a bargain home for themselves or as an investment for resale profit.
Customer Reviews:
Not for me........2006-01-16
From this book, I learned the Famous Price-to-Rent Ratio and it comes to my mind everytime I preview a property. It will teach you the seven things to look for in a bargain. One of these items was new to me. Buying REO requires two things to succeed: expertise and money. This book can help you with the expertise part but if you don't have some investment cash...you probably should seek another income stream. Lucky for you (and me), real estate has several income streams to pursue.
Excellent Book.......2005-05-16
I came across many books that sell you the "theory of real estate investing" or "why its so great to get involved in the real estate market". Thats nice. People who are looking into buying a real estate book already know that. But this book is different. The steps to take are clearly detailed, and Robert Irwin directs readers to the appropriate resources; such as internet websites.
I would highly recommend this book.
not a lot of hype.......2004-01-02
Robert Irwin seems to generate a wellspring of books filled with good advice about buying and investing in residential real estate. He has an urbane way of cutting out the hype that can fascinate but obscure realities for buyers and sellers. Like a good uncle, he doesn't tell you not to do it - he points out some strategies for protecting yourself from the abyss. He paints a picture of the effort you'll need, and lets you make the right choice. For example, he points out that some sheriffs' foreclosures allow the defaulters 60 days to pay up and reclaim the property even after you win the auction, and that you shouldn't begin your repairs until then. He reveals that For Sale by Owner properties are most often overpriced, so you may need to make too many inquiries before you succeed.
Irwin's investment practice is in California. Therefore, some of his advice doesn't hold up in other areas. Trust deeds, in which the seller holds the deed until the buyer's payments are complete, are not allowed in Pennsylvania, for example. Sellers would sometimes disappear after the buyer had invested many payments, leaving the buyer difficult recourse to the deed.
His updated chapter on government foreclosures is informative, although he states there is no chance for inspection. This is not quite accurate. You may not have a chance before you bid, especially in a hot market, but the contracts of HUD and Freddie Mac provide for an inspection contingency. Although you can't bargain on the "as-is" sales, you can withdraw entirely if the fixups are overwhelming. It's not much different from our private residential experiences in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and Florida, with the exception that in ordinary practice in these areas you may be able to renegotiate the price when the inspection reveals unfavorable conditions.
I especially enjoyed his explosion of the old saw that location is most important. As he pointed out, it may be true if you are buying a house to live in, but if you're investing, price and market would come first. A poor or unsuitable location can sometimes have its advantages.
A unique aspect is the coverage of ethics, done gently, in the form of honesty is the best policy. Taking all the short-term advantages while hurting others will lead to lack of trust and a bad name, which will diminish your opportunities in the long run.
We will soon be reading his new book, "Tips and Traps When Renovating Your Home." We think we can learn something useful about reducing our remodeling costs.
Nancy & Arnold Lapidus
Excellent Overview of the Process..........2003-02-23
I found this book very informative and to the point. Unlike many "how to get rich" authors, Irwin stays more on the task than on the "rah-rah" stuff. His tips and traps make good references for the uninitiated investor or purchaser. Best of all, his style is smooth and easy to read. If you're looking for a good "getting started" book, this is it.
From San Francisco Chronicle.......2002-12-11
#10 of year's 10 top real estate books. This survey book explains how to profit from virtually all bargain properties, such as foreclosures, probates, government property sales, REO (real estate owned by lenders) and other distressed-property situations. Emphasis is on low-cash purchase methods, along with methods for discovering these often-obscure realty bargains. by Robert J. Bruss
Book Description
Marketing Research, 3/e takes an application-oriented approach, providing students with the tools and skills necessary to solve business problems and exploit business opportunities. This book is unique from any other in the market in three significant ways. First, it provides a greater balance between primary and secondary information and the techniques and methods that underpin these two important types of data. Second, it offers in-depth coverage of the critical research tools and skills that will be required of today and tomorrow’s marketing researchers and business decision-makers. Third, with its in-depth coverage of secondary research, the practice of customer-based management is highlighted as this book helps students see what real companies are doing for their marketing research. This book provides students a realistic and current view of the practice and importance of marketing research in the business world.
Customer Reviews:
Overall: Very Good.......2007-08-25
Suffice it to say, it was an assigned text in an upper division college course. Suffice it to say also: I started a market research firm after graduating. The content of the book and lessons set a great foundation for my work.
There are two areas I would like to see improved upon in future versions however:
1) Have closer editing and copy proofing. There were far too may grammatical errors.
2) At times the author(s) used terms or names/labels that weren't already defined or described, so it left me having to stop reading and go back for a precise definition so that I could understand the intent being covered at the point in the text.
Other than that, well worth the read and investment. I still have it on my shelf and refer back to it when needed.
A lot of extra words.......2007-01-09
I found the authors put in a lot of extra wording where it really wasn't needed. Really great examples throughout the text though, and a must have for anyone doing marketing research.
Customer Reviews:
It doesn't get any better than this........2005-09-08
This is simply the best book about art I have ever read. Like other reviewers, I can say that this book permanently altered the way I see the world (and art). Irwin did it and he still does it.
still forgetting.......2005-08-22
I picked up this book in 1984 because it was on a reading list for an Art History class I was taking at Oberlin College. I stayed up all night in the library that night. I couldn't put it down. My mind has never been the same.
I still often think of it,tell stories from it and give it as a gift. I always say "skip the first chapter-it gets much better." If I remember right, the book begins with a description of Irwin's perfectionism when cleaning the engine of his car. I figure that will bore my friends.
I tell my students about Irwin's many years attempt to make the perfect line, to his wife's chagrin and his painting the back side of his paintings because it matters to him. They like the story of the riots that occured in South America due to the disorientation of his discs-concave and convex-the viewers couldn't tell where the wall started and the disc stopped. I have given the book as a graduation present.
I thought about this book at the mechanic the other day. My engine is very, very dirty.
I will never forget,forgetting. Great book.
more than exceptional.......2003-11-04
if you want to understand the mind of a modern conceptual artist and his life...read this....profound,interesting,illuminating,inspiring...read this
One of the best biographies ever.......2002-12-14
Robert Irwin is a wonderful artist, and this is a must-read for anybody interested in his work, or in his West Coast brand of conceptualism. But this book is also a fantastic biography in its own right - Weschler, who now works for the New Yorker, writes like an angel, and reading this book is a pleasure indeed. To say that this is one of the best biographies of an artist ever would be far too faint praise: this is one of the best biographies ever, period.
amazing.......2002-02-21
This was an amazing read. Not only did it open my eyes to the concept of abstract art, but it opened my eyes to a different way of thinking. I highly recommend this book.
Book Description
Everyone who has bought a home knows that an official inspection is no guarantee against unpleasant surprises, and that, ultimately, the burden to ask the important questions about the physical aspects of a home is on the home buyer. But buying a home is one of life’s most stressful, emotionally fraught activities, and it’s easy to see why many home buyers fail to anticipate the kinds of exasperating and expensive problems that can crop up after closing.
Written by bestselling real estate author (more than 1 million books sold) Robert Irwin, Home Buyer's Checklist levels the playing field by equipping home buyers with a comprehensive list of questions pertaining to all the physical aspects of a house that may not be covered in an official inspection. From basement to attic, pantry to lawn, Bob walks readers through every room, nook, cranny, closet and keep, asking important questions about windows, screens, doors and door frames, fireplaces, light fixtures, moldings, and much, much more. And, drawing upon his many years of experience in the business, he provides pointers on how to deal with each problem, including information on how much it will cost to fix, how to estimate its short- and long-term consequences, how it should impact on the negotiating process, and more.
Download Description
Let Robert Irwin, America's number-one real estate writer let you take charge of your home search with Home Buyer's Checklist, a step-by-step, room-by-room, top-to-bottom guide that shows you exactly how to "precheck" a house before you make an offer.
Customer Reviews:
New Home Buyer.......2007-09-12
I agree, as its title suggest - a list of things you will need to know/ask before buying a house. However, it is still useful for those who have never bought a house before and do not want to be caught in a bad situation.
Useful, but ould have been shorter.......2007-01-07
As a first time home buyer, this book is indeed useful. I learned about things I would never have thought of myself, and some of the things given are useful further to detect when maintenance may be due on certain items even after the purchase. It eductes te buyer about some basics of construction practces which help evaluate the condition of the home. Reading it wil not eliminate the need to get a professional inspection done on the property you are seriously considering or making an offer on, but will be helpful on the first visit or an open house for the prospective property.
Whether this is the best book around on the subject: probably not. The author does repeat stuff and gets wordy at places.
Name says it All.......2005-08-09
Exactly what it says...a checklist for nearly every item you could think of that you would want to check out before buying a house. Almost too many details but easy to use. A good investment if purchasing a house.
Customer Reviews:
Great for everyone from home buyer/sellers to investors.......2003-02-20
This book has some great ideas and techniques on how to negotiate real estate and make the deals go smoothly and profitably for you. Allows you know how and when to be aggressive and when other stances would be more effective. A great book for anyone interested in real estate or planning to buy or sell a home.
Books:
- The Lost Colony (Artemis Fowl, Book 5)
- The Motel in America (The Road and American Culture)
- The Parthenon Code: Mankind's History in Marble
- The Politics of Design in French Colonial Urbanism
- The Psychology of Animal Learning
- The Simple Home: The Luxury of Enough (American Institute Architects)
- The Teachings of Padmasambhava (Brill's Indological Library, Vol 12)
- The Writings of Florence Scovel Shinn: The Game of Life and How to Play It, Your Word Is Your Wand,the Secret Door to Success, the Power of the Spok
- Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students (Design Briefs)
- Tiffany at auction
Books Index
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