Buying or selling real estate is a complicated process with many moving parts. So whether you’re a buyer or seller, you need to be informed and understand as much about it as you can. Quality information can be found online but sometimes it’s a good idea to go old school and read the best books on the topic before taking the plunge. These are our top picks for the 5 best real estate books to help buyers and sellers in Westfield, Cranford, Clark, Scotch Plains, Fanwood and Mountainside Areas.
1. Home Buying for Dummies
The “for Dummies” franchise has a guide on almost every important topic. The library includes about 2,500 different manuals in its “just the basics” series. This includes home buying real estate books to help the inexperienced or overwhelmed without bogging you down in every detail.
“The most recent edition of Home Buying Kit For Dummies, released in 2020, takes recent market editions into account and provides well-researched information about every step of the home-buying process. This includes how to pick a team of professionals to help you with your search, how to avoid absurd closing costs, how to get the best mortgage possible, and more.
2. The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (And How to Avoid Them), Gary W. Eldred
This one of our picks for the best real estate books takes a different tack by showing you all the mistakes homebuyers make and how to avoid them. It’s especially valuable for first-time buyers because it shows you the most common mistakes, from negotiating with sellers to shopping around for the best mortgage and what to expect at closing.
The106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (And How to Avoid Them) is basically a compilation of the experience of hundreds of homebuyers, real estate agents, home builders, and mortgage lenders. The idea is that when you see the mistakes from all the various angles, you’ll be able to avoid making them.
3. Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, Ilona Bray, J.D.
Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home is often recommended as one of the best real estate books for first-time buyers. It answers many of the questions you may not have even thought of yet. It includes researching local markets and listings, creating a budget, qualifying for loans, negotiating and closing deals successfully, and much more.
The book provides valuable insights from 15 industry professionals, including brokers, attorneys, mortgage specialists, home inspectors, and more. It is a comprehensive guide to the process for first-time buyers, as well as real-life stories from over 20 first-time homebuyers.
4. Next Generation Real Estate: New Rules for Smarter Home Buying & Faster Selling, Brendon DeSimone
This one of our top-5 real estate books has valuable information for both buyers and sellers and so is one of the best resources available. Next Generation Real Estate: New Rules for SmarterHome Buying & Faster Selling contains interviews with and tips from top executives in the big, premier real estate companies such as Apartment Therapy, Zillow, and Trulia.
In addition to advice from top industry experts, this book also contains tips on leveraging hot, modern trends. You’ll learn how to use the latest technology and deploy up-to-date best practices. As a seller, you’ll learn unique, creative strategies and how to gain an advantage by getting inside buyers’ heads.
5. Selling Your House: Nolo’s Essential Guide, Ilona Bray, J.D.
This real estate book offers a comprehensive overview of the whole selling process. It covers the most important basics so that you won’t get bogged down in unnecessary details. The selling advice offered in Selling Your House: Nolo’s EssentialGuide is clear and concise.
Of particular value is the emphasis placed on preparatory work, especially decluttering. But the book doesn’t simply tell you that you should declutter – it gives you plenty of actionable tips to enable you to do it successfully.
Another unique feature of selling Your House: Nolo’s Essential Guide is the chapter that teaches you about determining and then leveraging the best features of your home. This is a key element of successful marketing and an element of modern, creative approaches to selling.
Are Real Estate Books Enough?
As valuable and chock full of actionable information as these books are, are they enough? Well, in most cases, they aren’t. There’s just nothing that can replace the skill, experience, and expertise of a good local Westfield, Cranford, Clark, Scotch Plains, Fanwood and Mountainside Areas agent. And then there’s also the personal touch and support you get from an agent.
So, yes, read up and learn all you can. Then go out and find a good agent – one who knows the local markets inside and out. You’ll then be armed with the knowledge you need and the expert assistance to complement what you’ve learned. When you’ve read the real estate books and are ready to work with a good agent, contact us today at 917-608-7277.