| Houseonomics: Why Owning a Home is Still a Great Investment | ||||||||
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Gary N. Smith Publisher: Financial Times Press
Our Price: £10.99 |
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Description The subject of two articles recently published in the New York Times and endorsed by many leading economists, the authors have developed a completely new process for accurately assessing the value of your home or a potential home. For generations, buying a home has been the best investment Americans could make. But what about now? In the wake of the "housing bubble," some talking heads claim that it's become foolish to own a home with a mortgage. They're wrong. In Houseonomics, two leading economists demonstrate why owning a home is still an excellent investment for most people in most places and help you make smarter decisions wherever you are. This book isn't for aspiring slumlords or flippers: it's for anyone who simply wants to move towards financial security, with a roof over their heads, and a home to call their own. You won't find "too good to be true" schemes here: you'll find a sensible, rational, and totally up-to-date explanation of the economics of home ownership. You'll discover how to calculate the intrinsic fundamental value of a house based on a completely new valuation strategy developed by the authors; develop a vision for financial prosperity via home ownership; and treat housing decisions as the investment decisions they really are. Learn how to negotiate more effectively when purchasing, selling, financing, refinancing, or remodeling; decide when you should prepay your mortgage; and intelligently evaluate rental/vacation properties. |
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Table Of Contents Acknowledgments xix About the Authors xxi Introduction 1 Chapter 1 The Million-Dollar Question 5 Our Homes Are Our Castles 7 An Engine to Prosperity 8 Uncle Sam Wants You to Be a Homeowner 10 The Million-Dollar Question 13 Slow and Steady Wins the Race 15 The Bottom Line 15 Chapter 2 Your Home is an Investment 17 Investment Versus Speculation 17 Your Home Dividend 19 The Nifty Fifty 23 Waiting to Buy 24 It Is Hard to Time the Stock Market and Housing Market 24 Taking the Long-Term View 25 Don’t Day Trade Homes 26 Your Home Is an Investment 29 A Home to Call Their Own 29 Look at the Whole Picture 30 What Am I Supposed to Look at Again? 31 The Bottom Line 32 Chapter 3 Now is a Good Time to Own a Home 33 A Home in Fishers, Indiana 34 Cash is King 38 The Lynch’s Southern California Home 43 Your Home Is Not an ATM 46 The Millionaire Paupers 47 Housing as a Portfolio Decision 49 Homes North, South, East, and West 51 The Bottom Line 54 Chapter 4 Finding a Home and Closing the Deal 55 How Much Home Can You Afford? 55 How to Choose a Home 59 How to Choose a Realtor 61 Is the Price Right? 63 This House Will Be Sold on November 11 63 The 6 Percent Fortress 64 Moving Merchandise 67 Happy Clients 69 The Closer 70 The Times They Are a Changing 70 Match This 72 Realtors: Can’t Live With Them or Without Them 72 Negotiating Boldly 74 Good Things Come to Those Who Wait 75 Regression to the Mean 76 The Bottom Line 78 Chapter 5 Debt Doesn’t Have to Be a Four-Letter Word 79 Using Loans to Live Beyond Your Means 80 How to Invest Like Warren Buffett 81 Loans Create Leverage 82 Leverage + Compounding = Wow! 84 Loan Payments 85 The Unpaid Balance 85 Comparing Loans: The Total-Payments Error 87 The Right Way to Think About Loans 88 Bad News, You Won the Lottery 89 Can You Make Money Borrowing at 12 Percent to Invest at 7 Percent? 90 The Bottom Line 91 Chapter 6 Choosing the Right Mortgage 93 Finding a Lender 93 Getting Preapproved 95 Saving for Your Down Payment 97 Mortgage Terms 101 Mortgage Rates 102 Anchoring 103 Mortgage Points 107 Sure, I’ll Lend You Money 109 30-Years, 15-Years, or ? 109 Adjustable Rate Loans 110 Creative Financing 113 Buying a House with Creative Financing 114 Biweekly Mortgages 115 Graduated Payment Loans 116 The Bottom Line 119 Chapter 7 Refinancing and Home Equity Loans 121 Heads You Win, Tails I Lose 121 Prepayment Penalties 123 Does Refinancing Pay? 123 The Break-Even Refinancing Rate 124 Wake Up, Little Susie 126 The Time Value of What? 126 Mental Accounting 128 You Can Sell Your Home Without Selling Your Home 129 Say No to Credit-Card Debt 130 One Way to Pay for College 131 The Bottom Line 132 Chapter 8 Remodeling 133 Sunk Costs 133 Does Remodeling Pay for Itself? 135 Remodel Sooner, Not Later 139 Make It Bigger, Not Better 140 What’s a Remodeling Project Really Worth? 141 Leaky Windows 144 I’d Rather Do It Myself 145 Paying By the Job or By the Hour? 147 The Big Job in Waltham 147 The Bottom Line 148 Chapter 9 Rental Properties and Vacation Homes 151 You Used to Pay the Landlord, Now You Are the Landlord 151 Adverse Selection 152 Moral Hazard 152 Long-Distance Landlords 154 Ah, the Tax Code 156 Fishers, Indiana, Again 156 If I Bought It, It Must be Worth the Price I Paid 160 A Home with Two Rentals 161 Those Darn Taxes 162 The Investment Value of a Vacation Home 163 The Bi-Coastal Renkens 165 The Bottom Line 166 Chapter 10 Letting Your Home Take Care of You 167 HRAs 167 Life Is a Journey: From Porterville and Indio to Thatcher 170 Should You Raid Your IRA to Pay Off Your Mortgage? 171 Reverse Annuity Mortgages 173 Grandma Ford 173 What Do I Owe You? 175 RAMed by a RAM? 176 The Bottom Line 177 Chapter 11 Selling Your Home 179 Home Dividends, Again 180 Curb Appeal 181 Clean It Up! 182 Pictures on the Wall 183 Loss Aversion 184 Waiting for the Right Price 186 Our Price Is Firm, But the Terms Are Negotiable 187 The Bottom Line 187 Afterword 189 Appendix A An Owner-Occupied Home in Fishers, Indiana 191 Appendix B A Rental Home in Fishers, Indiana 195 Appendix C Your Home 199 Index 205
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Features Even with a "housing bubble" you can still become a millionaire, not by flipping, but by simply owning your own home
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Appropriate Courses Appropriate for students taking courses in Personal Finance. |