At Home With History: The Untold Story of Greater Vancouver’s Heritage Homes
By Eve Lazarus
$20
Anvil Press
In the February 2003 issue of REM, Vancouver writer Eve Lazarus wrote a story called Home Genealogists Discover that History Sells. Now four years later, her love for the history of heritage homes has resulted in a book about some of Vancouver’s most storied homes.
One of the homes featured was headquarters for the Ku Klux Klan, and later was a children’s hospice. Another house was owned by a family with four children, who survived The Depression by selling booze from the home. Stories about the real estate holdings of a suspected spy and well-known murder sites add spice to the book. There’s also a chapter about how to research the history of your own house.
Flip: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit
By Rick Villani and Clay Davis
$26.96
McGraw-Hill Professional
With a foreword by Gary Keller, founder of Keller Williams Realty International, this book promises a “proven five-stage model for successfully flipping a house in any real estate market.”
It includes detailed information about finding likely properties to improve and then sell at a profit. There are charts and budget information to assist with planning the renovations and improvements, and figuring out how much money investors should put into a property to improve it.
Keller Williams is also offering a seminar in Toronto on October 10, based on the content of the book. For more information about the seminar, email [email protected]. For more information about the book, visit www.flipthebook.com.
Sold! Direct Marketing for the Real Estate Pro
By Lois K. Geller
$23.95
Capital Books
Author Lois Geller says she wrote this book because when she looked at the avalanche of real estate agent’s mailing pieces that she received, “Just about everything I saw, maybe 85 per cent of it, was a waste of time and money. It would be easier and just as effective to set fire to a pile of cash.”
The book outlines how to use direct mail, email and the Internet to get more business. It explains how to develop and test your marketing programs, and how to figure out how much to spend on your program. There are also chapters devoted to creative real estate marketing.
Prefabulous! The House of Your Dreams, Delivered Fresh from the Factory
By Sherry Koones
$30
The Taunton Press
Here’s a coffee-table book that shows how factory-built homes have come a long way from the old mobile trailer parks that many people still envision when they hear about prefabricated housing. The book is beautifully illustrated throughout with modular, panelized, structural insulated panel, timber frame, log, concrete and steel homes. Most of the projects featured are in the U.S. but there is a case study of a steel home in Toronto by KML Building Solutions. Canadian manufacturers are on the leading edge of all the types of factory homes shown, and this book is well worth a look for anyone considering these building alternatives.
Deal Maker
A Real Estate Mogul’s Blueprint for Success
By Jerry L. Wallace
$27.50
The Career Press
Author Jerry Wallace owns a complete township in Texas, as well as developments that brought in more than $3 billion in four years. He created his empire after starting from bankruptcy, and now shares his secrets of success.
One of those secrets, he says, is building your reputation. He offers five ways to create the positive reputation you’ll need to be successful:
1. Always avoid negative statements about your peers.
2. Never go back on your word, even if it’s severely to your detriment.
3. Always pay your debts in full and on time.
4. Always be on time for appointments. Being late is an insult to the person waiting, making it seem as if your time is more valuable than his.
5. Never leave another co-broker/agent thinking you didn’t honour the commission you agreed upon.
Although much of the content is American, a list of sources includes Canadian content.
The Complete Guide to Buying and Owning Recreational Property in Canada
By Douglas Gray
$26.99
Wiley
Former lawyer Douglas Gray’s latest real estate book looks at Canada’s booming recreational property market, tackling the legal and financial aspects of owning a cottage or ski chalet. The book looks into how to keep peace with the family with sharing use or ownership; tax and estate planning advice to help save taxes when transferring, selling, bequeathing or inheriting a property;
tips for buying an investment recreational property and more.
It also includes a section about buying property outside of Canada. The book includes checklists for buying and maintaining your property, and a glossary of recreational property terms.
Feature review by Barry Lebow
Buyers Are Liars & Sellers Are Too!
By Richard Courtney
$19
Simon and Shuster
With a title like that I had to buy this book. Author Richard Courtney, a well-known and respected Realtor from Nashville, has produced an absolutely delightful book that is laced with wit and humour. Courtney takes a different approach as this book is for sellers, buyers and Realtors. Three approaches to the same problems and most of his writing focuses on good, common sense learned in the trenches of the real estate game.
The book pokes a lot of fun at misconceptions from the buyer’s viewpoint, from the seller’s viewpoint and of course from that of the Realtor. Although the book is American and has certain sections not relevant for us in Canada, it still provides your clients with good, sound advice on the process of buying and selling and best of all is in clear and precise language. Any party to a real estate deal will benefit by this book.
My biggest complaint? I didn’t write it. I just loved some of the humour, especially his knock-off about home inspectors based on the Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. It was a terrific piece.
Here’s a quote from the book: “Every generation thinks that it invented sex. The same is true of flipping houses. In most cases, the only thing flipped is the buyer’s net worth, often in the wrong direction.” Given my disdain for the current reality shows on flipping, his chapter on this subject was worth the read.
Overall, a good real estate book, one to be passed on to clients and customers, because the one common thing that seems to be missing today in real estate is common sense.
