Amazon.com
This may be the best comprehensive guide for home buyers. Home Buying for Dummies is coauthored by Eric Tyson, author of several other books in the For Dummies series, and Ray Brown, a long-time real estate professional. Like other books in the series, this one is an easy and even entertaining read. But it does not gloss over details in pursuit of simplicity. Home Buying for Dummies covers all the bases, providing clear explanations and reasonable judgments on how to select a mortgage, hire a real estate agent, find the right house, and negotiate a good deal. The book goes further than most in providing helpful, specific information. For example, in discussing ways to save money for a future down payment, Home Buying for Dummies even includes the phone numbers for various mutual funds appropriate to different investment time frames. --Barry Mitzman
Book Description
Though fun and exciting, buying a home can also be complicated and confusing—and most people learn the hard way that a wrong move can cost dearly. In order to find the perfect home at the best price, you must have skill, foresight, and a little guidance from experienced professionals.
Home Buying for Dummies, Third Edition provides just that! Packed with invaluable advice in an objective, down-to-earth style that will have you sitting in your dream home in no time, this friendly guide contains everything you need to know to play the home buying game. It has the tools you need to:
- Improve your credit score and select a mortgage
- Choose a time and place to buy
- Determine the price you want to pay
- Assemble an all-star real estate team
- Make use of the wonderful world of the Internet
- Negotiate your best deal
- Inspect and protect your home
- Handle and become responsible for the title
- Cope with buyer’s remorse
Featured in this guide are tips and tricks on things you should do after you seal the deal, as well as things you ought to know about real estate investing. Also included is advice on how to sell your house, as well as a sample real estate purchase contract and a good inspection report. Don’t get chewed up by the real estate market—Home Buying for Dummies, Third Edition will lead you to the home you want!
Customer Reviews:
Obvious Find for Practical Advice.......2007-09-27
This text is an excellent primer for those of us who are novices in the terminology and techniques involved in what could possibly be the most important financial decisions of our lives. And aren't afraid to admit it.
Slow delivery.......2007-09-21
Still have not received this product as of today 9/21. Item was needed to give as gift for 9/22.
Informative and Useful Book..........2007-08-14
This book fully explains the process of deciding when and how to buy a home. I plan to purchase a home within the next three years, and feel that I will well-prepared.
Very helpful.......2007-08-06
We picked this up when we were going to buy our first home. It helped us to make the right decision and not feel stupid by asking questions.
Informative.......2007-07-13
I was hoping that by reading this book I would be able to buy a home on my own without a realtor, however, although truly informative, I doubt that it provided me with enough information to be that independent. Definitely a good book, but needs to be back up with other sources.
Book Description
Residential Lighting is the complete guide to illuminating single-family homes.
- Examines the "how" behind the art of residential lighting.
- Emphasizes use of "light layering"-using variety of lighting sources together.
- Features more illustrations, room-based design strategies, common lighting mistakes, and a larger color section.
Book Description
For everyone who craves a simpler lifestyle, not only in how they live but also where they live, The Simple Home features 21 houses and presents six different approaches to creating a home that realizes its full potential both simply and elegantly.
We are living in complex times, in a commodified, virtual, and overstimulated culture. One response to high levels of complexity and overstimulation is to look for yet another gadget or closet organizer to simplify our lives. But the answer lies somewhere else. The road to a simpler more satisfying life begins with a clear-eyed examination of the choices we are making for our time--and that includes choices about where we want to live.
The Simple Home presents six paths to simplicity, each illustrated by human-scaled, unadorned homes with straightforward floor plans and forms. These are open, light-filled homes (with rooms or spaces that are often multipurpose) that express their beauty in their utility and practicality. Simple homes are low maintenance and often green, designed for homeowners who wish to embody a different set of values in their housing choices than the run-of-the-mill starter castles littering the landscape.
The 6 Paths to Simplicity:
1. Simple is Enough
2. Simple is Thrifty
3. Simple is Flexible
4. Simple is Timeless
5. Simple is Sustainable
6. Simple is Refined
Customer Reviews:
Houses that live large for their owners.......2007-08-17
Wonderful case studies about 20 homes with good explanations about material choices, site considerations, and the people who own them. It's a Taunton Press book, so the photos are great, of course. I especially like the floor plan illustrations that support the photos and give a sense of flow through the houses.
Eye-opening book.......2007-08-04
This book is amazing! The pictures are great, and so well coordinated with the text that the reader can truly "see" each house. For anyone dreaming of a second home, or a more efficient first home, this is an ideal volume.
Defines the concept of a 'simple home' .......2007-07-08
Sarah Nettleton's THE SIMPLE HOME: THE LUXURY OF ENOUGH defines the concept of a 'simple home' and offers interior design tips to achieving satisfaction from a basic home design. This involves eliminating non-essentials and practicing restraint: six avenues to achieving a 'greener' lifestyle from this approach blends full-page color photos with comments on designs which refine and simplify the home - perfect for new students of interior design and homeowners contemplating reconstruction.
Great Book!.......2007-05-14
Wonderful pictures! This book has so many great stories of the home and how people really make their houses simple and comfortable.
Hmmm?.......2007-05-12
My copy came with many scratches on the dust cover and a broken binding when I opened the book. As far as the contents...I was expecting more of a layman friendly simple life-style type approach. Instead I felt like I was buying a book a self-contractor could use. My perusal indicated more about architecture as opposed to simplifying home content. Not a happy camper with this book. I returned it.
Book Description
This is the only book that gives homeowners who are dreaming about building or planning to build a new home the good and the bad on all types of prefabricated houses. Shows that prefabricated can be mainstream traditional design and does not have to look like a mobile home or a modular "Dwell" box.
Prefabulous describes the many systems available for prefabricating all or parts of a new home, including timber frame and log, as well as modular, panelized, structural insulated panels, steel framing and concrete systems, which are relatively new. Prefabulous describes these systems, compares their advantages and disadvantages, and shows beautiful examples of houses built using these techniques. Although all of these "prefabricated" houses look very different, all of them were manufactured partially or almost completely in a controlled factory environment and transported to the home site to be erected. As a group these systems offer a faster, more energy-efficient, and sometimes more cost-efficient method of building.
Includes a foreword by Not So Big House author Sarah Susanka, who writes: "For homeowners who want to know the options, the advantages and disadvantages of those options, and to see how those prefabricated parts come together into a good, attractive home, read this book."
Customer Reviews:
Prefabulous.......2007-09-20
Very informative book. A must read for anyone thinking of building an upscale prefab house.
Fabulous is right!.......2007-08-24
Sheri Koones has done another remarkable job showing the benefits and cusomization capabilities of systems-built homes. The press has made 'pre-fab' a common term over the last few years, and this book helps to showcase the many types of quality, code-compliant, factory built homes. As Executive Director of the Building Systems Councils at the National Association of Home Builders, I know many of our members own copies of this book and are proud to see systems-built homes get the recognition they deserve for being such great ways to build. The book is extremely well done, outlining the types, options, floorplans, and design choices of systems-built homes. There is no other book like it.
Long on promise, short on substance.......2007-08-23
I purchased this book along with another book about "modular" homes by the same author titled "Modular Mansions". I am terribly disappointed by both the books and I am leaving this same exact review for the other book as well.
The book is nothing more than pretty pictures. It offers very little in substance. While the book does profile several large houses constructed in a modular fashion, the author seem to have neither the inclination nor the construction background to discuss the meat and potatoes issues. The book is sprinkled with platitudes and how various home owners chose to decorate their homes. I would have liked to see discussions about how the actual construction was accomplished, what the pitfalls have been, some rudimentary floor plans etc. An in-depth profile of at least one of the houses including perhaps a sit-down with the architect as to how the pieces fit together would have been better than the sheer fluff that fills the pages.
It seems the author was exposed to the modular way of building homes rather by accident and while she seems genuinely enthusiastic about this method, she does not possess proper education/training/experience to guide a reader properly. Instead, she chose to produce this coffee table book that is pretty to look at but offers little else. I was suckered by the promise of modular homes into ordering both the "coffee table" books by this author at the same time and both are equally disappointing.
Modular type of construction does offer some promise in very specific cases for an educated home owner/builder that can take advantage of the efficiencies of this method while avoiding the various pitfalls. But do not buy these books expecting to be educated. You are better of researching somewhere else where true professionals offer advice in this area.
Extraordinary Approach To Housing.......2007-07-23
I had no idea factory built homes existed at anything close to this level of detail, craftsmanship, beauty, variety, durability and more.
This is an excellent book which incorporates all the major types of factory built homes outside of manufactured homes and mobile homes. I now have an entirely new perspective on the current and future state of housing in our country, especially here in Miami, Florida.
As a result of this tremendous "discovery," I am putting together a team of dedicated professionals to assess the viability of the construction applications (residential, commercial and otherwise) featured in this book for the South Florida market.
Every one of my colleagues, friends, family and others have been absolutely amazed at the contents of this book.
You will not be disappointed with this outstanding piece of work even if you employ its use for educational or edification purposes only, or just as a conversation piece for your coffee table.
FAB.......2007-06-08
This book is very helpful in learning about the different choices you have for building. Worth buying if you are looking for something besides standard stick built house.
Book Description
Highly regarded for comprehensiveness and quality, ULI's handbooks have provided real estate professionals with practical advice and authoritative information on the development process for decades.
The Multifamily Housing Development Handbook covers best practices and proven techniques for a wide range of project types and settings. Each aspect of the development process is explained in detail, from market analysis and financing to product design and operations.
Rich with color photos, examples, and case studies, the book describes the real-life experiences and strategies of seasoned developers, planners, and architects.
Highlights
Covers a wide variety of multifamily housing types and locations including garden, townhouse and high-rise project types, affordable and high-end price ranges, new, rehab, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse properties, urban and suburban locations, niche products such as student, military, and seniors housing
Includes practical, how-to information on the multifamily housing development process such as market analysis, site selection, feasibility, financing, planning, design, regulations, marketing, operations, and management.
Provides 14 illustrated case studies of successful projects that cover the site history and challenges, feasibility and financing, planning and design, marketing/leasing, experience gained, project costs, rental prices, and schedule.
Book Description
Green. It conjures images of a meadow in spring for some, and the color of money for others. What does "green" have to do with our homes? In essence, green building-or sustainable building-means being smart about how we use energy, water, and building materials so that we can live well without needlessly damaging the environment. Creating a good green home isn't just about conservation, about using less or saving more-although that's certainly part of it. It's about creating better homes that are easier on the environment, less expensive over the long term, and more delightful to come home to. That's the message Jennifer Roberts wants to share in Good Green Homes, the ultimate new guide for people who want to live in comfortable, healthy, environmentally conscious homes. With some simple steps outlined in this book, you can save money, and do your part to help save the environment. For instance, using an energy-efficient light bulb saves you money. It also results in less demand for electricity, which in turn results in less pollution from power plants, which may help a child with asthma breathe a little easier. If you associate green-built housing with the unconventional or the quirky-tree houses, geodesic domes, dwellings constructed of tires or soda bottles-think again. Perfect for homeowners, remodelers, renters (who might be surprised by how much is within their power to change), architects, builders, and interior designers, this book lays out seven fundamental principles of green building, illustrated with more than 150 color and 20 black and white photographs of more than twenty-five homes. Jennifer Roberts launched two retail stores in San Francisco specializing in environmentally sensible consumer products, including household goods; and is a freelance writer and editor on topics that include energy-efficient building design and systems.
Customer Reviews:
A good start..........2007-01-18
This is an excellent book for those seeking an introduction to environmentally sound home building. There are many good general points and examples of green homes. It is short on details for actual designers but good for home builders who need to read this information desperately and stop building mega-mansions with 5 bedrooms for families with one kid.
Good book.......2006-07-12
Doesn't give a detailed analysis of anything, but is a great tool for people wanting a basic understanding of green building, energy efficient techniques, etc.
Beautiful, but...........2004-10-29
This book no doubt makes a lovely addition to my coffee table. I feel so inspired and now.. how do I do it?? I was looking for more practical advice that addressed all my reasons for wanting to remodel green - protecting my family's health and our planet's natural resources and my financial savings. If the intention was to create a stunning, inspiring book - great job. If it was to really explain what green is and exactly how to do it, I think I'd look to books like "Green Remodeling" by Johnston and Master or read Environmental Building News....
Real Homes that Make a Difference.......2004-03-03
"A recent poll revealed that an astounding 96% of consumers are willing to pay more for green features in a home, and 91% feel that energy-efficient features in a new home were extremely or very important."
If you are planning to redecorate or remodel, Good Green Homes offers ideas, real-world advice and lots of inspiration. Jennifer Roberts is a freelance writer who specializes in sustainable building, energy efficiency and corporate social responsibility. She helps people make choices that encourage positive change in their living environments. She answers the following questions:
How does having a "green" home actually save money?
How can someone who rents their home make significant changes?
What are some ways to protect and improve the quality of air inside our homes?
What are "rapidly renewable sources?"
How can you afford a green home on a limited budget?
Jennifer is also a merchandising manager for the Marina Green stores and joys introducing consumers to the joys of stylish clothes made from organically grown cotton, healthy paints, energy-efficient light bulbs, tableware made from recycled materials and environmentally friendly alternatives to everyday household products.
Featured Homes Include:
A Delightful Cottage
An Ecofriendly addition to a historic home
A Trio of Healthy and Green City Homes
An Artist's studio on a Wooded Island
A Vacation Retreat in the Wine Country
A Neighborhood of Homes
A Remodeled Victorian Flat
It is rather shocking to learn that the air inside our homes can be five times more polluted than the air outside. One look at your energy bill might convince you to read this book.
These homes don't really look all that different, but there are features like skylights to save electricity or there is a home that is naturally cooled, heated and lit. Some homes have solar water-heating systems for the summer and a unique solar power system blended right in with a backyard trellis to generate electricity from the sun.
The section on air quality was of interest to me because I am always moving my Austin air filter about the house.
The "Wine Country Retreat" looked like a house I could live in because it even has a tower. Well, the pools also looked rather inviting.
~TheRebeccaReview.com
Best Book of Its Kind!.......2004-01-01
This book is a gift to the Earth and to so many of the people who inhabit it! Good Green Homes is educational and practical in an amazingly palatable way...that is to say, it is most enjoyable reading; and at the end one is so much wiser than when one began. It is a visual feast. The concept of environmentally sensitive choices in every aspect of the home is brought to the whole spectrum of the population, from new construction to renters to "what can I do with what I've got." This book is beautiful, user friendly and, above all, inspirational. I kept saying, "I can do that! I can take that action. I can make a difference, and I want to!" Bravo!
Book Description
Destined to become the defining work on the subject, this timely reference addresses the single fastest growing segment of the senior living industry -- assisted living for those who are unable to live independently but who do not need intensive nursing home care, meals, housekeeping, or twenty-four hour access to medical assistance. Victor Regniers visually rich guide includes dozens of design solutions from successful assisted living facilities along with fifteen case studies from the U.S. and Europe. The book also covers recent developments in the industry including major changes in financing, growth of dementia, and interest in aging-in-place. All in all, this is the most comprehensive guide to assisted living design that you'll find in any single volume.
Customer Reviews:
Designing for Seniors - includes European & USA.......2006-12-30
This is an amazing book because it includes design considerations that are European and American. Northern Europe has a definite view of the aging population that is very different than that of Americans. Much more focused on wellness, physical activity, landscape as part of healing, maximizing the aging process. This book also includes American facilities that are more focused on creating a HOME for elders. Wonderful photos too. Comment made that senior residences are designed for the daughters (those who make the decision) rather than for the residents. This gives you ideas on how to change that issue... for the positive. Very good resource book.
Book Description
More and more homeowners today want houses that are healthy to live in and cause minimal damage to the environment. That's what green building is all about.
Your Green Home is written for homeowners planning a new home - whether you are working with an architect or builder, or serving as your own general contractor. Intended to improve the overall environmental performance of new houses being built, the book sets out to answer some of the big-picture questions relating to having a home designed and built - and getting what you want.
Your Green Home covers:
- Home location and its relationship to the community
- Site design
- Construction systems
- Building design to optimize energy performance
- Renewable energy systems
- Material selection
- Indoor environmental quality
- Water efficiency
- Material selection
Written by the founder of BuildingGreen - North America's premier green building authority - this book will prove useful not only to future homeowners, but also to designers and builders seeking to meet this demand. Building professionals well-versed in green building may find this a useful book to give to potential clients to convey the scope and principles of green building.
Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series
Customer Reviews:
not for architects or designers.......2007-05-14
I am an interior designer and work for an architectural firm. Because of the information I have learned thru my education and professional experience, I found very little new information in this book. If you have no knowledge of green building practices, this book would be beneficial.
Great overview of building a green home. .......2007-01-09
This book was a overview/introduction to building a green home. Should be a must read for builders and anyone planning on building a new home. Not all strategies will work for every situation, but there's lots here that would apply for any situation or budget.
Nice text, appeals to broad audience.......2007-01-09
The text is well-written and can appeal to a wide audience. It's simple enough to understand for those without a great deal of knowledge in sustainable design, yet interesting and usefull enough for the professional who's more trained in sustainability. The text covers sustainable homes in a logical order, first stressing the foundation concepts like siting, orientation, passive solar, and building envelope efficiency, BEFORE moving on to less critical (but more popular) topics such as green materials.
I am a professor of Environmental Design and am currently building a passive solar, zero-energy home, and if I were to write a text that comprises the whole of the process and goals in sustainable home building, the format and breadth of topics would be similar to this book.
One negative of the book is the absence of color images to illustrate some points. The simple line drawings get the point across, but photos might have a better impact - especailly in sections discussing more advanced systems such as renewable energy systems or rainwater catchment systems.
Amazon.com
Sarah Susanka has a not-so-insignificant idea in Creating the Not So Big House. She contrasts the glamorous, glossy-photo house plans of vaulted ceilings and palatial living rooms with the livable, day-to-day pleasure of cozy window seats and comfortable breakfast nooks, and her conclusion is resonating with families across the country: bigger but shoddier isn't better than smaller and well made. Descriptors like "spacious" and "expansive" fill the real-estate promos, but Susanka seeks the elusive yet affordable qualities that turn a house into a home. And she provides more than mere ideals around which to rally. She selected 25 house designs, from a southwestern adobe to a Minnesota farmhouse to a New York apartment to a Rhode Island summer cottage, and she profiles each home in great and well-illustrated detail.
Her ideas for interior as well as exterior views, airy stairways, diagonal views, and framed openings translate well in an array of different houses appropriate to childless couples and large families, as well as hot climes in Texas and cooler regions in Vermont. There are traditional designs to fit in with Massachusetts styling and contemporary designs to adapt to California cliffs, and they range from country spaces to suburban homes to city apartments.
Susanka selected house plans that are available for sale, because her purpose is to make affordable quality housing accessible to the general public, but they're also presented as catalysts for your own designs, because the house that worked for one person might inspire the plan that would work best for you. Whether you're in the market for a new house, want pragmatic renovation ideas, or are interested in the concept of space-saving abodes from a city-planning, philosophical perspective, Susanka's book is an eye-opener and a mind-expander, providing conceptual and practical tools to assist you in planning your own livable home. --Stephanie Gold
Book Description
Sarah Susanka's The Not So Big House spoke to millions of disenchanted homeowners who want to downsize their dream home without diminishing the dream. By evaluating what makes them feel at home and letting their activities define their rooms, homeowners end up with cozy areas they like and use rather than oversize formal rooms they never enter. Creating the Not So Big House explains what homeowners and potential homeowners need to know to get the home that fits their dreams and their lifestyles. Featuring 20 new houses and five remodels of the best Not So Big House designs, Creating the Not So Big House gives readers insight into successful home design.
Customer Reviews:
The not so big house is more of a Not so inexpensive house.......2007-06-20
We have read both books and did find some things interesting, there was only one or two houses in either of the books about the Not So Big House that would have worked for us. One thing we did find that the cost of the "not so big house"; because of many of the materials used; it is really more than what a number of people might find too expensive for their budget.
A must when designing your home.......2007-06-09
We are remodeling our house and my daughter and husband are about to build a new house. A friend of us got many great ideas from this book when they built their home, so they recommended it to me. I had purchased it as a gift for my daughter who, along with her husband, have been reading it since then word by word, and studying the pictures. They are so excited by the concept of a great home and the excellent ideas found in the book. It gave them the direction that they will definitely take when designing their new home.
MORE NOT SO BIG.......2007-05-04
A FURTHER EXPLORATION OF THE NOT SO BIG PHILOSOPHY, QUALITY OVER QUANTITY. INTERESTING AND INFORMATIVE, GOOD COMMON SENSE.
What a Great Idea Book.......2007-03-11
Creative ideas for the practical person. No cute gismos and such, just solid ideas and ways to make them work. Highly recommended.
Good Idea, But . . ........2006-12-29
Her premise that quality beats quantity is a good one. Unfortunately, her taste in architecture (or at least interior design) leaves a lot to be desired -- most of her examples are visually cluttered and will seem dated very quickly, as some indeed already do.
Customer Reviews:
Small Houses.......2007-07-12
I am going to build a small house and found great ideas in this book. I like this book a lot.
Save your money.......2006-02-28
If you want a picture book to leaf thru, I guess it's okay. As far as practical ideas, forget it. Most of the homes here are very site-specific, and most are multi-story. I didn't really see any innovations or adaptable ideas that I could actually use in my own home construction, which was why I bought it.
New Material.......2002-05-29
Fine Homebuilding does a great job of highlighting unique architecture. My only wish is that it wouldn't get recycled over and over again in hardcover. My plea is for Fine Homebuilding is to keep searching out fabulous homes to keep it fresh. My admonishment is to Taupin Press for boring it's very attentive audience. I now look through a book before I purchase it, I usually find that I already own 20-30 of the pics that I find interesting.
WOW.......2000-05-21
I just love the small(?) houses in this book. I'm one of those people that dream of one day being able to build my own home, and therefore have numerous books and magazines with house plans. This book is the best by far that I have. The plans and pictures in this book are just brilliant. I love the fact that most of the houses are different to the normal square or rectangular shape that is so prevelent these days. All though most of the houses in the book aren't really that small, at least not to me, there are some wonderful designs. The detail provided about each design is thorough. The Energy-Efficient Houses and Craftsman-Style Houses books are terrific as well.
one of the best books on small houses.......1999-08-04
This book has a wide variety of different homes-- which to me didn't seem that small. The plans as well as a description of primary concerns in design are often included. Best of all, many of these homes were designed on a budget of about $100,000, which makes these houses seem much more inspiring and realistic to the potential home builder. I'd never thought of designing my own home until I saw this book, but now it's one of my hopes for the future.
Books:
- Hotel Pastis: A Novel of Provence
- Hotels and Resorts: Planning and Design (Butterworth Architecture Design and Development Guides)
- How to Grow More Vegetables Than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land Than You Can Imagine: A Primer on the Life-Giving Biodynamic/French Intensiv
- Internet Riches: The Simple Money-making Secrets of Online Millionaires
- Jan Karon's Mitford Cookbook and Kitchen Reader: Recipes from Mitford Cooks, Favorite Tales from Mitford Books (Mitford)
- Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding the Where of Their Happiness
- Life Application Study Bible NIV
- Living Large in Small Spaces: Expressing Personal Style in 100 to 1,000 Square Feet
- Living Water: Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy
- Living with Art w/ Timeline
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Total Quality Service: Principles, Practices, and Implementation
- Physik
- Definition The Hidef Sourcebook
- Employees and Corporate Governance
- I've Dibel'd, Now What
- Public School Law: Teacher's and Student's Rights, Fifth Edition
- London
- Comparative Issues in Local Government Accounting
- Emotional Labor in the Service Economy
- The Mousetrap and Other Plays
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Mortgages For Dummies, 2nd Edition
100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask: With Answers from Top Brokers from Around the Country (100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask)
Personal Finance For Dummies, 5th edition
The First-Time Homeowner's Handbook: A Complete Guide and Workbook for the First-Time Home Buyer (Book & CD-ROM)
10 Steps to Home Ownership: A Workbook for First-Time Buyers
