Home > Store

Houseonomics: Why Owning a Home is Still a Great Investment: Why Owning a Home is Still a Great Investment

Register your product to gain access to bonus material or receive a coupon.

Houseonomics: Why Owning a Home is Still a Great Investment: Why Owning a Home is Still a Great Investment

Book

  • Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
Not for Sale

About

Features

Even with a "housing bubble" you can still become a millionaire, not by flipping, but by simply owning your own home

  • Investing in your own home is as potentially rewarding as investing in the stock market. Learn how your home can become a major engine for your prosperity.
  • Make smarter decisions about buying, selling, refinancing, remodeling, vacation homes, and more.
  • Introduces a completely new way to accurately assess the value of your home or the home you are thinking about buying.
  • Description

    • Copyright 2008
    • Edition: 1st
    • Book
    • ISBN-10: 0-13-713378-2
    • ISBN-13: 978-0-13-713378-9

    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.

    Sample Content

    Online Sample Chapter

    Your Home and the Million-Dollar Question

    Sample Pages

    Download the sample pages

    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

    Updates

    Submit Errata

    More Information

    InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

    I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

    Overview


    Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

    This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

    Collection and Use of Information


    To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

    Questions and Inquiries

    For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

    Online Store

    For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

    Surveys

    Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

    Contests and Drawings

    Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

    Newsletters

    If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

    Service Announcements

    On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

    Customer Service

    We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

    Other Collection and Use of Information


    Application and System Logs

    Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

    Web Analytics

    Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

    Cookies and Related Technologies

    This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

    Do Not Track

    This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

    Security


    Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

    Children


    This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

    Marketing


    Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

    • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
    • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
    • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
    • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

    Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

    Correcting/Updating Personal Information


    If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

    Choice/Opt-out


    Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

    Sale of Personal Information


    Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

    While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

    Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


    California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

    Sharing and Disclosure


    Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

    • As required by law.
    • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
    • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
    • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
    • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
    • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
    • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
    • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
    • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

    Links


    This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

    Requests and Contact


    Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

    Changes to this Privacy Notice


    We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

    Last Update: November 17, 2020