Customer Reviews

Profits in Buying and Renovating Homes

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book provides an excellent guide to the kind of choices one has to make to be successful at buying, rehabbing and reselling homes. It's practical and realistic, and contains both general theory and strategy guidance as well as very specific, useful rehabbing tips. I have been doing this kind of work for 3 years myself and wish I had read this earlier to save me from some mistakes.

Dworin is a clear, engaging writer. He presents the pros and cons of this business honestly. I read this large book in a few days and was eager to go out and start rehab-ing straight away. I would recommend this book for 1) anyone thinking of doing this as a business, 2) anyone contemplating remodeling their own home, or 3) anyone thinking of buying a home.

You know those ... get rich real estate books, videos and CDs that end up only giving you basic common sense information that you already knew (Like the last 45 minute video I watched the spent the whole time telling you to clean up the house before the potential buyer comes over. THIS BOOK IS NOT ONE OF THEM. This book is filled with tons of real, experienced info that you don't already know from common sense. 2 thumbs up!

This book was the best Real Estate book I have ever read! Yes, it is geared towards people would want to do the work themselves. But even if you wanted to hire contractors to complete the work, you could learn the ins and outs of what the job would take to finish under budget and looking great. There was a section on steam heaters, most people would think that section would be a waste of time. I found it very interesting considering there is not much written on that subject. It sure would come in handy in an old house that others past by because there was a problem with a steam heater and they figured it would require a complete new heater. I loved his straight foward approach, not a get rich quick info-merical! The best part of the book was all the before and after pictures, most authors just tell you how great a project can turn out, this author shows you! I plan to re-read it again to ensure I got EVER tip and idea inside. Forget the rest and buy the best.

This book is useful if you are your own handyman (as the author is) and want pointers on how to do things. Otherwise if you are going to hire your own contractor or handyman, it really is not very useful. For these investors, your money is better spent on a book that covers more in debt things you need to know about what kind of property to look for and how to determine a good buy and financing needed to secure it.

This book provides sound advice on buying an remodeling houses. The author may go a little deeper into repairing houses than the average fix-up investor goes. Dworin is addressing serious renovation work on houses, way beyond just painting and clean -up.

There is good money to be made in home remodeling, particularly if can do most, or all, of the work yourself.

The most valuable chapter in the book to me is Chapter 6 "What Work Should You Do?" Dworin says not to waste time and money on repairs that buyers won't pay extra for. All houses will have flaws, and buyers don't scrutinize each item in a house, they look at the whole package. If you try to make a house flawless, you'll only wind up charging too much for the house and not finding a buyer. I like how the author describes the various typical problems that are found in houses. He goes on to explain whether or not it is necessary to repair each item, and if so, tells you how to do it.

Most of the book is devoted to describing various parts of a house and how to make repairs to each part. The book is a little dated in that it describes how to make repairs to things that are no longer commonly found in houses, such as old style gas-gravity furnaces. However, that is the exception rather than the rule. You can find many good repair tips in this book.

For those who want to go a little deeper into home renovation, this is a good book to read and keep. For those who are just doing fix-up houses that require lighter repair, its useful for you too, if only to see what else is possible, or what you could aspire to do in the future.


Terry Sprouse is author of the book, "How to Start Your Own House Fix-up and Rental Business in Your Spare Time."

Written by spec rehab professional Lawrence Dworin, Profits in Buying & Renovating Homes is an in-depth guide to buying, repairing, and selling fixer-upper homes. Chapters cover how to determine costs and profit before buying, repairs and improvements that are absolutely necessary for any job, which upgrades charm buyers the most, and much more. Profits in Buying & Renovating Homes does not focus on real estate finance per se, but rather the nuts and bolts of when and how to fix structural and mechanical problems, add rooms, correct defects, and so on. Step-by-step instructions and black-and-white photographs make Profits in Buying & Renovating Homes easy to follow and use. A "must-read" for anyone interested in the spec rehab business.

This book is well written and obviously spoken from someone who has done it. As a remodeler myself this book hit it all on the mark. Ignore the no down payment and other get rich crap. If you have the skills, time, smarts and fortitude this book will show you the low down.

I'm not sure what some of these readers are smoking but this book has to be about 10-15 years out of date. In it's day I'm sure it was well worth the money but time to upgrade!