Gary W. Eldred
1 Great Book! I can't put it down!
My husband and I are building a vacation rental. This book has been great for us. If you are thinking of investing in a second home it gives you all the information on how to go about buying. It has the advantages & disadvantages & how you could meet trouble. We had already bought our property before the book. Now that I've read the book. It's got me excited to look for a 3rd home after our house is done being built. You might as well have fun in your vacation home & make $ at the same time. Read the book, you'll like it!
2 This is a great guide for a very big purchase!
Eldred guides you through all the questions you must ask and answer before you buy any home, but of course with special considerations on buying a second home. Midlifers who have that chunk of money from a house sale, inheritance, or investment can ensure that money will be well spent to set them up for later years. Eldred has both been there (bought real estate) and done that (his research) and you will benefit from his experience.
3 A Must!
I have read and re-read this book. I just bought a second home in the Arizona mountains with the idea of renting it out part-time and this book helped me to solidify some ideas and develop an action plan. I recommend it for anyone who has a second home or is thinking about it..
4 Thank you Dr. Eldred
Following this author's techniques and advice we bought a second(future retirement) home on a lake in Georgia. Just as he forecast, homes like ours have jumped $100,000 in the past 2 1/2 years. Thanks for giving us the kick we needed to make the buy we've considered for years.
5 Very helpful
This is a helpful little book, which boils down the basics into very readable form. In searching for vacation home information, we also wanted more on home design, styles, and so on, and discovered a colorful, large new book called Second Home, which mixes tours of real houses around the country with great tips on such things as finding the location that's right for you, plus building, decorating, and remodeling information. I highly recommend both Second Home and The Complete Guide to Second Homes.
6 Covers everyting we wanted to know
As someone who is subject to "analysis paralysis" from too much business school, I found Eldred's book welcome relief. Eldred hits all the important points with great examples. This really helped my wife and I zoom in on the issues that were most important to us. A good read!
7 Great book for exploring your vacation/retirement options
As a voracious reader of books in real estate, I didn't think I would learn much from this book. But I was wrong. Perhaps the best overview of things to consider in buying a vacation/retirement home of any I've seen.I also liked the "how to evaluate your home as an investment" chapter. Overall profitable read.
8 Opened my eyes-Highly recomended
If you're about to invest several hundred thousand dollars in a second home (as we recently did), you'll find good practical advice in this book. We were set on a specific location, but after reading Eldred's book we started looking around and found a much better deal. Just since January, our home has jumped more than 10 per cent in value. We credit our good choice to the location and investment advice we got from this book. If you remain undecided about where and what kind of second home to buy, we think this book will "open your eyes" as it did us.
9 This book saved us thousands
Although we are experienced homebuyers, we picked up much useful advice from this well-written book. Most importantly, it told us how to really learn the property values in an area where we were unfamiliar. Good discussion of how to save money on financing and taxes, too. Overall, anyone thinking about buying a second home or retirement home will be alerted to a lot of things they may have forgotten from past purchases or were never aware of. We especiaaly liked the chapters that helped us explore our locaton options.
10 Waste of money
This should be a book about a *second* home. Presumably, the reader already has bought a first home. Or so I thought. The advice in this books is either (1) elementary real estate info that all homeowners understand or (2) simple common sense.
I gave up when one piece of advice was "Don't overpay."
Don't bother.
