Second Homes for Dummies by Bridget McCrea and Stephen Spignesi is a great resource for anyone interested in purchasing investment property, whether it is for a second home, vacation home, part-time rental property, or future retirement property.
A lot of the book is focused on financing and taxes. This information applies to most non-primary properties, including how to purchase the investment property, how to handle maintenance and upkeep, deciding whether to build a custom home, and other financial questions.
A portion of the book considers rental of your own second or vacation home to tenants, and the pitfalls that can happen. This is a valuable consideration for anyone who wants to maintain a second property with minimal effort.
There is a strong emphasis on location, an especially important consideration for an investment property that will be used as a vacation home. There may be competition for renters in an active vacation area, so if part of your strategy for affording a second property is to rent or lease the property part time, this is an important factor. Also, if the property is to be purchased for a retirement property a long time in the future, long range planning for the area is important to research.
Weaknesses of the book include a relative lack of personal stories, some information for purchasing in rural or underdeveloped areas – especially where utilities are concerned, and a too-brief chapter on purchasing foreign investment properties.
About the Author
Bridget McCrea is a former real estate agent who, for the last 12 years, has run her own Florida-based freelance writing company, Expert Writing Services, Inc. She specializes in business topics and, because of her background, spends a good deal of her time writing about real estate–related topics for magazines such as REALTOR Magazine, Florida Realtor, The Residential Specialist, and Log Home Living.
Bridget has also penned a few books along the way, including The Real Estate Agent’s Field Guide, The Home Buyer’s Question and Answer Book, The Real Estate Agent’s Business Planner, and the RE/MAX Guide to Buying a Home.
Stephen Spignesi is a full-time writer and editor and the author of 40 nonfiction books and one acclaimed debut novel, Dialogues (Bantam). His books include The New York Times bestseller, J.F.K. Jr., five books about Stephen King, three books about the Beatles, and several books about world and American history, pop culture, the paranormal, true crime, TV, movies, cooking, natural disasters, Italian historical figures, cats, and contemporary fiction. Stephen’s most recent book is George Washington’s Leadership Lessons (published by Wiley), written with James Rees, the executive director of George Washington’s Mount Vernon. Stephen lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Pam, and their beloved and brilliant cat, Carter.
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