For home buyers and home sellers. Here is the first how-to that addresses the needs of both buyers and sellers, making it the perfect companion to the bestselling The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Buying and Selling a Home. The buyer will depend on this guide to determine whether a house is worth buying. The seller will need it to determine which repairs are necessary before listing or signing anything. Readers will learn to troubleshoot all areas of a home, including its structure and foundation, windows and doors, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, insulation, electrical systems, and the roof, just to name a few. In this Pocket Idiot’s Guide®, you get: • What to look for when inspecting the electrical system, the roof, and other parts of the home. • Simple advice on what to do if the results of your inspections aren’t good. • Expert explanation of what you can expect during and after the inspection. • Easy ways to tell if a home is worth buying—or if it will need extensive repairs before you put it on the market.

Smart shopping in a buyer's market. It's a buyer's market out there. But with so many homes for sale, buyers can be overwhelmed by choice. How can they be certain they're making the right decision? The answers are here in this easy-to-use book of checklists focusing on every single aspect of the home buying procedure, from where to start looking to closing costs. *Finding affordable homes *Scoping out neighborhoods *Includes the questions that should be asked of agents, brokers, and sellers *For first-time buyers and experienced ones

One person's loss is another person's gain. This invaluable guide explains everything readers need to know about finding and financing foreclosed and soon-to-be foreclosed residential properties with the highest potential return. Completely updated, this new edition reflects recent changes in the way banks and the government dispose of foreclosed properties, covers new laws, and advises how to steer clear of scams. ? First edition sold more than 30,000 copies in a year and a half ? The national residential foreclosure rate rose to from .75% to 1.16% (of all mortgages) by the end of 2006-the biggest jump in 30 years ? Foreclosures are expected to continue to increase as interest rates rise and monthly payments on short-term variable rate and interest-only loans make homes unaffordable

From buying equipment to mastering drywall to troubleshooting the causes of leaks, this useful book is the most compact, valuable tool one can stick in the toolbox. It includes offbeat cartoons, figures, easy-to-use bulleted lists, special warnings, tips, definitions sidebars, and advice from experts at a glance.

Using everyday language and straight-forward examples, this resource covers all areas of real estate buying and selling on the Internet--from financing and choosing and agent to researching neighborhoods and negotiating a sale or purchase.

THE HOME INSPECTION BOOK is designed to serve as a learning tool as well as a reference guide. This professional guide is a comprehensive yet self-paced handbook covering both the practice and the business of home inspection addressing all the key areas associated with the business of home inspection in this rapidly growing profession. In addition, this handbook also takes you step-by-step through the entire process of home inspection following the most current guidelines established by the American Society of Home Inspectors (ASHI), the National Association of Home Inspectors (NAHI) and the National Association of Certified Home Inspectors (NACHI).

What are they? How do they work? What do they do? There are more than 100,000 active reverse mortgages in the U.S. today, and the number is growing. If Social Security benefits are excluded, about half of all senior citizens would fall below the poverty line based on their income, and for many people over 65, much of their wealth is concentrated in their home equity. As health care costs rise, many people are turning to reverse mortgages for supplemental income. This book outlines, informs, counsels, and lays out the facts on reverse mortgages. -Anticipation of Social Security problems is increasing the popularity of reverse mortgages -More people are expected to turn to reverse mortgages to supplement their income -The Consumers Union of U.S. Inc. says that AARP, HUD, Fannie Mae, and the reverse mortgage industry all agree on the importance of high-quality reverse mortgage counseling and information

Read your opponent . . . and rake in the chips. The world’s best poker players can read their opponents’ most subtle expressions and behaviors—no matter how hard their opponents try to hide them. A tapping foot, a change in vocal tone, and countless other clues “tell” an informed player what cards the opponent is holding and how they’re likely to be played. The Pocket Idiot’s Guide® to Poker Tells explains everything amateur poker players need to start interpreting tells and using them to develop poker intuition. In this Pocket Idiot’s Guide®, you get: • Foolproof tips to help you recognize all kinds of tells. • Game-saving advice on avoiding tells yourself—and recognizing fake ones. • Surefire strategies for dealing with the five different types of player personalities. • Idiot-proof techniques for sharpening your tell-spotting skills.