Bubbles, Booms, and Busts

By Blanche Evans and lanche Evans

Book Overview

Discover hidden financial and lifestyle opportunities in any real estate market

No one knows more about real estate than Realty Times Editor Blanche Evans. In Bubbles, Booms, and Busts, Evans explains how ever-changing cyclical and regional real estate conditions can translate into benefits that go beyond just knowing the best time to buy and sell. Readers will learn how local bubbles and busts can help them find employment opportunities, plan retirement, pinpoint relocation sites, formulate long term investment strategies, and more. Evans offers a readable, objective evaluation of how demographics, cultural diversity, immigration, as well as hidden risk factors, can present problems as well as lucrative opportunities for savvy investors.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071475486
• ISBN13: 9780071475488
• Release Date: September 2006
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Length: 196 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Bubbles, Booms, and Busts

I recommend this book. Up to date, and full of valuable data and references, it provides an excellent picture of where real estate sits in our economy and in the lives of people who own it. As the title indicates, Ms. Evans does a lot to deflate much of the investment hype that seems to follow real estate in today's press. She has done much research and provided information that is useful for personal home buyers, investors, and real estate agents. She writes in a very understandable style. The author seems a little defensive toward the notion that institutions and other financial segments may be picking on real estate. Singled out are Wall Street's competitive concerns with real estate, the Fed's effort to cool down speculation and eliminate risky loans, and tax writing committees that believe we may be giving too much in tax breaks like interest deductions and capital gains. In this regard, she writes more as an advocate of real estate than as an impartial analyst. Her treatment of investment concepts like interest rates, bond yields, and price/earnings ratios was briefer than I would have liked. But, her book has reaffirmed my conviction that real estate, carefully selected, is a very sound longer term investment and should be a high priority in just about anyone's investment considerations.

An EXCELLENT Book

Author Blance Evans has written an excellent book which is a MUST read for any person interested in investing in Real Estate, or for that matter buying their own residence. She is Editor and a columnist of Realty Times, and I have enjoyed her numerous articles since the late 1990's. She has successfully demonstrated, using easily understandable graphs and statistics, the how and why real estate is such a wonderful investment vehicle. Historically, because of favored tax incentives and leverage, real estate is a favorite wealth builder for many. The subtitle of the book, 'Make Money in ANY Real Estate Market,' is what lured me into buying the book. Was she appealing to real estate agents (I am a Broker), or investors, or maybe home buyers looking for insight into buying their own home. Well, I think all three categories are well served and can benefit from the information presented, and reluctant buyers could certainly benefit by reading Chapters 6 & 7. Wealth is accumulated over time-- not over night, and Evans gives enough of the historical background to keep a potential investor intersted and help them make an informed decision. Naturally, it is the overall economy and wages that drive markets (and supply and demand) and she points out what to look for in any market (The Fundamentals!). History has shown that anyone who buys and holds real estate has reaped rewards and mitigated risk; it's tantamount to betting on the Harlem Globetrotters... What this book certainly is not: A book on how to get rich overnight. Waste your money with some other book. What this book is: A very, very informative book on real estate investing, what to look for, and what to look out for. It is relatively short (167 pages-you can read it in one sitting) and is a quick but significant study. It is well written, and easy to read and understand. She also includes a multitude of websites to visit to do further research. A "must have" book for any investor, potential investor, and should be on the bookshelf at every real estate office. Well done, Ms. Evans.