Real Estate Reads for 2023

The world of real estate writing is nothing if not prolific. From major publishers to niche specialists to self-publishers, everything from buying, selling, decorating and living grandly is seemingly covered.

Starting with something completely different, one would be hard pressed to find a real estate book stranger than “How To Sell a Haunted House” by Grady Hendrix (Berkley, 415 pp, $28). This is a horror book, i.e., Stephen King meets reality real estate TV when an estranged sister and brother come together to sell the house they grew up in. Memories of their deceased parents, most notably via the father’s trove of academic papers and the mom’s highly animated puppet and doll collection that borders on the grotesque, kick start the strange phenomena. If you’ve got a fear of clowns, stay away from this one but if you find the combination of horror meeting real estate appealing, you might like this one. When it comes to “How To Sell a Haunted House,” the bottom line is some houses don’t want to be sold, and the home has other plans for the resentful siblings. Hendrix is also the author of “The Final Girl Support Group” and “My Best Friend’s Exorcism.”

Want to draw a crowd at cocktail parties and barbecues this summer? Mention the term “house hacking,” and you’ll likely gather a small group. House hacking, as explained by Robert Leonard, the author of, “The Everything Guide to House Hacking” (Adams Media, 255 pp, $18.99) is a “strategy where you use a residential property as an investment.” Leonard also describes it as the “better way” to own, manage and profit from real estate. It can utilize various properties such as single- and multifamily homes, vacation properties and even recreational vehicles. Leonard launches his premise by debunking the so-called traditional thinking that one’s home is their greatest asset. Instead he argues that a home is a liability by citing such costs as mortgage, interest, taxes, insurance, maintenance, etc. He does note that house hacking is “not for everyone” before noting that it is likely appropriate for those looking to “supercharge their wealth-building process” while acknowledging that the process has risks.

“The Everything Guide to House Hacking” is more like a new, personal-finance road map centered around one’s home and utilizing it in ways previous generations largely never considered. While Leonard understandably cites numerous hacking benefits, such as reaching financial freedom at a relatively early point in one’s life as they aim to reduce one’s monthly living costs “when done correctly,” it is not for the faint of heart.

Don’t know how to maximize your relationship with the things inside your home or what to buy in the first place? Try “How to Live With Objects: A Guide to More Meaningful Interiors” by Monica Khemsurov and Jill Singer (Clarkson Potter, 320 pp, $60). Starting with such statements as “You Don’t Need to Be a Decorator” and “You Don’t Need to Be a Collector,” the authors, armed with numerous full-color photos, take the reader on a mouth-watering journey of design and decoration. At first glance the $60 price tag may seem a bit of an overreach but the weight of the book is impressive. They even provide notes on shopping and attempt to settle such designer debates as “originals vs. reeditions.”

Keeping with the aesthetics theme, “Design Happy: Colorful Homes for the Modern Family” by Betsy Wentz (Gibbs Smith, 224 pp, $45) is colorful and clever enough to keep any would-be decorator turning pages. Based on a tour of 12 homes the author has decorated, including her own, they show a “modern-meets-traditional” style while adding that: “Design is about finding the happy,” according to Wentz. Once you get past the pictures, however, it becomes apparent that this book is actually a handbook on design for those who may not want to hire an interior designer. The story of each home includes color studies, design lessons, pro tips and useful advice.

“How To Sell Your Home: The Essential Guide to a Fast, Stress-Free, and Profitable Sale” by Mindy Jensen (Bigger Pockets, 197 pp, $10.99) starts from the premise that when trying to sell your home a single mistake can cost you thousands of dollars and months of stress. Jensen has written an easy-to-read, practical guide to getting the price you need without having a nervous breakdown along the way.

Jensen, a self-described real estate agent of 20-plus years as well as a “house flipper,” based in Colorado, tackles such nuts-and-bolts issues as inspections, appraisal problems and last-minute mortgage denials ― as well as how to prepare your home for listings and showings. Most of the examples are drawn from the author’s personal real estate experiences, and each chapter concludes with tips to keep prospective sellers thinking of how to maximize what often is an important opportunity and challenging process. Occasionally she overstates the obvious, such as noting that: “All real estate agents are not the same” and that there are “tons of fees,” in each real estate transaction. On the flip side, she gets points for clarifying the differences between an owner/occupant who has to or wants to sell versus an investor who is almost exclusively focused on the “numbers.” While Jensen’s style is a bit overly simplistic, the book is well worth the price, especially for an anxious, first-time homeseller.