Good House Hunting: 20 Steps to Your Dream Home
160
Good House Hunting: 20 Steps to Your Dream Home
160eBook
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Overview
Without a doubt, the most important investment of your life will be your home. No other purchase will matter more to your lifestyle, financial future, and personal well-being. It is never too late or too soon to set a course for creating a home that will provide the maximum return and fulfill your dreams.
With step-by-step instruction, Good House Hunting will take you on an inspirational and practical journey to finding your dream home -- both within your imagination and out in the real estate world.
- For home buyers, Good House Hunting will help you navigate the complex process of finding the property with the greatest potential.
- For home owners, Good House Hunting provides the framework to help you maximize your current property.
- For dreamers, Good House Hunting sets out the course for dream home planning, so when you are ready you will have a plan.
If you long to discover what home would be a worthy investment for improving your fortunes and accomplishing your dreams, Good House Hunting is for you.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780062103666 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | HarperCollins |
| Publication date: | 11/15/2011 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 160 |
| File size: | 13 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
In 1998 The New York Times declared Dennis Wedlick a "rising star in architecture." This rise has continued with the growing success of his firm, Dennis Wedlick Architect LLC, (www.denniswedlick.com). Known for creating striking, sustainable homes and buildings, the firm has received national recognition from the media and the design community. The author of The Good Home, Designing the Good Home, and Good House Parts, Wedlick also lectures around the country on subjects ranging from specific architectural styles to sustainable design.
In 1998 The New York Times declared Dennis Wedlick a "rising star in architecture." This rise has continued with the growing success of his firm, Dennis Wedlick Architect LLC, (www.denniswedlick.com). Known for creating striking, sustainable homes and buildings, the firm has received national recognition from the media and the design community. The author of The Good Home, Designing the Good Home, and Good House Parts, Wedlick also lectures around the country on subjects ranging from specific architectural styles to sustainable design.
Philip Langdon has written on houses and design for many national magazines, including The Atlantic Monthly, Landscape Architecture, Home, and Planning. A former senior editor of Progressive Architecture, he is the author of several books, including American Houses and A Better Place to Live: Reshaping the American Suburb. With Steve Thomas, he co-authored This Old House Kitchens and This Old House Bathrooms. Langdon lives in New Haven, Connecticut.
Read an Excerpt
Good House Hunting
20 Steps to Your Dream HomeBy Dennis Wedlick
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Copyright © 2005 Dennis WedlickAll right reserved.
ISBN: 0060779950
Chapter One
Discovering Your Dream Location
The journey to the dream home begins with identifying the location that has the greatest potential, whether for serving "as is" or withminor changes or with some serious work. Occasionally, the ideal home is out there waiting to be found and simply moved into, but most often the ideal home has to be created. What the homebuyer must do is identify the property that possesses the best attributes for achieving that goal. Being methodical about this endeavor will not only increase the chance of success; it will also make the search far less overwhelming. A step-by-step approach enables people to consider one aspect of house- or property-hunting at a time, and helps them make well-considered choices along the way. These first steps will be enjoyable, but they take fortitude and effort, since there's much to be considered that requires patience and research. The reward for the time invested is finding a place that may be perfect for years to come or even for the rest of your life.
Step 1
Setting The Price Range
How much does a dream house cost? When clients first come to our office, I never ask how much money they can spend to buy, build, or renovate a home. That question goes unasked because money should never inhibit the process of imagining what would make a person as happy as possible at home. Besides, I have never met anyone whose notion of the ideal place to live depended entirely on expensive material things or whose goal was impossible to achieve. Rooms filled with natural light, airy and open spaces, framed views, and cozy corners -- elements that figure prominently in many people's dream homes -- are affordable in any price range.
When it does come down to "how much?" the only simple answer is that price depends mostly on size. Therefore it is best to search for only as much house as is really needed. Homebuyers need to have enough money to assure that their aspirations, including their desired level of quality, can be achieved. The most common and foolish mistake is to hope for more space than can be afforded. Dreams are made of quality, not quantity.
The price ultimately will be the sum of two different kinds of expenditures. The first is the cost of acquiring the property. This means buying vacant land that you'll develop, or buying a property that consists of land and an existing residence (whether it's a detached house, an attached dwelling, or a condo or co-op unit). The second expenditure is the cost you will incur in developing the land, or developing the land and dwelling, into a dream home. In other words, the second expenditure consists of the cost of improving and personalizing whatever you purchase.
Continues...
Excerpted from Good House Hunting by Dennis Wedlick Copyright © 2005 by Dennis Wedlick. Excerpted by permission.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
| Part 1 | Dream Home Planning | 1 |
| Introduction: Writing the Narrative of Your Dream | 2 | |
| What Dreams Are Made Of | 9 | |
| Exploring Practical Needs | 15 | |
| Maximizing Creative Resources | 18 | |
| Planning Long-term | 24 | |
| Part 2 | 20 Steps to the Dream Home | 26 |
| Chapter 1 | Discovering Your Dream Location | 28 |
| Step 1 | Setting the Price Range | 30 |
| Step 2 | Starting the Search | 36 |
| Step 3 | Tuning Your Senses | 42 |
| Step 4 | Seeing Yourself There | 48 |
| Step 5 | Narrowing In on Locations | 54 |
| Chapter 2 | Seeing the Dream Home Potential | 60 |
| Step 6 | Assessing What's Out There | 62 |
| Step 7 | Judging a Home by Its Cover: The Exterior | 68 |
| Step 8 | Seeing Beyond the Sofa: The Interior | 74 |
| Step 9 | Looking Behind the Walls: The Systems | 80 |
| Step 10 | Evaluating the Attributes: Positives and Negatives | 86 |
| Chapter 3 | Making the Dream Home Come True | 92 |
| Step 11 | Fulfilling the Wish List | 94 |
| Step 12 | Fine-tuning the Specifications | 100 |
| Step 13 | Building Upon the Strengths | 106 |
| Step 14 | Achieving Dreams by Making Minor Adjustments | 110 |
| Step 15 | Performing Total Transformations | 116 |
| Chapter 4 | Addressing the Tricky Stuff | 122 |
| Step 16 | Weathering the Storm of Construction Work | 124 |
| Step 17 | Knowing "When to Leave Well Enough Alone" | 130 |
| Step 18 | Recognizing Healthy Environments | 134 |
| Step 19 | Understanding What the Government Has to Say | 140 |
| Step 20 | Keeping the Faith | 146 |
| Index | 150 |
What People are Saying About This
“So very helpful!...Packed with tips and expert knowledge.”
“Eminently readable...revealing insider knowledge and reinforcing common sense.”
“An indispensable guide to making the dream of a comfortable, healthy home become a reality.”