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Zillow Talk

the New Rules of Real Estate
preppy
Mar 24, 2015
This book was recommended on a REIN article. Zillow has a website with loads of data. The book is about US Real Estate, a hot topic for snowbirds and investors. Zillow busts several myths such as, "buy the cheapest house in the best location." and that the 1913 homeowner mortgage interest tax deduction MID benefits lower-income people. It goes on to say that until 1954, credit card debt could also be deducted, but fails to mention that according to Wikipedia, general use credit cards weren't in use until the '50s. It confirms that if the last non-zero in the listing price is a 9, you will get a higher offer. It assumes you know when the Master's Golf Tournament is. (Around April 6.) You must list before. Easy read, fact-filled. I always search for ambiguities, and there are some. Page 112, "On the other end of the spectrum, word choice is just as important for a seller...Bottom tier.. " But previous to that also discusses the same thing. Page 235 shows MID helps Taxpayers, 53% of population; of which only one third itemize deductions leaving 18%. Take away 20 % who are renters or have paid off their mortgage CORRECTLY leaving 14%, not minus 2%. 18 -20%=14. On page 154 "listing discount" means this sale was below the listing price. This could easily be understood to mean " the listed asking price was reduced." On page 178, 27,012 packed into EACH OF THEM refers to 302.6 square miles, not the 5 boroughs of Metro New York. Then a comparison is made to "the rest of US " at 87 people per square mile. At 3.8 million square miles for whole US, this is the comparison, not just other urban areas.