Preface:
Buying and selling houses is American capitalism in its purest form. Financial profit and personal satisfaction can be derived by all concerned.
Many complex industries are involved, but with patience and proper counseling, the arithmetic and language of residential real estate activities can be reduced to grade-school level for both buyer and seller. This is not to say that buyers and sellers are not capable of understanding more complex math and terms, but rather that most businesses develop large bureaucracies and stylized jargon--usually simultaneously. Thus, simplification is necessary.
The thrust of this book is that housing is the big ticket item for all of us. Buyers and sellers should not be just lucky or surprised. Both buyers and sellers are consumers who should receive talented support from the real estate industry in the form of effective, knowledgeable counseling.
This is a “how-to” book which takes the buyer and seller through the step by step process. The idealistic theories emanating from government and private industry will be examined and some case histories will be discussed to show that human nature sometimes creates confusion within the system. These examples and incidents are not intended to intimidate the reader but rather to broaden his or her outlook toward the real estate business. It is far easier to cope with the occasional adversity in any business effort if we are realistic and know it might occur-- for the best laid plans of........
The Author - Bob Dean was first licensed as a Virginia real estate agent in 1966 and has been licensed as a full-time, career real estate broker since 1968. Aside from a two-year stint as branch manager for a multi-office real estate company (1970-72), his seventeen years of experience in the real estate field have been concentrated in serving as a real estate sales agent acting essentially on behalf of buyers who are purchasing homes in which they intend to live and on behalf of sellers who are "upgrading" or are moving out of the area for one reason or another. Thus his experience has been almost exclusively consumer-oriented. His book is written from that point of view.
Bob Dean believes that communication with others is essential to success, He found that to be true during his employment in the War Department for two years prior to World War II, and his wartime experience in the marine Corps, and throughout twenty year career in the Veterans Administration following his discharge from military service. As a means of communication with buyers and sellers of real estate, he began writing a newsletter in 1970 and has continued its publication to the present time.
Just as he believes that communication is essential to an agent's representing a client to that person's total satisfaction, Bob Dean feels that negotiation is the key ingredient that leads ultimately to a satisfactory sales/purchase agreement. In his book he tells in detail why you as a seller or purchaser need a good agent to communicate for you and to negotiate for you, in order that you may place yourself in the most strategic position and gain the greatest financial advantage in any consumer oriented real estate transaction.