cover image Home Rich: How to Buy, Manage, Improve, and Sell the Most Valuable Investment of Your Life

Home Rich: How to Buy, Manage, Improve, and Sell the Most Valuable Investment of Your Life

Gerri Willis. Ballantine, $24.95 (270pp) ISBN 978-0-345-49044-5

Written by the anchor of Open House , CNN’s weekly half-hour real estate show, this book is like having a good friend on call to answer all of a first-time home buyer’s questions about the process. Willis covers questions you might be embarrassed to ask: “How much house can I afford?” or “What kinds of maintenance do I need to do to my home each season?” Divided into four sections—“Buying, Maintaining, Upgrading, and Selling”—this book walks the reader through the whole process, from providing formulas to calculate an affordable mortgage to landscaping. (Willis provides tables that list names of shrubs and their growing regions.) Bold headers allow the reader to dip in to each section as needed. With a straightforward style and concrete advice—Willis doesn’t just tell you that you should interview your real estate agent or general contractor; she lists the questions you should ask—this book will help those who are completely new to the housing market approach the field with confidence. (Feb. 26)