Review: Money Magazine’s “Real Estate 2014”

One Size Four Sizes Fit All

“Knowledge is good.”

–Inscription on statue at Faber College (fictional home of “Animal House”)

It’s hard to argue with good-but-generic advice like “price carefully,” “be prepared,” and “first impressions count.”

But, I otherwise didn’t glean anything especially insightful or useful from Money Magazine’s “2014 Real Estate Guide.”

And I never did find “The One Upgrade Owners Must Make” (trumpeted on the magazine cover).

Four (Just Four??) Types of Markets

Instead, what you’ll find in the article is a too-neat division of the national housing market into four categories:   1) “Booming Growth Cities”; 2) “Upscale Neighborhoods”; 3) “New Investor Favorites”; and 4) “Once Hot, Now Not.”

Each section is further broken into advice for Buyers, Sellers, and Owners, and burnished with statistics for half a dozen illustrative, local markets.

The one tidbit I endorse:  advising Buyers not to “go it alone.”

According to Money:

“A recent study found that Buyers of homes priced at more than $300k are more likely to try to negotiate the deal themselves than Buyers of more moderately-priced properties, says co-author Bennie Waller, professor of finance and real estate at Longwood University.  It doesn’t end well:  The DIYers end up paying an average of 9% more than those who use their own agent.”

Sounds about right to me . . .