Second Homes For Dummies

Bridget McCrea is a former real estate agent who, for the last 12 years, has run her own Florida-based freelance writing company, Expert Writing Services, Inc. She specializes in business topics and, because of her background, spends a good deal of her time writing about real estate-related topics for magazines such as REALTOR Magazine, Florida Realtor, The Residential Specialist, and Log Home Living. Bridget has also penned a few books along the way, including The Real Estate Agent's Field Guide, The Home Buyer's Question and Answer Book, The Real Estate Agent's Business Planner, and the RE/MAX Guide to Buying a Home. She's shared her home-buying expertise on various radio programs and Web sites, and is herself a homeowner who, until recently, also owned a rental home out of state. Hunkered down in her Florida home office for most of the day and night, Bridget does break away from her desk now and then to work out at the gym and run 5K road races on a regular basis. She's now thinking seriously about training her 12-year-old daughter, Catie, to take over her business so she can put down the pen, turn off the computer, buy a vacation home on Maui, and get a life outside of work. So far, Catie has been somewhat noncommittal about giving up soccer and homework to be a CEO. Stephen Spignesi is a full-time writer and editor and the author of 40 nonfiction books and one acclaimed debut novel, Dialogues (Bantam). His books include The New York Times bestseller, J.F.K. Jr., five books about Stephen King, three books about the Beatles, and several books about world and American history, pop culture, the paranormal, true crime, TV, movies, cooking, natural disasters, Italian historical figures, cats, and contemporary fiction. Stephen's most recent book is George Washington's Leadership Lessons (published by Wiley), written with James Rees, the executive director of George Washington's Mount Vernon. Stephen lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Pam, and their beloved and brilliant cat, Carter.

Introduction. Part I: Seeing a Second Home in Your Future. Chapter 1: The Lowdown on Buying and Owning a Second Home. Chapter 2: Figuring Out Whether You Can Afford a Second Home. Chapter 3: Considering Your Second-Home Options. Chapter 4: A Second Home Is All about Location. Part II: Searching for Your New Home and Sealing the Deal. Chapter 5: In Search of the Perfect Second Home: What You Can Do. Chapter 6: Relying on the Experts When Buying Your Second Home. Chapter 7: Inspecting Your Second Home before You Sign on the Dotted Line. Chapter 8: Financing Your Second Home and Closing the Deal. Chapter 9: Thinking Like a Global Home Buyer. Part III: Making Your Second Home a Smart Investment. Chapter 10: Setting Up Your New Digs. Chapter 11; Renting Out Your Second Home to Pay for Itself . Chapter 12; Investing in Your Investment: Renovations That Pay Off. Chapter 13: Handling the Maintenance and Upkeep on Your Second Home. Chapter 14: What Uncle Sam Wants to Know: Important Tax Implications. Part IV: Home, Sweet Home: Retiring to Your Second Home. Chapter 15: From Landlord to Resident: Living Permanently in Your Second Home. Chapter 16: Selling Your Primary Residence and Settling into Your Second Home. Chapter 17: Protecting Your Home for the Future. Part V: The Part of Tens. Chapter 18: Ten Popular Second-Home Locations. Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Make Your Second Home First-Rate. Chapter 20: Ten Rules Your Friends and Family Must Follow When Using Your Home. Glossary. Index.