Washington — The advice rarely changes, but book publishers keep cranking it out.
There's always a new crop of people wanting to buy or sell homes, or fix up the ones they have. As long as those folks exist, so will demand for real estate books that tell them what to do and when.
Because the target audience at any time is small, real estate titles make up less than 1 percent of total sales for adult nonfiction books. Nonetheless, there are plenty to choose from - about 32,000 on Amazon.com alone. And there is money to be made on those rare occasions when a real estate book becomes a bestseller.
However, if "bestseller" evokes images of 1 million-plus books flying off the shelves Harry Potter-style, think again. The top-selling real estate book so far this year - "Find It, Fix It, Flip It! Make Millions in Real Estate One House at a Time" - has sold 31,000 copies since January, according to Nielsen BookScan, which tracks publishing industry sales.
So what should you consider when looking for advice about what could be some very expensive decisions? Should you judge a book by its cover? By the star power of its author? By its high-profile placement in the store?
Making an impression on the consumer becomes easier if a publisher sinks a lot of money into promoting a book. A major publishing house is most likely to do that if the author has a platform: a television show, a popular Web site or a following that makes the person recognizable.
Heartthrob as author
Case in point: Michael Corbett, author of "Find It, Fix It, Flip It!" Yes, he's a real estate entrepreneur with many years of experience flipping houses. But he's also a onetime soap opera heartthrob (David Kimball on "The Young and the Restless"), as well as a host of the nationally syndicated television news magazine "Extra's Mansions and Millionaires."
Without that kind of platform, trying to sell a real estate book to an agent, a publisher and ultimately a reader can be a real pain, said author Danielle Babb.
Babb sent 300 queries to agents for her first book, "Commissions at Risk." She got two responses, one from the literary agent she now works with. It took that agent three months to find a publisher for her work, Babb said.
Signing other deals became easier after her first book was in print. But Babb said her big break came this year, when RealtyTrac, which operates a Web site with foreclosure listings, agreed to partner with her and promote her most recent book to its 3 million subscribers. In return, the company gets a cut of book sales.
Having access to RealtyTrac's customer base motivated her publisher to put money into promoting her book, "Finding Foreclosures: An Insider's Guide to Cashing In on This Hidden Market."
The publisher hired two public relations firms, which landed her several television appearances - and voila! "I can now say I have a platform," Babb said. "I signed a new book deal in 24 hours this week. ... For the first time, the advance is making it worth writing the book."
Whether any particular book is worth it to the consumer is another story.
Most books sell by word of mouth, so it makes sense to start by looking for perennial favorites that have been printed and reprinted, said Peter Knapp, marketing director at the publishing firm John Wiley & Sons, which has produced a number of real estate books.
"Those are the books with a strong track record," Knapp said. "If you see a book in its third or fourth edition, you know it's been out there a while and it's been selling well enough that the publisher and author have revised it and the stores want to sell it again. ... And with each update, authors can make improvements."
Author's credentials
But do not limit yourself to looking at the old reliables or the new books at the front of a store. Go farther back. Scan the real estate section. If there's a book you want but can't find, search for it online. Amazon.com and the Web sites of major book retailers sell books for a long time after they vanish from store shelves.
Whatever book strikes your fancy, look at the author's biography before buying it, said Scott Mendel, a literary agent in Manhattan, N.Y. Concentrate on the writer's background and credentials.
"With books that offer advice that can change your life, it's incredibly important that you're reading something by somebody who has spent years building expertise and not reading the flavor-of-the-moment advice book," he said.
Pay equal attention to the author's motivations, said Eric Tyson, a longtime financial planner and co-author of "Home Buying for Dummies" and "Real Estate Investing for Dummies," two of the best-selling books in the real estate genre.
Be especially wary of the increasingly popular get-rich-quick books, Tyson said. Many of these are devoted to flipping houses or, more recently, cashing in on foreclosures.
Not always accurate
Do not assume that the methods endorsed by these books are legal or that the purported facts are correct, he said. Publishers edit books, but many do not check them for accuracy. "A lot of publishers are not looking at whether the person writing the book is qualified," Tyson said.
Problems with a book's accuracy or any other aspect often surface on the Web, mostly on blogs or in chat rooms, which are worth checking out.
Consider all these things - and then rely on your gut reaction to a book, one expert says. Read its introduction and acknowledgments, look at its table of contents, and skim its pages. Does it bore you to tears? Does it overwhelm you with its density?
And remember, there's no substitute for advice you get from talking to other consumers and professionals - and most of that is free, said Marcia Griffin, president of HomeFree-USA, a nonprofit group that helps educate people about the home-buying process.
Skim through books and purchase them if you want to, Griffin said. But keep in mind that plenty of basic information about buying a home, if that's what you need, is available from Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, the Federal Reserve, the Mortgage Bankers Association and other entities.
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