How To Be A Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property

How to Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property shows you the ways to learn the value and liabilities of rural real estate-second homes, farms, undeveloped land, timberland and investment property. This book is written for buyers, not sellers. It's designed to give you the knowledge to buy at the right price and avoid post-purchase surprises. Most decisions to buy or not buy are made impulsively within 30 minutes of the buyer's first visit. Dirt-Smart shows you how to use your brain to protect your pocketbook from your heart. This book will save you thousands upfront and make you money down the road.

Customer Reviews:

An essential resource for buying country property

By Dan E. Moldea - April 16, 2007

Curtis Seltzer's book, How To Be a Dirt-Smart Buyer of Country Property, delivers. It shows readers how to protect themselves when buying country property.

It's a comprehensive reference book with a long shelf life. While state and federal regulations will change, Seltzer's basic approach to researching the risks in property and determining its value will never be out of date.

I never knew there was so much to know about farms, second homes and timber land--not to mention purchase-offer contracts, borrowing, lawyers, lenders, foresters, surveyors, contractors, inspectors, real estate brokers and sellers.

This is a huge book, but Seltzer makes the reading easy. He includes lots of personal experience and anecdotes from his consulting practice. He's also a very funny guy.

If you're looking for country property, buy this book first.

Insightful and indispensable

By Autodidact - August 27, 2010

Really glad I bought this massive tome that is packed with information, written in an accessible and humorous way, and if nothing else does much to readjust my expectations as a lifetime sub/urbanite fantasizing about escaping to 100 acres of total silence and peace. Much of the book is dedicated to issues related to farming, which has never been much on my mind, and after reading these chapters will never be on my mind. However, it never occurred to me that I could finance my land purchase through rental and there is a lot of information on that as well.

Essential reference for buying land

By Alan T. Crane - January 17, 2009

Even if you are just thinking about someday thinking about buying country property, get this book. It is a gold mine of information that will help you make up your mind about whether country property is for you. And it is great fun reading too. Then if you do decide to go ahead, it may save its cost many 1000 times over by steering you around potential problems.