‘Homeowner’s Handbook’ Has Little Practical Advice

“The New Homeowner’s Handbook: What to Do After You Move In,” by Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane (Dearborn-Kaplan, 2000), $13.95, 148 pages.

“The New Homeowner’s Handbook” is a book that you know you should read, but you probably won’t. New and current homeowners could benefit from the book’s tips on how to preserve a residence, avoid problems and even enhance the home’s market value.

Unfortunately, this “homeowner’s manual” is not interesting, even though the topic is important. The book provides few practical, real-life examples and lots of preaching on things homeowners should do to maintain their residences, yet it lacks focus and direction.

Although quizzes and key questions along the way stimulate reader interest, most of the book is too basic. Of course, if you’ve never owned a home before and have no idea what to expect, this could be a profitable book for you. But it omits important topics, such as obtaining a one-year home warranty policy when buying a home.

This seems to be one of those “cookie-cutter” researched books, written by authors who have little practical experience with the topic. There is no evidence the authors have special expertise other than being professional book writers. They explain simple topics such as homeowner insurance, burglar alarms, home inspections (although they don’t explain how to find a top-quality inspector), home repairs and budgeting.

Along the way the book offers several checklists, including a home inventory and a list of tasks to do for seasonal preventive maintenance. Without these multipage checklists, this book would be pretty thin.

I got the feeling that the authors had a word or page quota and that they met it by padding with checklists and other space-consuming devices.

If ever there was a book without personality, this is it. There is no emotion and no sense that the authors know the subject. The surface treatment of most topics results in an impersonal book that makes relating to the authors difficult.

On my scale of one to 10, it rates only a five.