Courtney, a realtor with 26 years of experience and a weekly columnist for the Nashville City Paper
, offers an easy-to-read reality check for anyone contemplating a real estate transaction. In addition to buyers and sellers, this includes real estate agents who must manage their clients' expectations and counteract the "lying" of all the parties involved. Where buyers are concerned, he argues that lying to a realtor about such issues as how much you like a prospective house is self-defeating. Sellers, meanwhile, tend to be more delusional than untruthful about the attractiveness and value of their property. Courtney's chatty portrayal of both sides, along with the biases of their respective agents, provides a 360-degree view on topics ranging from open houses to credit scoring. While fairly evenhanded in his swipes at buyers and sellers, Courtney tends to portray realtors as superheroes who are overworked, very patient and only slightly prone to misstatements. In addition to dishing on the realities of residential transactions, Courtney is also realistic about foreclosures and flipping properties. Applying an insider's insights, he deflates the giddy fantasy of instant profit promised by so many other real estate books. (June)
