The Confident House Hunter: A Home Inspector's Tips for Finding Your Perfect House

by Dylan Chalk

With a zillion houses out there, find your perfect home in the midst of imperfection. In The Confident House Hunter, home inspector Dylan Chalk weaves over a decade of home inspection experience into stories and tips with easy-to-understand language, teaching homebuyers and real estate professionals how to look at and understand houses like a pro. Winner of the 2017 Robert Bruss Real Estate Book Silver Award.

Genres: Nonfiction

353 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 12, 2016

Reviews

[Dylan Chalk · Rating 5 out of 5]

OK. I feel funny writing a review of my own book, but maybe it will help shed some light on what I was trying to accomplish as well as start a conversation about a topic I enjoy.... houses. I have worked with thousands of home buyers over the last 14 years and I started to see that we (house consumers) are generally unprepared for looking at and understanding the largest purchases of our lives - our houses. I read most of the home inspection books and home buying books and I found that none of them really helped create a philosophy of how to look at a house and understand what you are seeing. Some books teach you to be a home inspector. Other books explain the process of home buying such as finding an agent and a lender.... I never found a book that helped you learn to look at houses and prepare you for comparing and contrasting them with each other; which is what you need to be able to do as a home buyer. In searching for models for this book, I was deeply influenced by How to Win Friends and Influence People.... I love that book. I don't consider it a "sales" book as much as philosophy about how people work. I wanted to write a philosophy about how houses work and the result is... The Confident House Hunter: A Home Inspector's Tips for Finding Your Perfect House. After many years of inspecting houses, I found that the best way to explain technical subjects to my home buying clients was to tell them stories. I love stores and tried to weave as many as I could into a book that also tries to convey a manageable amount of technical detail. I wanted the book to be easy and fun to read; my goal was a pleasant two day read with at least a little bit of mild humor thrown in.... life is too short to take everything too seriously. I hope you find this book surprisingly enjoyable to read and helpful in your pursuit of home ownership!

[Nick Nyberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good book to read if you are looking to buy a home. It helped me feel more confident when looking at potential homes to buy!

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Confident House Hunter: A Home Inspector's Tips for Finding Your Perfect House was written by Dylan Chalk. Mr. Chalk has performed over 5000 home inspections.

The Confident House Hunter covers everything you need to look for when buying a house. I bought this book because I plan on buying my first house in about a year. This book will be helpful in knowing what to watch out for.

[Denise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really nice little book, solid information that's well presented, and a calm, friendly, non-condescending and humorous tone, which is actually a really, really hard writing trick to pull in a non-fiction book of this sort. Certainly the best home-buying book I've read so far.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't finish this book, but that's only because we decided to wait another year until we seriously start looking for a house. I will definitely be checking it out again next year and reading it all then. From the little I did read: there is so much good information in this book written by someone who knows what they're talking about and isn't trying to push me in any direction or sell me something. To current home owners some of it may be "well, duh" but for first time buyers it tells you about and reminds you about things you may not have been factoring into your hunting and costs.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of useful information and I expect I will get a copy for myself and return to it plenty in the future. Cannot give full marks due to poor copyediting and uneven levels of explanation for terms that people who aren't trained house inspectors might not recognize or understand. Once I have a copy that doesn't need to be returned to the library I'll be writing definitions in the margins (OSB, MDF, ...). Photos were also so small and lacking in helpful annotations that they didn't add much to the book. Overall a very useful resource and I do feel I learned a lot.

[Steph Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book you can get if you are buying a house. Clear language, photos and not incredibly long. It was SUPER useful to me as I was home shopping solo (the hubby was still out of state). I found I was able to ask intelligent questions and spot all kinds of warning signs when looking at houses that I would not have noticed prior to reading this book. In the current market, educating yourself as a buyer is a must and this book does it really well. If you are shopping, buy this book.

[Daniel Sinisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read for home buyers

This book helped me gain some information of things to look for when looking at homes. The author makes it clear that you won't become a home inspector by reading this, but you will have more knowledge than before you read this book. He doesn't make it complicated either. Lots of helpful information. Great read for someone looking to buy a home!

[Alessandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a phenomenal collection of resources and information for anyone looking into evaluating homes in a systematic, accurate, and efficient way. I learned so much! Very digestible regardless of your familiarity level.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful review of homes, their systems and what to look for in buying a home.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Made me look at houses differed after just two chapters. Would recommend to anyone looking for a new home to help make intelligent decisions on one of the greatest investments they will ever make.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely worth a re-read and reference when I get around to condo hunting.

[Anie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This was a great book - chock full of information and really engaging.

[Merritt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Confident House Hunter: A Home Inspector's Tips for Finding Your Perfect House

This is a must have book! Written by a very experienced and trusted home inspector. A home buyer at any stage of life could use this knowledge when searching for their next home. I would also use this during my next remodel. Since much of our income is in improving houses, I'd like to use it to make sure that what we're investing in while remodeling will produce a favorable home inspection report when we go to sell my home. Get the most money from our investment. I would give this book to anyone about to hunt for or to sell their home.