| | Acknowledgments | p. xix |
| | About the Authors | p. xxi |
| | Introduction | p. 1 |
| | The Million-Dollar Question | p. 5 |
| | Our Homes Are Our Castles | p. 7 |
| | An Engine to Prosperity | p. 8 |
| | Uncle Sam Wants You to Be a Homeowner | p. 10 |
| | The Million-Dollar Question | p. 13 |
| | Slow and Steady Wins the Race | p. 15 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 15 |
| | Your Home is an Investment | p. 17 |
| | Investment Versus Speculation | p. 17 |
| | Your Home Dividend | p. 19 |
| | The Nifty Fifty | p. 23 |
| | Waiting to Buy | p. 24 |
| | It Is Hard to Time the Stock Market and Housing Market | p. 24 |
| | Taking the Long-Term View | p. 25 |
| | Don't Day Trade Homes | p. 26 |
| | Your Home Is an Investment | p. 29 |
| | A Home to Call Their Own | p. 29 |
| | Look at the Whole Picture | p. 30 |
| | What Am I Supposed to Look at Again? | p. 31 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 32 |
| | Now is a Good Time to Own a Home | p. 33 |
| | A Home in Fishers, Indiana | p. 34 |
| | Cash is King | p. 38 |
| | The Lynch's Southern California Home | p. 43 |
| | Your Home Is Not an ATM | p. 46 |
| | The Millionaire Paupers | p. 47 |
| | Housing as a Portfolio Decision | p. 49 |
| | Homes North, South, East, and West | p. 51 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 54 |
| | Finding a Home and Closing the Deal | p. 55 |
| | How Much Home Can You Afford? | p. 55 |
| | How to Choose a Home | p. 59 |
| | How to Choose a Realtor | p. 61 |
| | Is the Price Right? | p. 63 |
| | This House Will Be Sold on November 11 | p. 63 |
| | The 6 Percent Fortress | p. 64 |
| | Moving Merchandise | p. 67 |
| | Happy Clients | p. 69 |
| | The Closer | p. 70 |
| | The Times They Are a Changing | p. 70 |
| | Match This | p. 72 |
| | Realtors: Can't Live With Them or Without Them | p. 72 |
| | Negotiating Boldly | p. 74 |
| | Good Things Come to Those Who Wait | p. 75 |
| | Regression to the Mean | p. 76 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 78 |
| | Debt Doesn't Have to Be a Four-Letter Word | p. 79 |
| | Using Loans to Live Beyond Your Means | p. 80 |
| | How to Invest Like Warren Buffett | p. 81 |
| | Loans Create Leverage | p. 82 |
| | Leverage + Compounding = Wow! | p. 84 |
| | Loan Payments | p. 85 |
| | The Unpaid Balance | p. 85 |
| | Comparing Loans: The Total-Payments Error | p. 87 |
| | The Right Way to Think About Loans | p. 88 |
| | Bad News, You Won the Lottery | p. 89 |
| | Can You Make Money Borrowing at 12 Percent to Invest at 7 Percent? | p. 90 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 91 |
| | Choosing the Right Mortgage | p. 93 |
| | Finding a Lender | p. 93 |
| | Getting Preapproved | p. 95 |
| | Saving for Your Down Payment | p. 97 |
| | Mortgage Terms | p. 101 |
| | Mortgage Rates | p. 102 |
| | Anchoring | p. 103 |
| | Mortgage Points | p. 107 |
| | Sure, I'll Lend You Money | p. 109 |
| | 30-Years, 15-Years, or? | p. 109 |
| | Adjustable Rate Loans | p. 110 |
| | Creative Financing | p. 113 |
| | Buying a House with Creative Financing | p. 114 |
| | Biweekly Mortgages | p. 115 |
| | Graduated Payment Loans | p. 116 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 119 |
| | Refinancing and Home Equity Loans | p. 121 |
| | Heads You Win, Tails I Lose | p. 121 |
| | Prepayment Penalties | p. 123 |
| | Does Refinancing Pay? | p. 123 |
| | The Break-Even Refinancing Rate | p. 124 |
| | Wake Up, Little Susie | p. 126 |
| | The Time Value of What? | p. 126 |
| | Mental Accounting | p. 128 |
| | You Can Sell Your Home Without Selling Your Home | p. 129 |
| | Say No to Credit-Card Debt | p. 130 |
| | One Way to Pay for College | p. 131 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 132 |
| | Remodeling | p. 133 |
| | Sunk Costs | p. 133 |
| | Does Remodeling Pay for Itself? | p. 135 |
| | Remodel Sooner, Not Later | p. 139 |
| | Make It Bigger, Not Better | p. 140 |
| | What's a Remodeling Project Really Worth? | p. 141 |
| | Leaky Windows | p. 144 |
| | I'd Rather Do It Myself | p. 145 |
| | Paying By the Job or By the Hour? | p. 147 |
| | The Big Job in Waltham | p. 147 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 148 |
| | Rental Properties and Vacation Homes | p. 151 |
| | You Used to Pay the Landlord, Now You Are the Landlord | p. 151 |
| | Adverse Selection | p. 152 |
| | Moral Hazard | p. 152 |
| | Long-Distance Landlords | p. 154 |
| | Ah, the Tax Code | p. 156 |
| | Fishers, Indiana, Again | p. 156 |
| | If I Bought It, It Must be Worth the Price I Paid | p. 160 |
| | A Home with Two Rentals | p. 161 |
| | Those Darn Taxes | p. 162 |
| | The Investment Value of a Vacation Home | p. 163 |
| | The Bi-Coastal Renkens | p. 165 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 166 |
| | Letting Your Home Take Care of You | p. 167 |
| | HRAs | p. 167 |
| | Life Is a Journey: From Porterville and Indio to Thatcher | p. 170 |
| | Should You Raid Your IRA to Pay Off Your Mortgage? | p. 171 |
| | Reverse Annuity Mortgages | p. 173 |
| | Grandma Ford | p. 173 |
| | What Do I Owe You? | p. 175 |
| | RAMed by a RAM? | p. 176 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 177 |
| | Selling Your Home | p. 179 |
| | Home Dividends, Again | p. 180 |
| | Curb Appeal | p. 181 |
| | Clean It Up! | p. 182 |
| | Pictures on the Wall | p. 183 |
| | Loss Aversion | p. 184 |
| | Waiting for the Right Price | p. 186 |
| | Our Price Is Firm, But the Terms Are Negotiable | p. 187 |
| | The Bottom Line | p. 187 |
| | Afterword | p. 189 |
| | An Owner-Occupied Home in Fishers, Indiana | p. 191 |
| | A Rental Home in Fishers, Indiana | p. 195 |
| | Your Home | p. 199 |
| | Index | p. 205 |