Author’s Acknowledgments

No book ever is written alone. Even if it’s a work of pure fiction that comes straight from an author’s imagination, other people still must inspire that imagination, teach the author the discipline to write it all down, support and encourage the author’s writing, and generally take care of business while the author writes. It’s those people, past and present, whom I want to acknowledge.

For this revised edition I’d like to thank Lindsay Lefevere for initiating the project and Chad Sievers, the editor. I’d also like to thank my technical editor, Becky Rogers, real estate professional.

Many people are connected to the chain between the idea for a book and its production. Without my agent, Grace Freedson, this project never would’ve happened for me. Thanks, Grace, for that first phone call 16 years ago, for keeping me in your address book, for getting me this project, and representing my interests through this and other books.

Who I am today is in no small measure the result of the influence of a few very important people in my life. First of all I want to thank my parents, John and Angela, for giving me the education to get where I’ve gotten. I regret that my father, for whom education was an unfulfilled dream during his lifetime, is not here to see his son’s name on the cover of a book. As an educator, I value the role teachers play in their students’ lives, so it’s with great humility that I attest to the inspirations that Remo Ianucci and Perry Norton were in my life.

On the professional side, I want to thank my fellow members of the Real Estate Educators Association for all their knowledge and willingness to share it. In particular, I want to express my appreciation to Eileen Taus, director of education with the Hudson Gateway Association of Realtors. She gave a fledgling instructor his first real estate teaching job and since then has served as mentor and cheerleader. I also want to thank my friend Richard O’Donnell for being there (as always) with his expertise when I needed answers to questions for the chapter about taxes. I also want to thank all the students I’ve taught over the years. It was a rare class that I did not learn something from them.

While writing the different editions of this book, my friends and extended family were supportive, encouraging, and wonderfully patient I want to thank them all: Dr. John Paulmann, Victor and Gloria Consiglio, Greg and Janice Arcaro, They never failed to ask how the book was going and were enthusiastic in the most supportive of ways — as if the project were their own, listening patiently as I ruminated about the joys and pressures of writing a book. Thanks, pals. You’re the best.

The most important thanks go to my family: my children Alex and his wife Porscha, my daughter Angelique and her husband Joseph Capozzi, both talented writers in their own right, for their enthusiasm and love; Christine, who someday may read this and know that her father is thinking about her; and Jennifer, who is always with me. I also want to acknowledge my grandsons Alexander, Aydin, Anthony, and Gavin. Someday they will be old enough to know that they were never far from their grandfather’s thoughts while he worked on this book.

Finally, I want to thank my wife, Marina. Her support and enthusiasm for this project never wavered, even as she was rearranging our lives around my writing. You wouldn’t be reading this book if it weren’t for her.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

Executive Editor: Lindsay Lefevere

Project Editor and Copy Editor: Chad R. Sievers

Technical Editor: Becky Rogers

Production Editor: Mohammed Zafar Ali

Cover Photos: © Kenishirotie/Shutterstock