I typically do not post reviews of my book on my own site. That would be narcissist, right? So, even though Serena Brown posted a great review (yes!) on her taylorbrownrealestatetalks December 1, it is the review itself which I founded interesting enough to discuss here. Yes, she liked the book, but who wouldn’t! (Oops, I should not say that….oh why not.) Back to the point- she dissected the table of contents of the book, which no reviewer has ever done, and I found that fascinating! What she did was go through each section in the table of contents and comment on the actual layout of the information and the order in which it was structured. Now why did I find this so interesting? A few reasons:

1. A how-to book should be placed in the proper order of how things are done. You need to understand step one, before you can do step five! In The New Rules for Mortgages, Chapter One is all about credit and FICO scores. If you do not have good credit, well then you know what you are up against right out of the gate.
2. Part of the process when I began writing was to study other books in my genre, including the TOC and flow of each one and deciding how to model the footprint of my book. I wound up figuring out my own layout design.
3. Studies show that a potential reader will look at the back of the book and then the TOC. If the TOC is not orderly or interesting, they will put the book down.
4. What Serena did not know was that I wrote the TOC first as an outline for the book. I painstakingly wrote out each heading and subheading on index cards and shifted the order until I felt I had a good footprint of the book. As I wrote each section, changes were made as to where things fit in better. Even as my copyeditor began his job, he suggested we change even more of the order. Before the draft was final, the TOC was tweaked and changed until each section was a baby-step in the process of getting a mortgage.
5. Lastly, I was simply thrilled that someone enjoyed the TOC as much as they did the book!

So, the reason why I posted Serena’s review of the book is because I feel the table of contents can be a very important part of a book as well as a tell tale sign of the author’s thinking and what lies ahead. This is why I spent weeks sorting out index cards (I still have them) before I even began the actual writing. So, the next time you go to buy a how-to book, really check out that TOC and think about what the author was planning for when they wrote it. Serena’s review is below:

“A Real Estate Broker Reviews New Rules for Mortgages

by Dale Robyn Siegel

Dale Robyn Siegel, the author of New Rules for Mortgages, utilized more than her professional experience to explain the new rules of acquiring a mortgage, but she utilizes technical aptitude andbusiness savvy that keeps the reader wanting to know more about the not so easily explained topic of mortgages. From the table of contents, the reader will be mesmerized by the organization and thought that went into answering the question of “what are the new rules of acquiring a mortgage”? The reader will learn just by reading the table of content that the credit score is the driving vehicle of acquiring a mortgage followed by income.Next, the reader will learn that the property or home matters. The author reveals tips on how to avoid over paying for home inspections and home appraisals while getting the home of your dreams. More importantly, the reader learns that he has a choice in mortgages. More often than not, the buyer is not giving choices, but told “this is the only product that available for your situation.The table of contents goes on through the process of purchasing a home up to the buyer receiving the keys that approach adds value and gives the buyer an educated view of the buying process as opposed to the “just sign here” approach.

You may be wondering why there were several paragraphs about the table of contents. Well, the table of contents conveyed to me if the writer understands the buying process. If the book started by talking about the mortgage products then that conveyed only a desire to give typical information; however, it starts at the level where the buyer starts at the credit score thereby conveying a desire to empower the buyer. As the old adage says “knowledge is power.” In the first few paragraphs and first few sentences of the book, Siegel continues on her quest to give the buyer power by revealing the origins of a mortgage. Next the reader learns how the credit score is used to reveal to the lender the level of risk associated to lending to a buyer.As a matter of a fact, the higher the credits score the lower the risk. This information believe it or not is one of the new rules of acquiring a mortgage because now a buyer can get a lower interest rate based on a higher credit score and the loan to value of the mortgage. The reader learns that latter approach is termed “tiered price ranging of a mortgage.” Before this change everyone that was approved got the same rate regardless of your score. Unlike most books written on the subject of mortgages, this writer empowers the reader with golden nuggets of information on the dos and don’ts pertaining to correcting bad credit and/or for maintaining good credit. The book continues to reveal obvious ways and some not so obvious ways to maintain good credit. For instance, most buyers may not know the weight that certain activities have on their credit. Siegel reveals the weight and what are good practices to utilize to take advantage of the weight. Still yet, the buyer is warned and given the reason why acquiring new credit during the buying process is frowned upon by the lender. Siegel realizes that most buyers do not realize that lenders view new credit as “credit stoppers”; therefore, she takes the opportunity to explain in a no nonsense matter how and why the lender feels that way about obtaining new credit in the middle of purchasing a home. The most important information in this book may be the tactics that are revealed to correct bad credit, and the information on how long those bad activities will affect the buyer’s ability to acquire a mortgage. Another equally important fact that the book reveals is how debt to income is used to ascertain the buyer’s qualification for the mortgage. This book is a must read for anyone looking to acquire a mortgage. Armed with the information and tips revealed in this book the buyer no longer have to feel that acquiring a mortgage is an “engagement” of war of the borrower against the “mysterious” mortgage rules.”