the home will call into existence between him and the contractors and materialmen. He does not know the proper and customary rate charged by real estate brokers for their services or what services it is necessary for them to perform before their fees become fixed and payable. He is not clear whether the fee of the broker is to be paid by the purchaser of the land or by the seller. He is probably ignorant of the fact that a broker may well earn his fee and be entitled to recover it, notwithstanding the fact that the title to the property, for some reason, does not change hands after he has negotiated the sale. Again, the ordinary layman is woefully ignorant of the provisions which should and which should not be included in the contract of sale. In many cases, he does not know that any such contract is customary or that it is necessary to enter into any agreement prior to the passing of title. He has no knowledge of the relation which the contract of sale bears to the title which he is to receive or the immense importance which may attach to exceptions or restrictions specified in the sale contract and the bearing which these may have upon the title to his property. He has a very slight knowledge of the steps preliminary to the closing of title, the functions which title companies perform, the extent of the protection which they give to him or the best way of availing himself of the service which they provide. He has no distinct understanding of the different kinds of deeds commonly in use or the difference between a bargain and sale deed, a quit-claim deed, and a full-covenant and warranty deed. The words "special assessments" mean little to him if he has not been the holder of real estate theretofore. He is ignorant of the basis and theory upon which they are assessed or the effect which they may have upon property adjacent to, or within the vicinity of, the local improvement in connection with which they are made. He knows that real estate is subject to taxation and that taxes are assessed upon it, but in all likelihood has no clear conception of the theory of real estate taxation or the basis on which assessments are commonly made and confirmed. During the year 1924, I contributed to Country Life a series of articles which were published under the title "Acquiring the Home." The purpose of these was to outline, in a simple but reasonably comprehensive way, the relationships of the owner and home builder to his architect and to his contractor and to give to him, if possible, an understanding of the funda mental considerations involved in the purchase of real estate and in the building of the home. The following pages are based largely upon the foregoing articles. The latter have been revised and new material has been added to cover points of which, in the limited space of the serial publication, it was impossible to treat. As indicated in the text, no attempt has been made to provide a guide which shall take the place either of proper architectural advice or of proper legal advice. My purpose has been rather to set before intending home owners a brief outline of the main points to which they must, or with profit may, give attention in the process of acquiring the home; to point out to them, in general, the chief considerations which they must have in mind and the course which it will be advisable for them to follow in their dealings with architect and contractor and in the purchase of real property. The book is not intended in any way as a reference work for lawyers or for the guidance of architects. The rights and liabilities of architect, owner, and contractor and the problems of the practising architect I have already had occasion to consider in their respective aspects in "The Law of Architecture and Building" and "The Architect's Law Manual." The present work is directed solely and entirely to the ordinary home builder. It has no more ambitious aim than to give to him, if possible, a general outline of the questions which he should consider and the points which he should understand, if he would purchase or build his home with reasonable foresight and advantage. I am quite conscious of the fact that many of the questions discussed might be treated in much greater detail. To do so would, however, materially change the purpose of the book and tend to make it a technical work of reference rather than an informal and reasonably brief discussion of the subject involved. I have tried to present the material in a sufficiently simple way, so that the layman can grasp the points which are under consideration and, without too much effort, secure a bird's-eye view, as it were, of the problem in which he is interested. If the ordinary home purchaser to-day understood, even to a reasonable extent, the fundamentals involved in the purchase of real property and the erection of the home, a vast saving would be effected in the loss incident to disputes between architects and owners, on the one hand, and between owners and contractors on the |