NAREE Announces Winners of the 14th Annual Bruss Real Estate Book Awards at its Miami Journalism Conference.

Miami – (December 9, 2021) The National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE) has named the winners of the 14th Annual Robert Bruss Real Estate Book Awards Competition. The awards recognize excellence in books published in 2020 covering the broad field of real estate.  NAREE President Jeff Collins of the Orange County Register presented the awards during NAREE's 55th Annual Real Estate Journalism conference held in Miami, Fla., in December. Here are the winners and the judges’ comments:

Conor Dougherty, who wrote “Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream” - Penguin Books, has tied for the Leigh Robinson First-Time Author Award, with co-authors Ronda Kaysen and Michelle Higgins, who wrote "The New York Times Right at Home: How to Buy, Decorate, Organize and Maintain Your Space” - Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. 

Judges’ comment for Dougherty: "Important and hugely readable. America’s housing crisis is broad and complex. The author explores it with a skilled reporter’s storytelling. He looks at how we got here." 

Judges’ comment for Kaysen and Higgins: "This book is nearly perfect for a new would-be homebuyer. It’s clear, thorough, and highly readable. Although it covers well-trodden ground, it’s rich with contemporary tips like writing letters to sellers to win out in a bidding war and scoping out homes before they hit the market.”  

The Bronze Award went to Brian Burke for "The Hands-Off Investor: An Insider's Guide to Investing in Passive Real Estate Syndications" – BiggerPockets Publishing.

Judges’ comment: “Valuable tool for passive investors. Good starting place and helpful reference for those with more experience.”

Jamie Gold took NAREE’S Silver Award for her book "Wellness by Design" – Tiller Press.

Judges’ comment: “The author is a space designer versus a real estate professional, and she has produced a lovely eye-candy book – could be coffee-table material yet happens to be loaded with wisdom. She gives a good examination of emerging trends geared toward younger readers, with lots of emphasis on spaces for workouts for athletes, while including information valuable to seniors and people with disabilities.”

Author Ryan Dezember, who wrote “Underwater: How Our American Dream of Homeownership Became a Nightmare,” published by Thomas Dunne Books, won top honors, NAREE’S Gold Award.

Judges’ comment: "This book combines a journalist’s skilled storytelling with his personal and relatable saga. Valuable information for readers: The housing crash of 2007-08 gave investors a blank check as they got hungry for houses. They even built new ones to rent, because so many people could not afford to buy. Well-documented, such as statistics on homeownership at certain ages. Loved the comments: ‘bland as an egg inside and out.’ And ‘They never sing songs about a pile of rent receipts.’”

NAREE's esteemed panel of judges has many decades of experience as editors. Allen Norwood is a freelance writer and former editor of the Charlotte Observer. 

Stephanie Murphy-Lupo is the author of several books and a former newspaper editor, columnist and writer for the Palm Beach Daily News and Boca Raton News. 

June Fletcher is a former reporter, editor and author who wrote for the Wall Street Journal, Builder magazine and the Naples Daily News. Her book “House Poor” was published by HarperCollins.  

NAREE's Bruss Book Awards program is named for the late Robert Bruss, a former syndicated real estate columnist, prolific writer, and longtime NAREE leader. Bruss wrote reviews of realty books. The Bruss Book Awards are sponsored by NAREE past presidents, including the late Leigh Robinson, founder of Express Publishing and author of "Landlording," and Brad Inman, founder of Inman News.

NAREE's Annual Robert Bruss Book Awards program is open to all authors who have written hardcover and paperback books and e-books on real estate-related topics. Books about home buying and selling, mixed-used development, urban and suburban redevelopment, green building, architecture, international real estate, finance, and mortgage lending, among others, are eligible. 

Past winners have included full-time authors, journalists, thought-leaders from academia, real estate economists, and home and urban design-world visionaries. 

Entry forms for NAREE's 15th Annual Bruss Book Awards program can be accessed on naree.org beginning Feb.1, 2022. The deadline to enter a book published in print or digitally in 2022 is May 1, 2022. 

NAREE, a nonprofit association celebrating 92 years of service to real estate writers, editors, columnists, reporters, and producers, was founded in 1929.

Contact NAREE Executive Director Mary Doyle-Kimball at mdkimball@naree.org and/or 561-391-1983.