Say goodbye to landlords and laundromats with Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home. This timely title will help you find the right place to live and invest in -- and even have fun doing it. First Time Home Buyer.
Filled with interesting facts, real-life stories and common pitfalls to avoid, this book provides everything you need to select the right house, the right mortgage, the right agent, the right inspections -- and much more. Get the inside scoop on:
*deciding between a house, condo, co-op or townhouse
*exploring your local market for the best value
*qualifying for and lining up financing
*getting the right inspections and insurance
*negotiating with sellers or new home builders
*successfully closing the deal
Read through the real-world experiences of over 20 first-time homebuyers, as well as valuable insights from a team of 13 real estate professionals, including:
*brokers
*attorneys who specialize in real estate
*a home inspector
*a neighborhood researcher
*a mortgage specialist
*and more!
Along with this step-by-step handbook, you'll get The Homebuyer's Toolkit, a CD-ROM that includes dozens of forms and MP3s which will help you find the right place, crunch the numbers, interview real estate professionals, and even borrow down payment money from your parents. First Time Home Buyer.
The brand new 2nd edition of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home is fully updated to reflect the dramatically changing housing market and includes new information on buying foreclosed and bank-owned properties, including what to look for when you're considering these types of homes. You'll get the most up-to-date information on the increasingly strict mortgage market, plus additional tips on how to "green" your new home.
*exploring your local market for the best value
*qualifying for and lining up financing
*getting the right inspections and insurance
*negotiating with sellers or new home builders
*successfully closing the deal
Read through the real-world experiences of over 20 first-time homebuyers, as well as valuable insights from a team of 13 real estate professionals, including:
*brokers
*attorneys who specialize in real estate
*a home inspector
*a neighborhood researcher
*a mortgage specialist
*and more!
Along with this step-by-step handbook, you'll get The Homebuyer's Toolkit, a CD-ROM that includes dozens of forms and MP3s which will help you find the right place, crunch the numbers, interview real estate professionals, and even borrow down payment money from your parents. First Time Home Buyer.
The brand new 2nd edition of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home is fully updated to reflect the dramatically changing housing market and includes new information on buying foreclosed and bank-owned properties, including what to look for when you're considering these types of homes. You'll get the most up-to-date information on the increasingly strict mortgage market, plus additional tips on how to "green" your new home.
Review
If you are looking for authoritative information about virtually every important home-purchase topic, you won't find a better easy-to-read resource than this up-to-date book. (The Boston Globe 20090101)Nolo's excellent guide for novice home buyers provides fresh, updated information about the whole process that even those in the know will find useful. (Library Journal 20090101)
A must-have for any new homebuyer. Empower yourself by informing yourself! (Heidi Baker BeJane.com 20090101)
A must-have for any new homebuyer. Empower yourself by informing yourself! (Eden Jarrin BeJane.com 20080508)
The authors managed to keep the reading light, using lots of examples and sidebars, to avoid reader boredom. On my scale of one to 10, this superb new book rates an off-the-chart 12. (Robert Bruss, Nationally Syndicated Real Estate Columnist 20090101)
Coming from a gal that knows tools, this book is a must-have tool for any home buyer. (Norma Vally, Host of Toolbelt Diva, Discovery Home Channel 20090101)
Like having over a dozen real estate experts over for dinner. (Steve Kropper, President, Founder Bank on Real Estate, Domania.com )
Takes the guesswork out of home buying... two thumbs up! (Elizabeth Weintraub About.com, Home Buying & Selling Guide )
I am just starting to research what's involved in purchasing a first home. I found this book to be very helpful in providing a landscape of what is involved, but you should supplement it with more specific books, particularly around mortgages.
The book starts out by having you evaluate what you want in a home, and prioritizing the features. It tells you how to research neighborhoods, ok this is pretty city-centric but they are trying to reach a wide audience. It explains the various professionals involved in each stage of the process, provides forms for interviewing them, and explains what they should provide. It continues to walk you through the inspections, negotiations and closings.
The book is easy to read, but let's face it, the purchase process is complex, and I found myself re-reading some sections discussing the many forms and insurance options. There are some quirky sidebars that are of questionable value (songs about houses, a cookie recipe) but they do add some levity. First Time Home Buyer.
Where the book fell a little short was the mortgage discussion. The first book I read "Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers: An Industry Insider Explains How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage or Re-Finance" covers this in great detail, and I highly recommend it as supplemental reading. It will explain in detail the junk fees that are mentioned in this book.
The forms included in the book have varying degrees of usefulness, but the interview and inspection forms are gold. A number of websites are listed throughout the book, and will save you from having to Google for the information.
Overall I'm happy with this book, and plan to reference it throughout the purchase process.
I started looking at buying my first house many months ago and realized that the conflicting and often spotty advise I would get from friends and family wasn't enough. I needed a book to guide me and fill in the gaps (of which there were many).
I figured a "Home Buying for Dummies" type book was what I needed, but I didn't stop there and thumbed through almost a dozen home buying books at the local store before finding this gem by Nolo.
This was the ONLY book that guides you through the process, taking logical, simple steps while interjecting real-world experiences from different people.
It's written in a manner that appeals to just about everyone, explaining how to find a good agent (or save yourself on closing costs by using an online broker), what you should REALLY look for when finding the house that's right for you, all the way through closing, and even what's involved afterwards!
Buying a home can be stressful and overwhelming, but this book really made things quite easy. I can't think of a single home buying related subject that it doesn't cover. If you are buying your first house, this book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
For me, because this is the only first-time buyer's guide that discusses in detail issues around getting a personal gift or personal loan towards purchasing a home, it already deserves 5 stars. First Time Home Buyer.
But it's more than just that. This is a very comprehensive guide with a helpful accompanying CD-ROM. The materials are organized clearly and presented in an easy-to-understand manner. I had read other guides such as the Dummies one which tended to be really verbose and confusing. This book stands out as a highly useable companion as you search and purchase your first home (and as you deal with real estate agents and lawyers).
Very highly recommended.
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