14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fantastic resource, May 18, 2008
This review is from: The Smart Consumer's Guide to Home Buying (Barron's Smart Consumer Guides) (Paperback)
I bought my first home in 1963. I have bought and sold homes four times since, so I have gone through the exercise five times. I thought I had a pretty good comprehension of the process, but reading this book tells me that I was probably aware of less than 50% of important details that are not apparent to the average consumer. This book is crammed with ideas, scenarios, guidance, and caveats, some of them expressed in extreme detail. The financial guidance and calculation worksheets alone are worth the price of the book. This book should be in the hands of every homebuyer, including first timers and experienced ones such as I. My next move will likely be to a downsized residence. I will definitely use some of the planning techniques to allow my wife and me to prioritize our true needs.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disorganized and incomplete, March 29, 2009
This review is from: The Smart Consumer's Guide to Home Buying (Barron's Smart Consumer Guides) (Paperback)
This book certainly has a lot of information in it relevant to home buyers, and I am more knowledgeable about the process after reading it. However, the main shortcoming of this book is that it is poorly written and terribly organized, making it difficult to extract relevant information.
Here is an example. A perfectly reasonable question that a first-time home buyer (e.g. me) would want answered is: how do I choose a real estate agent? Nowhere in this book is this question directly answered, despite the fact that there are at least two sections in the book (Chapter 6: Where do I get help, and Chapter 9: How do I find the home for me) that should answer it. While these chapters talk about how important it is to get the right agent, they never specifically answer how you go about determining who is right. I have read elsewhere that it is important to look at an agent's activity sheet, to see if he or she has experience with the types of houses that you are interested in. Nowhere in this book are activity sheets mentioned.
There are numerous other examples of questions that come up that are never adequately or clearly answered. There is a section describing different house styles that never actually describes any of the house styles; they mention that a Cape Cod is similar to a bungalow, but they never tell me what a bungalow is! I am also still not clear about whether or not I need to hire a lawyer, and if so why and how. In short, although I have read the whole book, I do not feel ready to go and buy a house, and I will definitely have to read another book.
The book was co-written by three authors, and it really feels as if they worked separately. Some material, as mentioned, is missing, while some is repeated. While some chapters are quite helpful, including the section on mortgages and the one on home inspections, others seems like a rambling mess. The section on negotiations is terrible; it feels like a first draft that never underwent an edit. It is filled with useless nuggets like "negotiation is a give-and-take process and life is a series of negotiations."
There are dozens of books out there about buying homes. I am no expert on home buying, but I can give you one piece of advice: don't buy this book.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent resource for homebuyers, June 13, 2008
This review is from: The Smart Consumer's Guide to Home Buying (Barron's Smart Consumer Guides) (Paperback)
I wish I had found this book 13 years ago! I ended up buying a seriously defective house from a very corrupt and unresponsive builder, and I have spent 9 years and most of my life savings battling him in court. I could have been spared all of this aggravation if I had known then what is explained in this book. If you are thinking about buying new construction, PLEASE read this book first and spare yourself a major headache.
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