Customer Reviews

The Smart Consumer's Guide to Home Buying (Barron's Smart Consumer Guides)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

As first time homebuyers looking to navigate the complicated waters of home buying, my husband and I found this book invaluable. It is written in a very clear and concise manner, with lots of anecdotal evidence. I strongly recommend this book to first time and repeat home buyers alike.

The information and advice in this book was so good. I am in the process of buying a retirement home in the south, and so are a few of my friends-- so I purchased 4 of the books. -- and gave 3 of them to my friends-- they all loved it-- one of them has aleady purchased a home in Fla., and the rest of us are still looking. The advice is excellent.

--Tom Waage

Bought this book while getting ready for the home purchase. This is a detailed, well researched book which is easy to read. Definitely recommended for someone planning to buy a house/condo etc.

this book lacks page appeal. it is written like a novel...chapters and chapters of writing. this would seems acceptable, except i had just finished reading the Better Business Bureau's Buying a Home book, which had so much page appeal i couldn't put it down. it had lots of illustrations, graphics, examples, and such. i think the home buying process is complicated and boring, so reading a book that engaged me and pulled me through the information was important. The Smart Consumers Guide just didn't hold my attention.