Customer Reviews

Homebuyers Beware: Who’s Ripping You Off Now?--What You Must Know About the New Rules of Mortgage and Credit

5 star:		(50)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a small businessman and even smaller real estate investor,a licensed R.E.Broker and General Contractor,I wholeheartedly recommend Homebuyers Beware to all home buyers,first timers and seasoned investors alike.

I read Carolyn Warren's first book,Mortgage Rip-Offs,a few months ago and liked it so much I contacted her for consultation re:refinancing of my properties.Eventhough I bought my first home over 30 years ago and many since,I must confess I know NOTHING about yield spread premium and the way brokers/lenders use YSP to add income to themself before reading that book.The YSP information alone was worth thousand times the cost of the book(approx.$13 from AMAZON.COM)because I know absolutely, definitely that the brokers' additional income must come only from one source : borrowers like you and me.

There were other important information for ALL mortgage seekers in the first book :how to negotiate for lower fees and rates,whether to pay point,how and what to do with junk fees etc.All those and more were explained and clarified further in Carolyn's second book,Homebuyers Beware.

In her new book,Carolyn takes her readers to the real estate mortgage market situation today.This is most important due to the fact that rules for qualifying for new and refi mortgages changed substantially in the last 2 years it's like we're looking at 2 different creatures altogather :

---no more easy no loan docs. loan,no more easy qualifying loans
---good credit is a must.So are substantial down payment required in most cases
---W-2,income tax returns and bank staments are all standard required docs.
---etc.,etc

Carolyn explained all of the above in practical details,with intended benefit for the consumers.Even for readers who've no credit,with bankruptcy/shortsale in their credit report or who want to repudiate bad info. in his/her credit files.The book is,like her first book,very easy to read and full of helpfull pointers that can be used to save unnecessary fees/chrges made by lenders/brokers.

This book will save you many,many times the price you pay for it.

I was not a major real estate investor, just an average homeowner, but I had a "friend" who was a mortgage broker for Countrywide. He kept pushing me into (what I know now were) increasingly worse loans. At the top of the market he came to me with an income property that was such a great deal that if I didn't jump on it he was going to buy it himself (and I believed that? What a sucker!) I didn't listen to my inner voice which kept telling me that none of this added up. Instead I deferred to him because I thought he was an "expert" who knew so much more than me (turns out he didn't even have a high school diploma and had only been selling mortgages for 6 months when I met him... before that he sold used cars!) I also thought that he had my best interest at heart, when, in fact, the only thing he cared about was his commissions.

I'm currently in a short-sale on that investment property: it's in escrow for 1/3(!!) of what I paid for it and we were lucky to get that. My home was foreclosed on a year ago. Thirty years of excellent credit is destroyed. I'm not blaming the mortgage broker, I could have rejected any of his offers. I was just under-educated about how real estate mortgages REALLY work, but not anymore.

As I read this book, it was like reading a postmortem of my financial situation. I cannot tell you how many times while reading it I shouted, "That Bastard! That's exactly what he did to me!" As I dissected my mistakes and the ways in which I was conned, and learned how to avoid similar traps in the future, I began to feel as though I might actually have some hope of fixing this mess and restoring my good credit and, perhaps, even owning property again someday.

But even if I don't ever buy another piece of real estate, I'm glad I read this book because now at least I understand what happened to me (and to so many otherwise well-educated, successful people,) and I don't feel like such a complete failure anymore. In that regard, this book is better (and way cheaper,) than therapy.

Carolyn Warren's "Homebuyers Beware" book is full of useful, eye-opening information and tips. I purchased it because of a recommendation I saw in a newspaper and, since I'm preparing to buy a house, I thought it'd be a nice read since I'm tired of staring at the computer and doing internet searches for information. Her suggestions concerning getting a Good Faith Estimate up-front, asking Escrow companies about "email fees" (4 of the 5 I've asked do have that), and managing your credit score were wonderful advice. I definitely recommend this book if you are in the market to purchase or refinance a new property! Don't even call for a pre-approval before reading this!

As a student of business finance for over 40 years, I've been in the trenches of real estate and Mortgage lending for over 25 years. I assure you that my assessment of the latest block busting book on fraud and duplicity in this industry is this:

If you are planning to buy a home or refinance your current mortgage, you must heed Carolyn Warren's "Homebuyers Beware".......
Avoid unscrupulous banks, brokers and lenders of all kinds. YES, UNSCRUPULOUS loan officers still lurk in the brick and morar of those behemoth lending institutions, the BANKS!!!!! Find out what their tricks are. You need to read, NO, study this easy to read guide to stress free engagement of this industry. Do NOT, and think of this: would you jump out of an airplane without a parachute ???

Wether it's finding the lowest cost loan,improving your credit score for the lowest rate, homebuyer guidance or avoiding mortgage fraud and scams, Carolyn Warren has given Main Street how to navigate these tracherous waters.

Buy it !!! Try it !!! Fly with it !!! And you won't kick yourself for "being in it, to win it".

Good book so far, but mainly wanted to warn people that the seller is selling just the introduction and the first chapter for $2.39. I was surprised at the price, thinking it was for the whole book, and clicked on it away. My mistake. The book stops at the end of page 19, at the end of the first chapter. Amazon was gracious enough to quickly give a refund, so that I could buy the whole book. However, this practice doesn't make sense to me. Who sells their introduction and their first chapter for 25% (including tax) of the price of the book, and especially when there is a free kindle download of the introduction? You're paying 25% of the price of the book for pages 7-19, which comes out to around 5% of the book. It's like watching 5 minutes of a movie and paying $2.50 on a movie ticket priced at $10. What is the seller thinking?

... unless you get ready for kids in college. But even then, who can say they can afford to skip on potential thousands of Dollars because they were not informed regarding their mortgage? This book provides the latest and greatest regarding your loan - including tactics used to get one to pay more. It gives practical examples, analyzes various topics among its 30 chapters, topics such as credit, lower cost loans, fraud and scams, etc. Do the simple math - it may take a few hours to read this book, but if you divide the savings by the few hours, you'll realize that you may never save that much money in a few hours. Definitely get this book if you plan on buying a home or just refinancing.

If I were going to buy a new home, I would read this book very carefully because it's filled full of information that you need to know to be prepared. For one thing, you really can't trust anyone but yourself to look out for your best interest. She gives great examples of how people have been ripped off and they thought they were getting a bargain. For instance, the "no down" when buying a house may be no down payment then, but you will pay for it later and in another way. There are lots of costs added on that you can avoid if you read this ahead of time and go prepared.

She recommends always having your own real estate agent and mortgage broker (check them out to make sure they are honest though!). After reading about all the trouble you can get into on your own, I am in agreement with her.

She also explains how you can get your credit rating up, how foreclosing on a house can hurt it bad and how you can get it back to normal. Since banks are no longer loaning credit for houses except to people with excellent credit rating, then it makes sense to have yours in great shape before you even try to buy.

She tells of all the fees involved (some aren't even needed but you'll have to read the book to find out which ones they are) and how you can get them lowered and save thousands of dollars.

And there are a lot of scams going on for home buyers that you need to be aware of.

It's well written, easy to read and easy to understand, and the author writes with a sense of humor, so it's a fun read too.

I do lots of research before I make major decisions. I came upon Carolyn Warren's website and was impressed with her knowledge and user-friendly style of communicating. For a small investment in her book, "Homebuyer Beware," I ended up making an informed decision and saving a great deal of money on a very large investment! Knowledge really is power. I strongly encourage anyone who isn't familiar with real estate practices and who is planning to purchase or refinance a home to take the time to read this well-written, easy- to-understand book first.

I have never purchased my own home but of course plan to one day. I hope when the time comes the information in this book will still have a high level of relevancy. Being an absolute novice, I found the information to be very educational and enlightening.

The book talks about credit, how it works and what it means to have a good credit score. It mentions things like APR, discount fees (among other various fees, both legitimate and bogus), FHA loans, Good Faith Estimates, par rates and what I found most helpful...something called an "earnest money deposit". I also find it most helpful the information that may help us look out for ourselves by looking out for the shysters.

I believe this author is on the side of the consumer, however, she does mention "by owner" sales as being penny pinchers. I am not sure I totally agree with that and perhaps a person who does sells their home themselves is nothing more than a fan of "do it yourself", regardless if they know the entire process or not.

All in all, a very informative and helpful which I hope to put to good use.

Carolyn Warren has written an invaluable tool for homebuyers. She exposes secrets and scams used by the mortgage industry to take more money from homebuyers. I found this book easy to read, and VERY enlightening. I really wish I had this book before we bought our home, or when we refinanced it a few years ago. I actually took out my closing papers and found hundreds of dollars of bogus charges on our closing papers that I never knew about. I have learned so much from this book! I cannot recommend it enough to people! Banks and mortgage brokers everywhere will be sweating it now this book exposes their scams! If you are buying or refinancing your home, this book could easily save you thousands. That is a worthy investment in my opinion!