Customer Reviews

How to Buy a House in California

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

 

 

This book rocks! It is well written, clearly organized, full of incredibly useful insights and obviates the need for any other books. Purchasing property in the Golden State is hugely complicated and this book unravels the knots and truly educates the potential buyer to the point that ones agent will be impressed. Every aspect is covered and in such depth that I truly believe it helped me negotiate the best price and the best mortgage terms. I fully understood all the steps and when it came to final closing costs, I was impressed that I was able to accurately predict exactly what those would be ...no shocks here. I highly recommend this book.

While I appreciate the thoroughness and helpfulness of the text, this book depends on the reader to fill in multiple written exercises to help them assess their needs and capabilities. Because the e-book gives the user no way to access high fidelity versions of the exercise sheets, it's utility is decreased significantly. I would recommend against buying the e-book because of this limitation.

I attempted to contact NoLo press after the purchase to see if they had a remedy to provide the worksheets in a high fidelity format, but was told that it was not available to purchasers of the Kindle edition of the book.

I won't waste your time with repeating the same things everyone else has said. This is the best book for first-time home buying in SoCal; you won't lose money or time with this book. Gratuitous advice if you are buying in SoCal for the first time:
1. Things are done a little differently out here, so DO NOT listen to people from other states regarding need for a lawyer on every purchase; the escrow agency takes care of most of those details unless a problem arises. Just follow the book...it will guide you well.
2. If the home inspection report mentions a horizontal furnace related to Consolidated Inc. in the past, DO have your furnace inspected even if the serial number does not show a recalled NOx rod (see your home inspector, or a CA home inspection manual)...the Consolidated/Premier furnace that came with my place needed to be replaced despite not being on the recall list because of a fire hazard (eep!).
3. It's also handy to have a home inspection manual anyway so that any repairs you perform as a DIY'er won't cause problems down the road on resale, if needed.

I was disappointed in this book, especially after all the good reviews about it. I don't consider myself to be an expert by any means on home buying, yet I found that 95% of the information this book presented was common sense stuff. I read the book from cover to cover (besides the appendixes, of course), and while the book confirmed a lot of stuff that was in my mind, I got very little new information from it. Unless you have been living under a rock, I don't think you will need this book.

This book really helped us get our heads around the house buying process. It's very intimidating here in California and the rules are different than in other parts of the country. We also found the financing and mortgage aspects of the book especially helpful. Again, great to develop a starter's understanding and grasp the terminology of the process.

I purchased this book because I was a first time home buyer and the information and tips I got from this book were wonderful. There was a tip about calling local title companies to find out who they think are good local real estate agents. I called for a recommendation, and it worked wonderfully! I found a great agent using that tip and I am extremely pleased with how everything worked out. The extra knowledge I acquired from this book was very helpful throughout the whole home buying process. It is an easy and fun book to read. The authors give stories from their personal experiences and also provide explanation of terms, etc. I would recommend it to any one who is going to buy a home.