Customer Reviews

How To Buy Your First Home, Second Edition

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This is a basic book on home buying intended for the first time buyer. It's' fairly brief, only about 130 pages (minus the appendices), so it's a quick read. If you're a second time buyer it would probably be too basic for you, but I was looking for a quick primer before starting to read more technical books on investing in real estate.

It covers the essentials of mortgages, the bidding and negotiation process, working with agents and inspectors, the major government agencies that participate in the mortgage market, such as HUD, VA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and so on. Although you don't need to understand it to purchase a house, the secondary market is briefly discussed so you'll know what that is when you hear real estate professionals mention the term.

Most of the information is quite practical, such as how to deal with real estate agents (don't let them act like mothers-in-law and let them decide what's best for you in the way of a house, no matter how well-meaning their intentions), and inspectors (don't insist on being present during the inspection, it'll just distract them).

After the chapters devoted to the mechanics of buying the house, there's a chapter basically on "What now?" After the happy glow of buying your first house wears off, you'll now have to face the reality of doing the required maintenance and repairs, keeping up the lawn and landscaping, making sure you save enough to pay taxes, and so on. There are even useful hints on how to conserve energy and how much you can save by having old furnaces and air conditioners replaced, and the author says hers paid for itself in about 18 months, although the initial cost was daunting (about $2500). But it was worth it over the long run.

Finally, there's a chapter on foreclosure and what to do if you find yourself in that situation. There's help available in that many cities or state government agencies can help with either grants, money or advice. The book also has a glossary, and two appendices of useful worksheets such as comparing house features and mortgage lenders, a HUD-1 worksheet, and a VA guaranteed loan application form.

The book is clearly and concisely written and should give anyone a basic understanding of the home buying process. After this I went on to reading more advanced books on investing in real estate and it was useful for getting the basic knowledge quickly and easily.

My roommate works at the library and brought me home a dozen different books on how to go about buying your first home and what you would need to know (including the dummy/idiot books which I normally love). After taking a look at this one, I sent all the other ones back and ordered it from amazon because it is by far the easiest, most comprehensive, and overall helpful guide for a first-time buyer. It answers all questions and can just be used as a good reference. It's questions and answer format makes the book very easy to pick-up and less daunting-- some of the books seems like a giant boring novel!! I even gave this book as a gift to a friend considering buying a place of his own.

The reading is very dry. Could not make it past a few pages without falling asleep. The worksheets in the back are excellent. So, if you are looking for a home buying book this one is a good one just for the worksheets.

Length:: 0:52 Mins