Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio) [Paperback]

Ilona Bray (Author), Alayna Schroeder (Author), Marcia Stewart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 2007 | ISBN-10: 1413306284 | ISBN-13: 978-1413306286

Insider tips and advice to help you get the right place at the right price! If you're ready to say goodbye to landlords and laundromats, Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home will help you find the right place to invest in -- and have fun doing it. Filled with interesting facts and real-life stories, this book provides everything you need to select the right house, the right mortgage, the right agent, the right inspections -- and much more. Get the inside scoop on: deciding between a house, condo, co-op or townhouse, exploring the market for the best value, lining up financing, getting inspections and insurance, negotiating with sellers or new home builders and successfully closing the deal. Read the real-life stories of over 20 first-time homebuyers, as well as the insights from a team of 13 real estate professionals, including brokers, attorneys who specialize in real estate, a home inspector, a neighborhood researcher, a mortgage specialist and more. PLUS: You'll get the The Homebuyer's Toolkit, a CD-ROM that includes dozens of forms and MP3s which will help you find the right place, crunch the numbers, interview real estate professionals, borrow down payment money from your parents -- and more. (20090102)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Tweet: "Hey everyone, this book really helped me buy a house. You don't need a lawyer for this!" (Leif Bernstein Twitter 20090315)

"Takes the guesswork out of home buying... two thumbs up!" (Elizabeth Weintraub Home Buying & Selling Guide, About.com )

On my scale of one to 10, this superb book rates a off-the-chart 12. (Robert Bruss bobbruss.com )

Even in a sluggish market, there will ... always be people seeking advice and direction in buying a first home. Nolo's excellent guide for novice home buyers provides fresh, updated information about the whole process that even those in ... the know will find useful. Readers will appreciate the chapter outlines highlighting key topics in each section, as well as the personal anecdotes and tips from real estate experts. As in the "For Dummies" series, each chapter here is punctuated with icons, starred paragraphs, and simple catchphrases, all designed to reduce further the intimidation factor in making a major life-changing purchase. Packaged with a CD-ROM that includes essential forms (e.g., a "Final Walk-Through Checklist," a sample inspection report, and a "Questions for the Sellers Worksheet") and MP3-formatted audio files of extended insight from the real estate experts, this is highly recommended for most public libraries, especially those seeking to replace and update outdated real estate titles. Determined not to leave any segment of the real estate community uninformed, Nolo also offers a guide to buying a second home. Though perhaps overly detailed in some sections (e.g., there are in-depth descriptions of the differences among a townhouse, a co-op, and a condominium) and not as universally needed, the book is valuable for guiding readers toward examining and understanding the desire for purchasing a second home and the financial ramifications of embarking on such an endeavor. A CD-ROM with reproducible forms is included. Recommended for libraries with larger boomer populations and/or populations with higher-than-average discretionary incomes, though the book is quick to emphasize that a second home purchase is no longer strictly only for the rich and famous.-Joslyn Jones, Oak Park P.L., IL http://books.google.com/books?id=SSdAiG5u80AC#reviews_anchor (Joslyn Jones books.google.com )

About the Author

Stewart writes and edits books on landlord-tenant law, real estate, and other consumer issues. She is the co-author of First-Time Landlord, Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, Every Landlord's Legal Guide, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Leases and Rental Agreements, and Renters' Rights.

Schroeder specializes in employment law and real estate and is co-author of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home. Before joining Nolo, she worked as an associate in a large San Francisco law firm where she represented employers in litigation, drafted employee handbooks and policies and counseled employers on sound employment practices. Schroeder also has experience in employment consulting and human resources. She holds a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.

Bray is an author and legal editor at Nolo, specializing in real estate, immigration law, and nonprofit fundraising. She is co-author of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home and also edits a number of Nolo's small business books. Bray's working background includes solo practice, nonprofit, and corporate stints, as well as long periods of volunteering, including an internship at Amnesty International's main legal office in London. She received her law degree and a Masters degree in East Asian (Chinese) Studies from the University of Washington.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: NOLO (June 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1413306284
• ISBN-13: 978-1413306286
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #824,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 65 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky and useful, but needs to be supplemented, October 30, 2008

By 

P. Novak - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio) (Paperback)

I am just starting to research what's involved in purchasing a first home. I found this book to be very helpful in providing a landscape of what is involved, but you should supplement it with more specific books, particularly around mortgages.

The book starts out by having you evaluate what you want in a home, and prioritizing the features. It tells you how to research neighborhoods, ok this is pretty city-centric but they are trying to reach a wide audience. It explains the various professionals involved in each stage of the process, provides forms for interviewing them, and explains what they should provide. It continues to walk you through the inspections, negotiations and closings.

The book is easy to read, but let's face it, the purchase process is complex, and I found myself re-reading some sections discussing the many forms and insurance options. There are some quirky sidebars that are of questionable value (songs about houses, a cookie recipe) but they do add some levity.

Where the book fell a little short was the mortgage discussion. The first book I read "Mortgage Ripoffs and Money Savers: An Industry Insider Explains How to Save Thousands on Your Mortgage or Re-Finance" covers this in great detail, and I highly recommend it as supplemental reading. It will explain in detail the junk fees that are mentioned in this book.

The forms included in the book have varying degrees of usefulness, but the interview and inspection forms are gold. A number of websites are listed throughout the book, and will save you from having to Google for the information.

Overall I'm happy with this book, and plan to reference it throughout the purchase process.

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth Its Weight in Gold!, April 19, 2008

By 

Michael Olshansky (Marietta, Georgia USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio) (Paperback)

I started looking at buying my first house many months ago and realized that the conflicting and often spotty advise I would get from friends and family wasn't enough. I needed a book to guide me and fill in the gaps (of which there were many).

I figured a "Home Buying for Dummies" type book was what I needed, but I didn't stop there and thumbed through almost a dozen home buying books at the local store before finding this gem by Nolo.

This was the ONLY book that guides you through the process, taking logical, simple steps while interjecting real-world experiences from different people.

It's written in a manner that appeals to just about everyone, explaining how to find a good agent (or save yourself on closing costs by using an online broker), what you should REALLY look for when finding the house that's right for you, all the way through closing, and even what's involved afterwards!

Buying a home can be stressful and overwhelming, but this book really made things quite easy. I can't think of a single home buying related subject that it doesn't cover. If you are buying your first house, this book is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent comprehensive guide, yet easy to understand, March 18, 2008

By 

Gadgester "No Time, No Money" (Mother Earth) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio) (Paperback)

For me, because this is the only first-time buyer's guide that discusses in detail issues around getting a personal gift or personal loan towards purchasing a home, it already deserves 5 stars.

But it's more than just that. This is a very comprehensive guide with a helpful accompanying CD-ROM. The materials are organized clearly and presented in an easy-to-understand manner. I had read other guides such as the Dummies one which tended to be really verbose and confusing. This book stands out as a highly useable companion as you search and purchase your first home (and as you deal with real estate agents and lawyers).

Very highly recommended.