A home is most people's biggest investment, and perhaps the most daunting. Whether it's a primary residence, vacation home, or investment property, this book helps readers make smart choices for buying right and maximizing equity when they sell. Written by Kiplinger's real estate experts, Buying & Selling a Home guides buyers through the array of financing choices, including fixed-rate and adjustable mortgages, FHA or VA loans and creative financing arrangements, and shows sellers how to improve property, screen buyers and set the right price. Readers will also learn how to take advantage of home equity to relieve financial concerns from remodeling expenses to college tuition.
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From the Author
What amazing changes have occurred in residential housing markets in the 15 years since the first edition of this book was published.
The interest rate on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage has fallen from more than 13% in 1983 to around 7% today, dramatically improving the affordability of housing, even in the face of steadily rising home prices. While the average new home today is higher priced than ever before, it is also much bigger, more energy efficient and filled with amenities that were once seen only in luxury homes.
There have been a lot of changes in the marketing of homes, too. Discount brokers and buyer's brokers abound today, challenging the traditional full-commission broker who is compensated entirely by the seller. The Internet has become a force in real estate today, with online Multiple Listing Services offering detailed information and "virtual open houses" of every listing in the region. And thousands of homebuyers are now using the Internet to shop for their financing, sometimes actually applying for the mortgage on-line, though the lender's Website.
Meanwhile, some interesting demographic trends are beginning to be felt in housing markets. While couples continue to dominate the ranks of homeowners, a rising percentage of singles are buying their own homes, and racial minorities and immigrants also account for a strongly rising share of total home sales. The strong earnings of Baby Boomers are creating a strong market for upscale trade-up housing.
When home prices softened during the recession of '90'91, forecasts of long, deep declines in real estate values began to appear in the popular press. We saw no basis for these projections, and our judgments has been vindicated by the generally strong housing market of the '90s.
In most regions, homeownership has returned to its traditional role in a family's finances. It will rarely be a hot investment, outperforming annual gains in the stock market. But owning a home will continue to be a good inflation hedge (matching or slightly exceeding the rate of inflation), an excellent tax shelter (one of the few left), and a handy forced-savings plan, requiring you to add to your equity each time you write a mortgage check. And in case you forgot, an owned home will also be your shelter, some place you know you can stay, without worrying about rent hikes or termination of the lease.
HOW THIS BOOK WILL HELP YOU
This book is really two books in one: Part One, for buyers and Part Two, for sellers. Whichever you are--buyer, seller, or both at once--carefully read the part addressed to the other party. You will gain insight into the concerns and strategies of all the major players in a transaction, and the knowledge will help you get a better deal for yourself.
Recognizing that the vast majority of real estate transactions are handled by brokers and agents who receive a commission on the sale, Buying & Selling a Home tells you the right way to select and deal with these professionals. For the few homeowners who have the time and marketing flair to try their hand at selling without an agent--a very challenging task--we give realistic, step-by-step advice on how to do it.
The book also recognizes that your home is most likely your major investment. It will assist you in investing wisely, both in terms of choosing a house and financing it in a way that best meets your needs. Buying and Selling a Home will also help you safeguard your investment--and tells you how to use the equity you'll build up to relieve other financial concerns, from remodeling expenses to college tuition. Special solutions to problems senior citizens may face are also covered. Inclusion of a score of worksheets and checklists and reference to many more resources will make your going easier.
We hope that Buying and Selling a Home helps guide you through the murky and often turbulent waters of real estate deals in America today--and tomorrow. Real estate has long been a core subject of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, the first magazine of personal finance guidance, so the subjects discussed here will be periodically updated there.
From the Back Cover
A home of your own...It's the American dream.
Here's how to make it happen--be it a modest beginning, a step up, a country retreat or a retirement haven.
Investing in a home is probably the biggest investment you'll ever make. And, thanks to new tax rules, the profit you make will likely be a major contribution to your retirement nest egg. That's why it's so important to make the right choice with each home you buy--and to be a savvy seller with each home you sell.
This completely revised edition of Buying & Selling a Home provides all the information you need to protect that investment by helping you make the right choices, in good markets and bad.
If you're a buyer, this book will help you:
--analyze housing options--detached houses, condos, co-ops, manufactured homes
--determine what you can afford
--work effectively with a broker
--find the best mortgage deal
--negotiate the best possible price
--ensure that settlement goes smoothly
If you're a seller, you'll learn how to:
--prepare your home for sale the smart way
--select and work with an agent or broker--or handle the sale yourself
--analyze alternatives to selling, including tapping home equity for improvement
--move your property faster, no matter what the market is like
Each month, the staff of Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine offers its 1.1 million readers advice on saving, investing, real estate and other personal-finance topics. The magazine pioneered the field of personal-finance journalism when it was first published in 1947.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Value for the Money,
This review is from: Buying & Selling a Home, 6th Edition (Paperback)
I bought this book because we needed help selling our current home. I found many helpful suggestions but more importantly, it helped me to understand the process of buying another home even better so that we won't make the same mistakes we made when buying our first home. I understand the details of mortgages much better now and am shopping around for one that is best suited to our needs. For help with selling a home, I found Terry Eilers' How to Sell Your Home Fast and Mary Donnelly Pilgrim's It's Showtime to be most comprehensive.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
from a FSBO perspective,
By Casual Reader (Centerville, UT United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Buying & Selling a Home, 6th Edition (Paperback)
We found a By Owner property we wanted so we needed help in representing ourselves instead of having a realtor do it. The book had good advice for general buyers but was lacking some advice in things to watch out for to avoid being taken advantage of by the sellers--and especially, it had very little on buying a "by owner" home. It had much more however on selling by owner. It was great book for the perspectives also of a first time buyer and had lots of tax information if thats what youre seeking. I would buy it again but its not suitable as an only for FSBO transactions.
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must for 1st time home buyer to understand the process,
By kcmc "kcmc" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Buying & Selling a Home, 6th Edition (Paperback)
We are trying to decide whether or not to buy or first home (since we may or may not move away in a year). This book took me through the process step by step, including tax benefits. I even took the information from the book, entered it into last years Turbo Tax file to see how this years return would have been different. I've heard so much about how a home is a tax shelter, but now I see the numbers of how and why. The explanation cleared the muddle of the different types of loans and many other things to think about.
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