How to Buy a House in California

Product Reviews

(1 stars) - 2006 version was much more thorough - this book is a top level overview
This book does not delve into anything. It gives you the most basic basic basic top level newbie information. If you have a real question about any issue, you will not find an answer in this book. It has zero substance. The 2006 version was three times larger and had much more specific information. I "upgraded" to this version specifically because of the mortgage crisis. Our parents gave us money from Russia and we wanted to research the new rules about gifts since the real estate rules and documentation requirements have changed radically since 2006. This book says it has been republished specifically to help you navigate the new lending structure. B.S. This book will not help you at all. Order the 2006 one if anything.

(3 stars) - Usability Limited by Format
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.

(5 stars) - How to Buy A House in California
An encyclopedic gathering of issues and options necessary to buying a house in California. Easy to search and understand. I've never read anything better.

(2 stars) - Mostly common sense stuff...not much new
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.

(4 stars) - Love this book
I read a few buying a house guides but this one is nearly complete w/ all the process and paper works. It goes into detail and typical process, fees and situations. However I think the book should add in a chapter with short sale and REOs for current economy.

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