Nolos Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)

Product Reviews

(1 stars) - Terribly, terribly basic and sophomoric
99 % of the material in this book can be found on a bank website (a major bank like Bank of America). Material covered is so basic don't buy it. The major, major points you should know are not covered and those points are the mortgage market an how to maneuver in it. All the other stuff your lender and real estate person will tell you about and get you through. But you have to know how lenders, banks and brokers, make their money. You have to know what a par rate is and what a yield spread premium is. You have to know where to go to find par rates and current general rates for the day, the week. You have to know about fees that banks charge and how to negotiate around them. This book does not touch them --except for one little sentence!

I've read the book and it really is very, very primitive in regard to what really matters. Particularly in this wicked economy where all the lenders are doing even more strange things. Your best bet is to by the Smart Money digital "book" for $5.00 online. It's new and gives you the very important points noted above and even gives you average closing costs to use for negotiating. At least this Smart Money "book" gives you the big picture of finance and you can go look up any details you want.

(5 stars) - Great Basic Book
I found this book to be easy to follow and helpful in my process. I think the most important information is "How to find the best __________" --- fill in the blank, Realtor, Mortgage Broker, Inspector. It's very helpful to have a list of questions when interviewing people who know a lot more about the subject that I do. I'm glad I started my research with this book.

(4 stars) - Must for Newbie to become expert in home buying
If you have absolutely no clue where to start and what home buying all about then this will take you to highway of home buying easily and master you with all essential with CD containing documents that are High yield also read all terminology file on CD before visiting agents as they will be using all of it and you`ll not feel out of touch.Problem this book has is its length it has 426 pages its written excessively and first 86 pages are better to skip as when you made all that effort to buy this book after hours of search and time then this book wastes first 4 chapters convincing you that buying is better then rent that could be easily done in couple of pages,it try to provide you all the data but as every chapter written by different author its like adding twelve different recipes to make one dish so everyone wants to make his impression resulting it again creating too much elaboration that you actually get lost what really important was .i recommend if you skip first eighty six pages ,read them but in middle or end ,not in beginning when you really want to know those deep secrets and processes then start with pages 381-382 that's all you need to buy home and that's what explained throughout in this book .Don`t miss this book if you really newbie .i hope next edition will reduce some volume and make summary of whole process in first chapter and then extend it throughout book.

(4 stars) - This glass is half empty!
As a first time home buyer I thought it was very important to read up as much as possible regarding the difficult and long home buying process. I decided the Nolo would be the book to buy. Let's get down to the nitty gritty:

The Good
- This book is easy to read, well written and provides a great deal of information regarding home buying. If you thought it was a simple process... think again. This book skillfully highlights the many challenges of home buying but does a good job of highlighting the benefits of owning your own home instead of renting. I would have never known how many parties are needed to ensure you buy the best property for your money along with the recommended professionals you should invest in to further protect your interest. I also love how this book provided questions you should ask each party involved in your home buying process to make sure they are the best fit for you and will provide you with the best service possible.

The Bad
I'm sure there are better books out there as I never found that insider information or golden nugget of buying a home. Also, there are chapters that come short of providing more details. Such as the section regarding tax credits. If the purpose of the book is to get the reader to consider buying a home instead of renting, it would be beneficial to compare the financial incentives of the tax credits and deductions vs the expenses of renting. There are other financial issues this book could have explored to compare renting with buying.

Also, I did not think this book was very organized. The chapters could have been organized better. It was easy to get lost or determine what steps to take first when purchasing a home.

Overall
A good book that needed more thorough organization. I enjoyed reading the book but I knew I needed another read to get the information I needed. Use this book as a supplement to another book or additional research you've conducted on your own. I know when buying my home I can go to this book for clarification but I'll need more info in the long run!

(4 stars) - The most up to date guide out there
Pros: This book was just released in 2009 so it's by far the most up to date on the current market. It gives the pitfalls of past subprime mortgages and is somewhat geared to todays buyers market. It has references to the $8000 new home credit and other recent additions to tax law. The websites listed are much more up to date than some older books.
Cons: The forms on the CD are pretty basic but useful I guess and the closing costs section isnt as comprehensive as I would have liked.

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