Product Description

Buying a home is a complex process that involves a delicate balance of financial, emotional, and practical factors. This essential resource helps readers come out on top, revealing the best strategies for finding and buying a new home -- while saving money every step of the way.

Whether looking for a house, condo, co-op, or manufactured home, readers will learn how to:

* Hire the right agent * determine financial limits * develop relationships with banks and other potential lenders * evaluate communities * get prequalified or preapproved for a mortgage * negotiate the best price and terms * and more.

There's also a checklist of the 15 costliest mistakes homebuyers make -- and how to avoid every one of them -- plus crucial information on how to sell a home. Owning a home is the American dream, but achieving it can be a nightmarish experience. With this vital information and great strategies, readers will not only find their dream home faster, they will do everything right to move in quickly and confidently!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #819776 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Davis (Adding Value to Your Home), a real estate broker for over 25 years, offers a straightforward, no-frills volume designed to help readers navigate the tricky waters of purchasing a new home. With advice that runs the gamut from making the decision to buy, to working with a mortgage broker, to packing up and moving, Davis’s book contains an abundance of practical information; the author gives, for example, a list of the paperwork that lenders need to assess a potential buyer’s qualifications, along with calculation charts and checklists (like a set of questions to ask future neighbors when conducting a neighborhood walk-through). The appendices, which include a glossary of real estate terms and a big-picture checklist of steps to becoming a homeowner, are valuable additions to the volume. The text doesn’t always flow smoothly, but readers will get solid real estate buying advice.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“…a straightforward, no-frills volume designed to help readers navigate the tricky waters of purchasing a new home….readers will get solid real estate buying advice.”

--Publisher's Weekly

From the Back Cover

If you’re looking for a home in today’s real estate market, you know that the rules have changed. Despite all the challenges that come with the current housing climate, there is glut of houses on the market, making it an ideal time to buy the home you really want. Inventories are high, interest rates are low, and sellers are flexible. With the right guidance, you can find your dream home at a price you can afford.

In the second edition of A Survival Guide for Buying a Home, you will find answers that will help you face the new realities of the real estate market. In this revised and updated edition, veteran real estate broker Sid Davis includes the latest information on:

• Time-saving techniques that will help buyers narrow their choices effectively

• Mortgage and loan rules

• Buying foreclosures and short sales

• Lease options

• Cleaning up, increasing, and maintaining your credit score

• Twenty costly mistakes that are made by home buyers and how those mistakes can be avoided

You also learn all the ins and outs of finding the right agent, evaluating neighborhoods, buying homeowners insurance and warranties, arranging for appraisals and inspections, preparing your purchase for resale, and more. With this helpful guide in hand, you will be ready to find the home you’ve always imagined without breaking the bank.

Sid Davis, owner of Sid Davis & Associates, has more than 25 years of experience as a real estate broker and home renovator. He is the author of several books, including Home Makeovers That Sell, The First-Time Homeowner’s Survival Guide, and Your Eco-Friendly Home, as well as countless articles for national publications. He lives in Farmington, Utah, and can be reached at www.sid-davis.com

Customer Reviews

From J Eastman - Richmond, VA
When my wife and I decided a few months ago that we were going to buy our first home, I went to our library and took out two books on home buying. One of them was your "Survival Guide". I toted that book around for the past two months and finally turned it back in today after we closed on our house.

My wife and I are the type who want to know as much as we can about everything that we are involved in, and your book really helped us to navigate the very involved and complex road to home-buying. We left the closing this morning feeling like we had done everything right, from shopping mortgages to negotiating after the home inspection. I believe that your book has helped us to save thousands of dollars!

Thank you for writing such a fine resource!

Definitely worth reading before purchasing
As a real estate consultant, I bought this book to see if it could serve as a reference and handbook for clients, and it certainly will. The topics are relevant, current, and accurate and expand on important issues involved in purchasing a home - your credit, mortgage options, taxes, what to look for when visiting properties, services of a realtor, and resale. Several helpful checklists are also provided.

excellent guide for homebuyers
This guide is one of the better ones out there -- it is up-to-date and practical, with lots of examples and checklists to follow. It has especially helpful advice for finding mortgages, dealing with agents, and preparing an offer. The author provides several links to websites that are reputable and extremely useful when preparing to by a house. Read this, if you read anything.