Product Description

Get the right house at the right price with insider tips and advice from the experts!

Say goodbye to landlords and laundromats with Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home. This timely title will help you find the right place to live and invest in -- and even have fun doing it.

Filled with interesting facts, real-life stories and common pitfalls to avoid, 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:

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11594 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 2
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781413309355
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review
"If you are looking for authoritative information about virtually every important home-purchase topic, you won't find a better easy-to-read resource than this up-to-date book." (The Boston Globe )

"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." (Library Journal 20080608)

"The authors managed to keep the reading light, using lots of examples and sidebars, to avoid reader boredom. On my scale of one to 10, this superb new book rates an off-the-chart 12." (Robert Bruss, nationally syndicated real estate columnist
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About the Author
Stewart has been a Nolo editor and author since 1989, writing and editing 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. She has edited dozens of Nolo books, including How to Buy a House in California, Nolo's LeaseWriter Plus software for landlords, and Parent Savvy.

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.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
8: Next > Introduction Meet Your Adviser Mark Nash, an Associate Broker with Coldwell Banker, who serves the Chicago, Evanston, Skokie, and Wilmette areas of Illinois (www.marknashrealtor.com). The brakes are off, and you're ready to visit houses that seem to match your Dream List, and choose one. "Whatever you do, don't settle," says Realtor Maxine Mackle (after 18 years of experience in the Connecticut market). "You should be really enthusiastic about a house before you make an offer on it." But first, breathe deeply and cultivate some nonattachment. Sellers of beautiful houses usually know they've got a gem and price it accordingly. Meanwhile, the market contains its share of duds: houses with dark rooms, weird layouts, and repair nightmares. This doesn't mean your perfect house isn't out there, just that you're unlikely to find it on day one. So to make your search productive, we'll show you how to: * get help from your real estate agent, friends, and neighbors * compare each house with your Dream List, looking past the fancy furniture or staging, the need for fixing up, or the shininess of a recent remodel * see whether you can live with the layout * review disclosure and other information you receive from the seller * do your own, informal inspection for repair issues, and * understand how to approach buying a not-yet-constructed house, or one in a common interest development (CID). (20090101)

Customer Reviews

Quirky and useful, but needs to be supplemented
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.

Worth Its Weight in Gold!
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!

Excellent comprehensive guide, yet easy to understand
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.