Review of 100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask: With Answers from Top Brokers from Around the Country (Paperback)

I happily endorse this book.The new second edition contains many new questions from the first edition, revised many other questions, and completely rewrites every answer.Things are changing fast in residential real estate, and this book will bring you up-to-date.Whether you are a first-time buyer, first-time seller, or haven't bought a home in at least five years, this book will serve your needs very well.The questions are drawn from those that brokers report that first-time buyers most often ask.The answers draw upon the experiences of many brokers.

How much training does it take to become a librarian, teacher, lawyer, physician, or rocket scientist?How well would the world work for us if such training were skimped on?

When it comes to buying a first home (whether condo, co-op, or fixer-upper), most people act as though you can do brain surgery without the training.Not!

Even if you view this emotionally and financially important investment as one to be approached carefully, most first-time buyers will make important errors.Here are a few of my favorites:

(1) Not thinking about how hard it may be to resell the home.

(2) Vastly underestimating how much money will be needed to fix it up.

(3) Overpaying for the home because of not realizing how to negotiate.

(4) Waiting until finding one's soul mate before purchasing.

(5) Spending more than you can afford, and using boxes for furniture.

(6) Purchasing a home that doesn't fit your needs (where will you put 4 children and you in 2 bedrooms?).

(7) Taking on a horrible commute.

Interest rates are down in light of the terrible terrorist tragedy and weak economy.Unemployment is rising.Based on historical patterns, this is a good time to buy.Are you ready?Probably not, even if you think you are.

But I have good news for you.If you read and apply the lessons of this book, you will be more ready than many people who have already bought homes.

The subjects covered include deciding what you needs are, versus your likes; how to look; determining what you can afford; deciding what broker to use; how to work with the broker (especially what not to tell the broker, since most work for the seller); how to decide what to offer; how to negotiate; getting the best financing; checking out the house; handling the closing; and even dealing with problems after the closing.You also get help with which professionals (such as buying agents, lawyers, and home inspectors) to use, how to select them, what they will cost, and how to work with them.

I have bought or helped buy three houses, am an attorney, and am a licensed real estate agent.I found several areas where this excellent book extended my knowledge.I know it will save you thousands of dollars . . . and probably even more in avoided emotional trauma!

The book does this by posing questions, providing worksheets, steering you to Internet resources, and describing case histories.

No book from the buyer's perspective can however hope to dispel the incredible naiveté that we all have when we first purchase a home (all 2 million a year who are like lambs being led to the slaughter).For that purpose, I suggest that you also read another book, How to Sell Your Home Fast, which is an excellent description of what intelligent, prepared sellers will be doing to get you to buy their home and pay too much.Beneath all the friendly chit-chat with the sellers, realize that your are usually being carefully maneuvered to act against your own interest.

By the way, this book does not do enough to warn you about hidden house faults.Home inspectors are not the entire answer.They usually get their referrals from brokers, and will usually not tell you the worst of what can happen lest brokers stop recommending them.Spend some extra money and have people you know well and trust who are expert in electrical, heating, air conditioning, structural, roofing, plumbing, soil, and environmental hazards take a look also.They will find things that you can use to get the price lowered to cover the cost of repairs.My experience is that you will save about [amt.] for every [amt.] you spend in this way.

I also recommend that you find 10 people who are a lot like you who purchased a home similar to what interests you about five years ago.Ask them what they did right and what didn't work out so well.

After you explore all of these choices, you may want to consider what I did once . . . rent with an option to purchase.All of my rent went towards the down payment.I found I loved the house, saved money, and had few problems with repairs.I later sold it for a nice profit.

Also, spend time in the yard of your potential new home at all hours of the day and night.You may be surprised by some of the positive and negative features.In one home, I discovered that a dozen deer came by across a creek at 7:30 a.m.Seeing them every morning became my favorite part of every day.

After preparing by knowing what the right questions are, look for all of the potential problems and opportunities in making large decisions.Then sleep on your decision for three nights.You'll know what to do then!

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Review of Profit from Your Vacation Home Dream: The Complete Guide to a Savvy Financial and Emotional Investment (Paperback)

Having read Christine's first book "How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner," I was pleased to find that she had written another.After reading the Amazon description, the author's bio and the acknowledgements in the front of the book, I was sure that it was a sequel to the first book. Amazon even has a co-marketing deal where you can buy both books.

I was greatly disappointed to find that most of the info in the book - down to the examples and quotes she uses - came straight out of the first book. Many of these were word-for-word. There's a few new ideas, but this really should have been marketed as a 2nd edition of "How to Rent Vacation Properties by Owner" than as her second book.

In fairness to Christine, I have to say that the content of the book is still great.I just wish it wasn't a near replica of the first!

Product Description
Vacation properties are not just for the elite and wealthy!

If you were a rich man... Stop right there!Just because you're not rich doesn't mean you don't want a second home to get away from life, as you know it.Whether you dream of living on the beach with sand between your toes or getting away from civilization in a mountain cabin, you don't have to be a Rockefeller to enjoy your dream home.

In Profit From Your Vacation Home Dream: The Complete Guide to a Savvy Financial and Emotional Investment, vacation home buying expert Christine Hrib Karpinski shows you how to not only make your vacation home dream a reality, but to get others to pay your mortgage when you're not enjoying your home away from home. By renting your vacation home using Karpinski's recipe for successful vacation home ownership, you will soon be on the road to buying, enjoying and profiting from your second, third - and even fourth home.

Karpinski will show you how to:
·Evaluate the different types of vacation properties and weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each.
·Determine how many weeks you need to rent your home and how much you can charge to break even.
·Become a master at managing real estate transactions - from negotiating the purchase price to maintaining the property - from the comfort of your hometown.
·Determine if renting-by-owner or working with a property management company is right for you.




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Review of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home, 5th Edition (Paperback)

I got this book because my wife and I are getting ready to buy our first home and I wanted a book to guide me, and thus prevent me from making any major mistakes and to ensure I knew what was going on each step of the way.I read the entire section on buying a house (5/6 of the book) and even half of the section on selling a house just to see the other side of things (the remaining 1/6 of the book).I personally found the book gave just enough details to be frustrating.

The book will go over all the available options, but won't explore them in depth enough to help you make the right decision.For example, the book will tell you to contact multiple lenders and evaluate all the costs involved (the loan fees and if there are pre-pay penalties, not just the interest rate), but won't tell you how to really decide which loan to pick.The book will tell you that you can negotiate for some of the fees you have to pay with a mortgage to be waived by the lender or for some of the fees to be paid by the seller, but won't tell you how to spot these fees from the true, non-negotiable fees.There's a discussion of choosing the different types of homes (e.g. condo, townhouse or traditional home), but no discussion of the economic advantages of one over the other.I've heard townhouses appreciate faster, but I don't know if this is just an old-wives tale of if there is some truth to it.I still don't.Furthermore, the authors do nothing to predict future market trends, which is partly understandable since this is so difficult, but they don't even take a stab at it and the book is very current (2006).

Basically, the authors do a great job reviewing all of your options, but they don't advise you about what the *best* option would be for you.Maybe that is impossible because everyone's situation is totally different, but I'd like to see some situation specific direct advice, even if it resulted in some of the book being useless to me because it wasn't detailing my situation. Everyone's situation may be different but there aren't THAT many different situations (just starting out/family in apt moving to first house/family upgrading house/family downsizing house at retirement or because of unfortunate financial circumstances - that covers 95% of people).This would take more pages but there are pages to spare and that's my biggest gripe.

The book is organized by the steps in home buying (i.e. looking for a home/making an offer/obtaining financing/closing) but if you actually sit down and read it straight through like I did, you'll end up reading the same things over and over again.This makes the book better if you just want to read the chapter you're interested in because the chapters stand up on their own, but make it more frustrating if you read it front to back (you'll constantly be saying "yeah, I know, you told me that already, almost verbatim").Not rehashing things would also free up pages to explore the nitty gritty in greater detail.I even found situations where full page tables were in the book twice in two seperate chapters! Completely unchanged, just printed twice when the authors were once again rehashing things they'd already covered!

In conclusion, I would have rather had concrete advice rather then the overview given here (although I think a better edited book could have had both in the same amount of space).The only other book I read that was even close to this was Suze Orman for the Young, Fabulous and Broke.That book gave very concrete advice and told you exactly what was the best things you could be doing and gave you a priority order to do them (401K then credit card debt then house down payment then Roth IRA).No concrete advice here.The book often passes off giving advice with the disclaimer "talk to your agent."That's good advice, but then why'd I get this book in the first place?Furthermore, I think to give concrete advice you have to really know your topic and I'm not sure the author's understand housing the way Orman understands personal finance.

I've been harsh so far, because that's what stands out to me, but I should say this book isn't a total waste of time, and this review has disproportinately focussed on the negatives.Bottom line, I just don't think there's much info here that you can't get for free somewhere else, like Yahoo Real Estate guides.In addition, online you can plug all your own numbers (like salary and debt burden) right into the online calculators (to tell you the maximum mortgage payment you can afford).So unless you really want the info packaged in book form I wouldn't buy this.

Other minor nit-picks:

1. The first part of the book is useless fluff.It covers stuff like "do you want 3 bedrooms or more" and "do you want a fireplace."I suppose it should be expected, but for me it wasn't necessary.That parts easy.Tell me how to get the best mortgage!Tell me how to get the best price!

2. All of the examples are from Indiana which is where the authors must be from.The authors would often say things like "this is how it's done in Indiana but it might be different in your state so you should check."I brought the book for you to tell me!They should include an appendix for these things telling you how it is for all 50 states instead of saying the sames things 3 times to get the page count up.Furthermore whenever they get into these issues (usually legal issues, such as how much information the seller is required to disclose to potential buyers) they don't even tell you how to find out if you were sufficiently motivated to investigate the matter yourself.

Product Description
The top-selling, most complete buyer's and seller's guide available.

The top-selling book on the subject, this latest edition of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home focuses on everything to do with the sale and purchase of a house. With updated information on finding good schools and neighborhoods, expanded coverage on home auction sales, and the changing options buyers and sellers have with brokers, this is the best home buyer's and seller's guide on the market.

About the Author
Shelley O'Hara has written more than 30 books. She works closely with real estate agents and specialists in the real estate market.
Nancy D. Lewis is a freelance editor and author of numerous books on lifestyles topics. She is also a multiple home buyer and seller.

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Review of Home Buying For Dummies, 3rd edition (Paperback)

I just successfully bought my first house.I shopped Amazon.com and bought half-a-dozen "how to" books for buying a house before I started my search.I was buying this house on my own, and had no one to rely on for hand-holding or expert advice.I also had a lot of qualms about the whole process.Out of all the books I bought, this was the one I kept going back to.It's typical of a "Dummies" book in that it doesn't give you too much unusable knowledge, but--coversely--it also doesn't drill down to the nth degree on any one topic.This is okay, though.With the usual high-quality editing that goes into most "Dummies" books, this one is very easy to read.It talks about who to hire (e.g., real estate agent, mortgage broker, etc.), how to go about hiring them, how to go about getting a mortgage, what are the ins-and-outs of mortgages, how to get a down-payment together, and--I thought--most importantly; how to budget yourself in preparation for homeownership.This part on figuring out what you spend as a renter and what you think you'll spend as a homeowner helps you decide how much of a house you can afford, and, in my experience, this is one of the big mysteries of buying your first house.Overall, the book is comforting, reliable [now that I'm in a house, I can see that the advice was good], and well organized.If you don't know much about how to buy a house, this is a fine start and a trustworthy source of information.

Product Description
Though fun and exciting, buying a home can also be complicated and confusing-and most people learn the hard way that a wrong move can cost dearly. In order to find the perfect home at the best price, you must have skill, foresight, and a little guidance from experienced professionals.

Home Buying for Dummies, Third Edition provides just that! Packed with invaluable advice in an objective, down-to-earth style that will have you sitting in your dream home in no time, this friendly guide contains everything you need to know to play the home buying game. It has the tools you need to:

• Improve your credit score and select a mortgage
• Choose a time and place to buy
• Determine the price you want to pay
• Assemble an all-star real estate team
• Make use of the wonderful world of the Internet
• Negotiate your best deal
• Inspect and protect your home
• Handle and become responsible for the title
• Cope with buyer's remorse

Featured in this guide are tips and tricks on things you should do after you seal the deal, as well as things you ought to know about real estate investing. Also included is advice on how to sell your house, as well as a sample real estate purchase contract and a good inspection report. Don't get chewed up by the real estate market-Home Buying for Dummies, Third Edition will lead you to the home you want!



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Review of California Residential Foreclosures: The Complete Guide to Equity Purchases and the Laws Governing Distress Sales (Paperback)

A very useful book.Good boilerplate forms that you can read/use when preparing for your purchase. This book is for equity investors only. It is NOT for people trying to buy a foreclosure as their primary residence!

Product Description
If you are interested in learning the mechanics of buying and selling homes in foreclosure from the experts, then this book is for you. California Residential Foreclosures takes you beyond the foreclosure hype and into the practical mechanics and legal framework required to successfully execute a sale or purchase of distressed residential property.

Buyers and sellers will learn how to confidently complete transactions with simple step-by-step examples while gaining a comprehensive understanding of the pitfalls and prevailing laws that govern such transactions.

Furthermore, this book will arm the equity purchase (EP) investor with the expertise needed to apply all EP rules while personally handling the negotiations and documentation necessary to contract for, escrow and acquire a home during the period the property is in foreclosure.

Real estate licensees and lawyers will find a comprehensive and complete treatment of the subject matter. Whether you act as an agent to a transaction or as an attorney advisor to a client, this book provides the most current laws and covers all the relevant statutory provisions that control interactions between sellers-in-foreclosure and investors.

This book also covers the rules of taxation on short sales and discharges of indebtedness.

Filled with scores of case examples that present the subject matter in an easy to understand, hands-on approach, California Residential Foreclosures will arm homeowners, investors, licensees and attorneys with the tools necessary to handle all aspects of the sale and acquisition of residential property in foreclosure.

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Review of How to Sell Your Home in Any Market: 6 Reasons Why Your Home Isn't Selling... and What You Can Do to Fix Them (Paperback)

"How to Sell Your Home in Any Market" is really a great read.It's both entertaining and chock full of great information.The author outlines the reasons some homes sell and others don't.Then he goes through techniques for staging a home, how to price a home the right way and why some agents aren't completely honest in their pricing.He explains lots of different marketing ideas, websites, and advertising methods and then he starts talking about "desperation methods".He also has a start to finish outline of the selling process, and explains some differences when selling a home on your own or using a Realtor.

But what really set this book apart was all the real life stories.For every section, he has a couple stories explaining how each technique was used and what made it work.Really terrific!I rate this 5 stars!How to Sell Your Home in Any Market: 6 Reasons Why Your Home Isn't Selling... and What You Can Do to Fix Them



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