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10 Comments on “Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)”

1. P. Novak
   November 1st, 2010 at 7:29 am

   Review by P. Novak for Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)
   Rating:
   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.
   

2. Michael Olshansky
   November 1st, 2010 at 8:11 am

   Review by Michael Olshansky for Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)
   Rating:
   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!

3. Gadgester
   November 1st, 2010 at 8:22 am

   Review by Gadgester for Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)
   Rating:
   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.
   

4. Midwest Book Review
   November 1st, 2010 at 8:34 am

   Review by Midwest Book Review for Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)
   Rating:
   Ilona Bray, Alayna Schroeder and Marcia Stewart’s NOLO’S ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO BUYING YOUR FIRST HOME is also a standard reference which combines the savvy of buying a first home with legal tips designed to clarify common obstacles to the process. From deciding between a house, condo or coop to getting inspections, insurance, and negotiating with sellers, this is a top pick blending the real-world stories of over twenty first-time home buyer with insights from a team of real estate pros including attorneys, a home inspector, a neighborhood researcher, a mortgage specialist and more. This team approach sets the Nolo guide far above most authored by real estate agents alone.

5. amarkist
   November 1st, 2010 at 9:03 am

   Review by amarkist for Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home (book with CD-Rom & Audio)
   Rating:
   This is a great read for a first time homebuyer because it explains things clearly and thoroughly without making many assumptions about what you know. I liked the section on alternative forms of financing, especially useful in this day of ever more restrictive bank lending.

   However, it basically assumes you are going to be using a real estate agent/broker/realtor, so I was disappointed because I want to work without one and I hoped this book would make me independent.

   The forms are weak; I was hoping for some sample Offers or Contracts, but instead it has a dream house worksheet and some random other forms which are so small and basic that they could easily be offered for free as a download instead of necessitating the enclosed CD.

6. Meredith
   November 1st, 2010 at 9:41 am

   Review by Meredith for Home Buying For Dummies, 4th Edition
   Rating:
   A friend recommended this book, and it is a helpful reference that covers all the basics. Confused by inspection and what to expect? There are helpful hints and good definitions to help you figure that stuff out. This book helped “calm me down” by explaining all the processes of home buying in a simple way so there were no surprises.

   My only real gripe is that the book is VERY California biased. While it is impossible to clarify all the nuances of buying a home in different states, counties, and towns… the homebuying process differs significantly in California than most of the northeast. Well, the process may be the same – but escrow agents? Huh? We got lawyers for that. Some terminology was a bit confusing. And there was plenty of coverage about earthquakes… but what about snow? Or what to look for with different types of heat? These are HUGE concerns when buying a house in the northeast and these issues aren’t even discussed. I felt the book could be more comprehensive in addressing homebuying across the USA… not just in Cali.

7. Fritz R. Ward
   November 1st, 2010 at 10:37 am

   Review by Fritz R. Ward for Home Buying For Dummies, 4th Edition
   Rating:
   New home buyers might be tempted by the 2009 combination of low home prices, low interest rates, and federal incentives to start searching for a home. If you do, and especially if you live in a heavily regulated state like California, books like this one are extremely valuable. Much of the advice might seem “obvious” when you think about it (why do you “need” title insurance anyway?) but no one thinks about all aspects of purchasing a home when they first enter the market. This book spells out all the steps you need to take from deciding whether you really need to buy a home at all (if you are planning to move soon, don’t) to saving for a down payment all the way through escrow. Mortgage options (15 v. 30 year, adjustable or fixed) are also covered in some detail so potential homebuyers can make sound choices. It is, on the whole, a very useful book.

   This For Dummies guide also includes quite a bit of valuable information most people would not think of when buying a home. Sandbagging by mortgage companies is moderately more common than you might expect in a down market and this guide tells you how to recognize it. The authors also explain why sellers, in general, are not very realistic about what their property is worth and how to effectively use the internet when searching for a home. Hint, mortgage calculators are not nearly as useful as they are convenient. You should know from your own budget (including contributions for retirement savings) what you can afford, and not be pushed into a house beyond your means by a calculator that only considers your income and debt ratios. Finally, the book covers the psychology of home purchases, including buyers remorse and negotiations.

   There is simply too much in this book to cover it all. Suffice to say, this is not a guide to getting rich in real estate. The authors (wrongly, in my opinion) do view real estate as an investment but first time home buyers, the target audience for this book, should not. Homes can in fact be something of a liability. But the 4th edition of ‘Home Buying for Dummies’ can help you limit the costs associated with buying your home and for this reason alone the book is invaluable. And if, in the future, you should actually make money on your purchase, more power to you. Besides, the authors have another title for you on how to sell your home. If it is even close to as comprehensive as this book, you should buy it too when the time comes.

8. bobb
   November 1st, 2010 at 10:41 am

   Review by bobb for Home Buying For Dummies, 4th Edition
   Rating:
   I was hoping the 4th Edition of this book brings more relevant items pertained to the 2008 crash and what’s happening in the last 12 mos. But I should had known, paper books take awhile to edit, publish, stock, so I feel I kinda wasted my money and could had borrowed a 3rd Ed from the library instead. But if u are not paying full retail like I did go4rit. Overall excellent info for the first-time buyer. I personally wish it has gone into more details of some of the items. To complement this book, you most likely have to get another one on FORECLOSURE unless u absolutely shunt going this route. A separate book on MORTGAGE is also recommended for completeness.

9. Benjamin N. Barril
   November 1st, 2010 at 10:47 am

   Review by Benjamin N. Barril for Home Buying For Dummies, 4th Edition
   Rating:
   First time home buying can be a daunting and confusing process. This book spells out in detail all the steps required from evaluating how much money you can use to buy the house to actually closing on the property. I was half way through the act of buying a house and found if full of facts and tips to help me understand the process. In fact, I still reference the book to make sure that I completley understand and am aware of what exactly is happening. Additionally, there are tips for investing, both in money markets and in property. I would reccomend this book to anyone who is about to buy a home, whether for the first time or a seasoned second or third time home buyer. Great job!

10. Anonymous
    November 1st, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Review by for Home Buying For Dummies, 4th Edition
    Rating:
    Read this book before shopping for our first house and it helped. The most helpful sections are the finances checklist of renting vs. owning that everyone should complete before even thinking about looking for a home, as well as the mortgage rates table and home inspection section. Definitely a worthwile primer for a first time home buyer like myself. Buying a home is definitely a geographically based purchase – buying a home in the Northeast is different than in the Midwest, the Rust Belt, The Bible Belt, etc., so the book can’t get too specific to your area but helps with the nuts and bolts.

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