Rating: 
Summary: The Best
Review: The Best Available For Lookers/buyers/Sellers - Everyone The brilliance of HB For Dummies is taking important factual information, condensing (but not oversimplifying) it, organizing it, and labeling it with headers and bullets making the info. easy to find. It seems every angle and potential situation is noted here for home buyers, sellers, or anyone contemplating this major undertaking. The chapters are organized perfectly for you to go immediately where you want to go in this book. Think of all of the millions of people who purchased their first home recently (2002-3), motivated by the lowest interest rates in decades. Many of them have likely paid higher and/or unnecessary fees, or had the process slowed because they weren't willing to read 30 minutes a week to get the basics down. The duties of all of the 7 most common players in a home purchase and sale are described. The RE Agent, Broker, Lender, Property Inspector, Escrow officer, Financial and Tax Advisors, and Lawyer (if latter need be) are included. What should be expected of them, negotiating fees, which party pays them, and what actions are considered the norm and reasonable are detailed. And of course: all of the potential red flags, and how to spot them are enumerated also. What 11 questions should you ask the Real Estate Agents you interview to represent you? Find out here. Most folks don't keep track of the details of the current home
values more than the generalities of it being a cold, sluggish, warm or hot market. There are instructions in this book on specifically how you can get comparable pricing of the values of what you are looking for in a home in the community you live in. For some of the nuts and bolts, in the financing chapter for example, there is a list of 22 items you need to bring to a mortgage lender: original copies of the 8821 Form, inspection report, the closing cost worksheet, and various sections of the U.R.L.A. will give you confidence of having at least the basic background knowledge so you can know what to expect when you begin the process. How much will Homeowners insurance cost you? It's here. Doing your homework before-hand is much better than learning as you go along, which can surprise, sadden, cost more, and at times intimidate the first (or 2nd time) buyer. In the back of the book there are appendixes that contain more original documents, such as the Purchase Contract. There is a comprehensive glossary of terms, and an index. Another helpful book is "The 106 Most Common Mistakes Home Buyers Make (And How To Avoid Them)" by Eldred. But HB For Dummies has much, much, more. HB For Dummies provides the most bang for buck.
Rating:
Summary: Buying a House? Buy this book 1st (it will pay for itself)
Review: My wife and I purchased this book to help us in our hunt for our first home. We were total novices about the entire home buying process since we had always been apartment dwellers. I read through the book several times over the course of a month. The book armed me with good questions to ask my realtor and the seller's agent as well. It was particularly invaluable when addressing mortgage loans and funding alternatives. 48 hours from now my wife and I will close on our first home. This book gave us confidence in our decision making by helping us evaluate a wide variety of criteria we would not have otherwise thought of. The peace of mind this book gave is worth many times more than we spent for it. If you are buying a home as a novice, you simply MUST purchase this book. Even if you are a veteran home buyer, I really believe this book will have value for you as well.
Rating: 
Summary: Only buy this book if you really are a dummy
Review: This is the first "for dummies" book I've ever bought. It's also going to be the last. They're not kidding with the title. Instead of stating their point simply and clearly, the authors patronize the readers with silly stories. For example, instead of saying something like "do not buy a house that's too far from your work," the authors spend a paragraph telling a story of some poor dummy who did buy a house too far from his work and ended up hating everything. Oh, and BTW, if you need a book to tell you that you shouldn't buy a house that's far from your work, then this book is for you. The information presented is oversimplified, incomplete, and sometimes just incorrect. Moreover, this book will not help you at all if you're dealing with an unusual market, such as SF Bay Area, NYC, LA, etc. I'm not in the real estate business, nor do I have any vested interest in anybody buying or not buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent sequel to House Selling for Dummies
Review: When I was relocating across country, I first read these authors House Selling for Dummies book. It was outstanding and surely saved me a lot of money and hassle. After renting for a while in my new location, I then read Home Buying for Buying which was just as excellent. The only mistake I made was it not following its advice in interviewing agents. Through my company I used Coldwell Banker real estate agency relo service which was awful. This book covered how to arrange my finances so as to figure how much home I could afford as well as how to intelligently select where and what to buy.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for anyone interested in the home buying process
Review: Eric Tyson is a savvy writer with a wealth of knowledge that is shared in this fantastic book. I am a first time home buyer and purchased numerous books about the process; this one is by far the best. It served as my "jungle guide", and I found myself referring to this book on a daily basis for information. His chapters on gathering a solid real estate team, comparable market analysis, and escrow were particularly enlightening. Tyson's wit and the easy-to-read Dummies style proved a quick read and served to give me the confidence to discern what I wanted and ask the tough questions about one of life's bigger decisions. If there is ONE book to buy regarding home buying, buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Helpful Handbook
Review: I read this book not knowing anything about buying a home. It was easy to follow and understand. I have since used it as a reference over an over again as I wait for my closing date. The mortgage person actually made sense to me because I had read that book and it was a much less intimidating experience because I had read the book. It had great examples which I hightlighted and I highly recommend it. I had bought another one about First Time Home Buyer but it was too short and simple. I felt confident I could do this after reading Home Buying for Dummies.
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Summary: A must for new buyers
Review: This book is amazing. I never considered buying a "for Dummies" series book because I thought they would be overly simplisitic, but this book proved me wrong. The authors do an awesome job of presenting just enough detail on every aspect of buying a home- I kept catching myself having a questions, then reading on to the net chapter and finding the answer. You may be tempted to skip around from chapter to chapter, but I've found that reading this book from the beginning is almost necessary since things like understanding which mortgage to get and how much of a house you want are all dependant on answers you arrive at in early chapters. I've just finished the book and feel well prepared and educated to tackle the house-hunting task now. A definite read.
Rating:
Summary: Only buy this book if you really are a dummy
Review: This is the first "for dummies" book I've ever bought. It's also going to be the last. They're not kidding with the title. Instead of stating their point simply and clearly, the authors patronize the readers with silly stories. For example, instead of saying something like "do not buy a house that's too far from your work," the authors spend a paragraph telling a story of some poor dummy who did buy a house too far from his work and ended up hating everything. Oh, and BTW, if you need a book to tell you that you shouldn't buy a house that's far from your work, then this book is for you. The information presented is oversimplified, incomplete, and sometimes just incorrect. Moreover, this book will not help you at all if you're dealing with an unusual market, such as SF Bay Area, NYC, LA, etc. I'm not in the real estate business, nor do I have any vested interest in anybody buying or not buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: This book will save you a lot more $$$ than its sell price
Review: This is a great book and gets you thinking about topics and asking questions that your realtor or mortgage lender / broker probably wouldn't otherwise bring up for you. While it does not go into real depth on any single subject, it highlights enough to really help you become an educated buyer. It addresses everything from getting financially positioned to buy a house in the first place (e.g. pay off your bills, save some cash), to finding a good mortgage that works for you (e.g. fixed-rates versus ARMs), understanding where and what are good buys (e.g. principles of progression and regression), forming a team (e.g. realtor, mortgage lender, etc), and the offer / counter/ and escrow processes. With all the info you'll learn, you will easily save yourself the cost of this book (probably many times over). The only drawback is that this book provides general information for all of America as a whole - it does not address specific real estate hot-spots such as Southern California.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but there's a better one
Review: Having read both this volume and the Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home, I recommend the idiot's guide over this one. The main reason is because the latter is better written and easier to understand. Home Buying for Dummies is very comprehensive but reminds me of my own Ph.D. dissertation: heavy on theory but little on practicalities. The idiot's guide presents information in a way that make it easier to digest and follow. In short, this is a good advice primer for first-time home buyers, but I think you get a better book and also a better value if you buy the complete idiot's guide version. (I'm not affiliated with any authors or publishers, nor do I even know or have met them in any manner.)
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