Rating: 
Summary: "...Our House Is A Very Very Very Fine House..."
Review: ... Personally, my idea of the ideal situation is to not even BUY a house, but to BUILD one on one's own ( with help from friends and professionals, of course, if necessary ) on LAND that one would purchase in a beautiful location out in the country, on a south slope overlooking a lake in a scenic valley down below. This would be a dream-come-true. ...... But, in the meantime, for many of us, it is sometimes necessary to actually BUY a house to live in if one no longer feels comfortable renting from landlords, for whatever reason. In order to do this - buy a house - one needs money. If you have PLENTY of money, and paying CASH in-full for a house is not a problem, then you may think that you may not need to read this book. ... DON'T! ... Even if you have ALL the money in the world, you should STILL read this book BEFORE buying a house because all of the valuable, well-researched, and well-organized information presented in its excellent pages by its experienced authors will save you from suffering from countless sleepless nights, headaches, and aggravations! ... ... Now, if you are NOT very wealthy and if, like most of us, you may actually have to BORROW money "from the bank" in order to purchase a home to live in, then NOT reading this very helpful book should be out of the question - especially if you have NEVER bought a house before. Not reading this book WAY before you even start to SERIOUSLY entertain the notion of buying a house could cost you THOUSANDS of dollars in the long run! ... ... Here's just ONE example of a healthy tip from page 235 of this great book: "Buyers who lowball a well-priced property listed by sellers who can wait for a better offer destroy any chance of developing the mutual trust and sense of fair play upon which cooperative negotiation is based. Bargaininig is fine, but you must find a motivated seller and not aim too low. Starting at 25 percent below what the home is worth generally won't work unless the seller is desperate." ... ... If you're going to buy a house, you MUST read this book! You will NEVER regret it. ... YOWZA! - The Aeolian Kid
Rating:
Summary: Covers all the basics and advanced points -- well done!
Review: I purchased this book for a friend, as a gift. This book is not just for dummies. Several important advanced points were covered that most real estate buying guides do not warn you about. So, if you buy this book, just remember the tips mentioned. The authors have done a good job trying to help you from making a serious mistake. And ... how big of an investment is buying a home? You may need to buy a reference book of vocabulary terms -- as your next book.
Rating:
Summary: It's great, but why?
Review: I'm an idiot. I was so bored one weekend so I sat down and read this whole book my dad had bought for himself. But if I was shopping for a home, this would be the book. It is so funny and will help anyone searching for a home!
Rating:
Summary: Covers nearly every aspect of the home-buying process.
Review: As a first-time home buyer, I found this book invaluable. It explains alot of concepts, has a great appendix of terms, and is a 'fun read' - i.e., humor throughout keeps it interesting. I read Tyson's Personal Finance For Dummies and loved it, and I have the same to say about this book too. It starts off with guiding you through numbers, how much you can afford, and ideas about accumulating a down-payment. It explains the looking process, how to spot good property and "OPT's" (Over Priced Turkeys!) More chapters on mortgage, closing, and most importantly, reminds you that the time to think about selling your house is when you're buying it. I keep going back to several chapters as a reference. More than once, my mortgage broker said, "Wow, you've really done your homework!" I have another book, but this one is the biggest help. I plan on buying Mortgages For Dummies now too. Tyson and Brown did a great job here, thank you!
Rating: 
Summary: Basic
Review: a good started but some of the ideas and suggestions are too basic and they do not give an accurate and real image of the home buying experience and what is the best way to do it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I purchased this book only because several of my clients have talked about it. I have been in the mortgage business for many years and I consider this one of the most informative books available for home buyers. Great Job....
Rating:
Summary: Go In With Knowledge
Review: This book helped me to understand and be aware of the many goings on in a real estate transaction. I was able to go into the process prepared and with good questions to ask my agent about the property, costs, etc. I highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: This is the book I used most often
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great For First Time Home Buyers
Review: We had no idea what we were in for when we decided to buy our first home. This book helped us to understand everything from finding a good neighborhood and inspecting the home to mortgages, escrow, and responsible financial management. It doesn't go terribly in depth into every topic, so you may need to do some extra research on a few things, but if you don't know much about real estate to begin with, it's an excellent way to find out exactly what you don't know. Don't buy your first home without it!
Rating: 
Summary: This book helped me buy my first home
Review: ...if you read this you will probably not be surprised by anything in the home-buying process. Very useful information and recommendations, probably more information than any one person would need - so it's likely to cover most bases. It's not inspired writing, but it is good. Glad I bought/used it.
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