Rating: 
Summary: A real confidence builder
Review: This book is written for people who want to buy smart. It is not written for those "newbies" who want to be led by the hand without exercising any of their own intelligence. For homebuyers in the "smart" category this book is the best. It alerts you to so many things that you probably wouldn't even have thought of. But then it tells you how to go about making sure that you don't fall into a common trap. The advice in the mortgage financing section is worth far more than the price of the book. For us knowing what could go wrong and how to deal with it was a real confidence builder. Highly recommended for people who can think for themselves. The basic message is this: Don't fear homebuying, fear lack of knowledge. Then it delivers rhe knowledge that gives you the ability to make better decisions.
Rating: 
Summary: Grossly exaggerated!!!
Review: This book is written for the benefit of real estate agents. I am constantly irrated by the author bragging on how real estate would make money. Based on what? His calculations are seriously flawed to a point that it is not even funny. He assumes one does not need money to maintain his/her house - no money out. I did a simple calculation which assumes $180,000 house with 10% down and 3.25% property tax and 6.5% interest rate on 30 years term. The out of pocket money WITH tax credit will run you up to $1100. If you add lawn mow, cable, water, electricty etc., you know what I am talking about. This is the money down the drain. You house needs to appreciate at least 9% to just break even, and how can the author say 4% appreciation rate would make you money? I give it 3 stars because it does provide some good comments like priorities you need to list out before you buy. It is still a good read on many other topics. I just hope the author can save his sales pitch.
Rating: 
Summary: Felt like I was in some sort of salesman seminar!
Review: This book just basically lists chapter after chapter everything that can go wrong ... when buying a house. Fine, that is the title after all, but I didn't find it very helpful. It seemed like a sales pitch to me somehow (how to get the best deal, etc). It isn't until the last chapter when they say the biggest mistake of all is "being too afraid to buy because of fear of making a mistake." Well, after reading that book how can one NOT be suddenly afraid of all that can go wrong??? This book is definitely not good for newbies to the house-buying market. It just freaked us out way too much. A better book for newbies is BUY YOUR FIRST HOME by Robert Irwin. His was informative and reassuring somehow. It walks you through the facts without freaking you out about every possible thing that can go wrong, which I found much more helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I had hoped...
Review: Though the basic information was valuable (how to buy a home if you're cash poor, for instance, and the solid examples of how a home purchase creates wealth), I was disappointed in a significant portion of the book. The author makes recommendations (determine if selling prices in your neighborhood are going up or down, if the city you're buying in is in economic decline, what are the unemployment rates, etc. etc.) without ANY guidance as to where to find this information. This book purports to be for the novice homebuyer...and we novices need to know how to go about these tasks!
Rating:
Summary: A Should Have For Owner-Occupiers (And Future Landlords)
Review: Through these enumerated boo-boos you can learn what to do correctly. By seeing through the window of these (potential) mistakes you can learn the correct way to carry out a real-estate transaction by knowing what needs to be known beforehand, and to avoid errors that will exist following a done deal. These mistakes often can be long-term and expensive. A lot of time was taken in this book to cover almost every aspect and scenario that is conceivable when you plunk down the funds to purchase a home. The focus here is on residential real-estate with the purchaser intending to become an owner-occupier. Detached homes, sociological trends, condos, investing, and closing out the mortgage are some of the many, many, factors detailed. Very helpful and informative.
Rating:
Summary: A Should Have For Owner-Occupiers (And Future Landlords)
Review: Through these enumerated boo-boos you can learn what to do correctly. By seeing through the window of these (potential) mistakes you can learn the correct way to carry out a real-estate transaction by knowing what needs to be known beforehand, and to avoid errors that will exist following a done deal. These mistakes often can be long-term and expensive. A lot of time was taken in this book to cover almost every aspect and scenario that is conceivable when you plunk down the funds to purchase a home. The focus here is on residential real-estate with the purchaser intending to become an owner-occupier. Detached homes, sociological trends, condos, investing, and closing out the mortgage are some of the many, many, factors detailed. Very helpful and informative.
Rating:
Summary: Don't Buy Without It!
Review: Unfortunately, we read 106 Mistakes AFTER we bought. Had we read it BEFORE we woud have saved about 300 times the price of the book because of just two mistakes we made(mortgage costs and tricks with warranties) that this book covers.This book (better than the others we did read) really helps because it illustrates the details of homebuying with dozens of real-life experiences. We saw ourselves repeatedly--and you will too. Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: Unique and highly recommended
Review: Unlike any other homebuying book I've seen. Really gets into the nitty gritty of what to do right and what to avoid. Good discussion of your home as an investment. Also, some warning signals to watch for that might signal a downturn in your local market. Highly recommended for homebuyers who want something more than the general basic blather of most HB books.
Rating:
Summary: Great practical examples
Review: Unlike most homebuying books I've seen, this one really helped me see what to look for by relating the advice to real-life stories (examples) that accompany most of the principles. Entertaining and informative. Great read from voices of experience.
Rating:
Summary: Explains qualifying best
Review: Unlike the formalistic(simplistic) qualifying formulas of most homebuying books and articles, this author shows how to arrange your finances to get qualified. I liked the fact that the book doesn't just tell how to figure "how much home you can afford." Instead, it encourages you to decide how much home you want to buy--and then helps you design a plan to reach your goal. Obviously, there are limits to this approach. But these limits are far greater than I realized.
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