How to Buy a House with No (or Little) Money Down, 3rd Edition

Rating:
Summary: Great information, but don't be fooled by the title!
Review: As no one had written a review of this book when I purchased it, I bought it based on the title alone; but don't let it fool you. It's not 300 pages on buying a home with little or no money down alone, as I would have thought, and primarily what I bought it for. Most of the chapters are simply about buying a house.

There is helpful and thorough information about figuring out how much house you can afford, credit, tax savings, home owners insurance, mortages, what to look for if inspecting the house yourself, etc. There are also many helpful sample and example forms such as House Closing/Refinance Data and Gift Letters. Also provided are tables that calculate credit ratings, mortages, etc. There are sample lists of what to look for at each viewing and sample tables of how to compare all of the properties. The book is riddled with "Example", "Note", "Caution", and "Tip" asides that help to explain, warn, and advize. Also, at the end of each chapter is a chapter summary, which is nice, because if you're not sure if you need to read the entire chapter or not, you can read the chapter summary first and decide then if you need more information. Each chapter is not set up like a novel either, which is also nice. It's broken down into smaller sections with informative headings so you really don't need to read the entire book to pinpoint the information you want.

One of the most helpful parts of this book is the glossary in the back of the book. We are first time home buyers, and I am not familiar with much of the terminology of home buying, so I found the glossary helpful in understanding what I was reading.

Now to the point of the book, buying a house with little or no money down. There is no "true" way to buy a house with no money down. You still need several thousand dollars in closing fees. There are two chapters in this book about "no" money down. Chapter 7 is called "Mom and Dad (Or a Good Friend) Give the Down Payment" and discusses taxes, shows sample forms to use, and gives tips and examples to help. Chapter 8 is called "Borrow the Downpayment from Family or Friends". This chapter discusses types of loans, interest rates, collateral, security, etc and provides an example of a form you would use if you chose to borrow the money from family or friends.

Chapter 10, "FHA Insured Mortgages", is what I was hoping this book would be all about, because of the title. If you are buying this book soley for information on buying a house with little money down, you will find that this is the most helpful chapter. (In addition to the FHA mortages, the author provides names, numbers, and websites for other agencies to go to that offer 3% or less down payments.) The author discusses how FHA morgages work, how much of a down payment you will need (1.25-2.85% depending on the area), benefits and drawbacks, how to qualify, and probably most importantly, how to obtain one. Just like the rest of the book there are "Tip"s and "Caution"s and tables to help explain.

Although I was disappointed that this book is not ALL about buying a house with little or no money down, as the title implies, there is lots of very useful, helpful, informative information in this book. However, no one book has everything. I would recomend, "100 Questions Every First-TIme Home Buyer Should Ask" by Ilyce R. Glink in addition to this book to any first-time home buyer out there.

Happy House Hunting! :-)

Rating:
Summary: Great information, but don't be fooled by the title!
Review: As no one had written a review of this book when I purchased it, I bought it based on the title alone; but don't let it fool you. It's not 300 pages on buying a home with little or no money down alone, as I would have thought, and primarily what I bought it for. Most of the chapters are simply about buying a house.

There is helpful and thorough information about figuring out how much house you can afford, credit, tax savings, home owners insurance, mortages, what to look for if inspecting the house yourself, etc. There are also many helpful sample and example forms such as House Closing/Refinance Data and Gift Letters. Also provided are tables that calculate credit ratings, mortages, etc. There are sample lists of what to look for at each viewing and sample tables of how to compare all of the properties. The book is riddled with "Example", "Note", "Caution", and "Tip" asides that help to explain, warn, and advize. Also, at the end of each chapter is a chapter summary, which is nice, because if you're not sure if you need to read the entire chapter or not, you can read the chapter summary first and decide then if you need more information. Each chapter is not set up like a novel either, which is also nice. It's broken down into smaller sections with informative headings so you really don't need to read the entire book to pinpoint the information you want.

One of the most helpful parts of this book is the glossary in the back of the book. We are first time home buyers, and I am not familiar with much of the terminology of home buying, so I found the glossary helpful in understanding what I was reading.

Now to the point of the book, buying a house with little or no money down. There is no "true" way to buy a house with no money down. You still need several thousand dollars in closing fees. There are two chapters in this book about "no" money down. Chapter 7 is called "Mom and Dad (Or a Good Friend) Give the Down Payment" and discusses taxes, shows sample forms to use, and gives tips and examples to help. Chapter 8 is called "Borrow the Downpayment from Family or Friends". This chapter discusses types of loans, interest rates, collateral, security, etc and provides an example of a form you would use if you chose to borrow the money from family or friends.

Chapter 10, "FHA Insured Mortgages", is what I was hoping this book would be all about, because of the title. If you are buying this book soley for information on buying a house with little money down, you will find that this is the most helpful chapter. (In addition to the FHA mortages, the author provides names, numbers, and websites for other agencies to go to that offer 3% or less down payments.) The author discusses how FHA morgages work, how much of a down payment you will need (1.25-2.85% depending on the area), benefits and drawbacks, how to qualify, and probably most importantly, how to obtain one. Just like the rest of the book there are "Tip"s and "Caution"s and tables to help explain.

Although I was disappointed that this book is not ALL about buying a house with little or no money down, as the title implies, there is lots of very useful, helpful, informative information in this book. However, no one book has everything. I would recomend, "100 Questions Every First-TIme Home Buyer Should Ask" by Ilyce R. Glink in addition to this book to any first-time home buyer out there.

Happy House Hunting! :-)

Rating:
Summary: This book is great to help you think about buying a home
Review: As noted by other reviewers, you can not buy a house with absolutely no money down. I did find out that it does not take as much as you think it will take. This book helps you really think about your options and what resources you have and how you can get that down payment. Nothing is absolute in financing for a home there are alot of variables for each state and city. So read this book to help you think differently and then ask questions of friends, family and of course those who are work in the housing market you are looking to buy in.

For me this book really helped me to think differently about how to get my down payment and closing cost. I used some ideas and created my own based upon what I learned.

I have owned my own home now for over a year and it has been one of the best things I have ever done. We did an FHA loan and used other sources to secure the downpayment. We did not use our credit cards, which I disagree with the authors about. I bought a great home in a solid neighborhood and the value of the home has already gone up. I am expecting to refinance my home in 2-4 years and see my mortgage go down. This is such a better deal than paying rent :)