Home Buying For Dummies, 3rd edition by Eric Tyson (PDF)

Description

Though fun and exciting, buying a home can also be complicated and confusing—and most people learn the hard way that a wrong move can cost dearly. In order to find the perfect home at the best price, you must have skill, foresight, and a little guidance from experienced professionals. Home Buying for Dummies, Third Edition provides just that! Packed with invaluable advice in an objective, down-to-earth style that will have you sitting in your dream home in no time, this friendly guide contains everything you need to know to play the home buying game. It has the tools you need to:Improve your credit score and select a mortgageChoose a time and place to buyDetermine the price you want to payAssemble an all-star real estate teamMake use of the wonderful world of the InternetNegotiate your best dealInspect and protect your homeHandle and become responsible for the titleCope with buyer’s remorseFeatured in this guide are tips and tricks on things you should do after you seal the deal, as well as things you ought to know about real estate investing. Also included is advice on how to sell your house, as well as a sample real estate purchase contract and a good inspection report. Don’t get chewed up by the real estate market—Home Buying for Dummies, Third Edition will lead you to the home you want!

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From the Back Cover “If you are considering buying a home, don’t fail to read this excellent new book.” —Robert Bruss, real estate columnist, about Home Buying For Dummies, 1st EditionIn the market for a home, but don’t know where to start? Not to worry! From financing, mortgages, and credit scores to closing the deal, bestselling real estate authors Eric Tyson and Ray Brown walk you step by step through the entire home-buying process.Discover how toHarness the Internet to help in your searchDetermine how much home you can affordSelect the right type of mortgageWork with agents, brokers, lenders, and lawyersResearch neighborhoods and home values About the Author Ray Brown, a real estate professional for more than 30 years, hosts a real estate radio show in San Francisco.

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐When searching for a good teaching tool/reference for first time home buying, the list of publications can be endless and confusing. This one book will lead you step by step through each of the processes involved. Having NO PRIOR HOME BUYING KNOWLEDGE, I eagerly opened this book with highlighter in hand, reading cover to cover on all topics from finding an honest agent to buying fixer-uppers, researching mortgages, neighborhoods, etc., even whether you should consider renting vs. buyng, and all the little details in between. You will learn things you never knew before, and I found myself constantly referring to many chapters throughout our experience in searching for a home. I recommend this book to anyone seeking stratightforward and easy to understand info, no fancy jargon to cut through, just plain language writing on a very in depth subject. The book’s lay out is reader-friendly as well, making it very simple to locate exactly the subject you need. Don’t pass this one up!

⭐I’ve been so beset with worry and vexation, I’ve barely been creative; this expensive membership in utterly bland Dummie-town must cease. While some real estate markets show improvement in values, other areas are mired in a persistent financial blight, with homeowners trapped in extreme upside/down mortgages, surrounded by foreclosures. This is the American Nightmare, not Dream. We read this book, and others, including

⭐, prior to making the worst financial decision of our lives: buying a condo at the height of the housing bubble. This book barely touches on complex topics deeply relevant to those considering purchasing condominiums (for more information, read below). Meanwhile, our community was hard-hit by the Housing Depression. A nice unit has been for-sale for 3 years, for far less than we paid for ours, while others go to auction. A neighboring unit was abandoned 2½ years ago; it’s being sold at auction. Two other recently foreclosed units were sold in auctions for a pittance.We frugally saved for decades in order to eventually buy our own home, paid off student loans, have an old vehicle, no vacations, no extras, etc., and were facing painful disability. Our savings was squandered by buying when we did. Ironically, if we’d remained renters we would now be able to buy a decent home outright. Since buying, our property has lost almost 40% in value. We thought being owners would give us more autonomy, more freedom. What a joke! Between interest rates, loss of equity (massive negative “appreciation”), high local taxes, high HOA fees, etc., we will be negatively impacted by this boondoggle for the rest of our lives. If only we had remained renters … buying when we did was a massive rip-off, a false “American Dream.” This book did little to ameliorate our naivete regarding the complexity of condo living, which we thought would be easier and simpler. Wrong! Many issues of home ownership aren’t described in enough depth, particularly with condos/lofts.Before you buy a condo, beware: I’ve served for years on our condo association’s Board of Directors. A BOD can alter the governing rules at any moment, so even if what you read sounded good when you bought, stability and predictability aren’t aspects of condo life. Read through any condo community’s governing documents with a fine-toothed comb. Learn about the distinctive characteristics of communal life in a loft/condo development. Demand the financial status of the Homeowner’s Association, and discover whether Reserve Fund is healthy. How many homeowner’s are delinquent in the dues payments? How many in foreclosure? Are short-term leases allowed? How are renters evaluated? What is the rentals vs. homeowners living in the development? That number affects home values, loan possibilities, and your insurance rates.HOA dues, their amount, and their percentage of your mortgage can hurt future values; try to discover how often assessments are raised. Our HOA dues rose only one month after purchasing the property, we were affected by other owners who don’t pay their dues, as well as foreclosure losses. Pet policies can change in a heartbeat. One week after we bought, the BOD President resigned. Two weeks later, new BOD Rules went from no pets to anything-goes; large, barking dogs are now unhappy, yardless residents of this yuppie ghetto. As to human noise, the management company (who answers to the developer) supports their noisy tenants over homeowners. Is privacy preserved if a complaint is issued against another resident? None of these issues were disclosed prior to purchase.Research previous tax records for the property to help determine fair value. We were hit by tax-lightening, a sudden increase in taxes post purchase. Read police reports for crime in the area. What is the security level for the community? Change the locks after you move in, and be sure the HOA’s property management company doesn’t require a duplicate set of keys, unless you desire them to have access. Define the common-elements and common-property, and who is responsible for what when it comes to repairs. Our HOA and management company attempted to use so-called common elements as a means for entering all units every few months. They even wanted to store residents’ keys in an insecure area. It took an enormous fight, even with me on the Board, to prevent this and protect our privacy.Don’t become enamored of the space. Imagine it’s a prison you won’t escape from for many years. There’s always somewhere else to live. Ask the realtor to wait outside (we did, but not for long enough). Spend lots of time inside the condo prior to making an offer, don’t let the realtor rush you through. If you have a partner, ask them to stand outside the door and make noise, verbally and walking around, so you know how sound carries in the building and into the unit, and how it might affect your quality of life. Ensure the home-inspector isn’t paid by the homeowner or realtor, but that they work for you. We were lied to about the hidden dryer vent; it vents within the unit, with no outside outlet due to “historic” architecture! Not good for indoor air quality.Open closets to see about storage, even if the homeowner has filled them with so much junk that you can’t see in. Investigate the windows, they’re an expensive repair, and need to be insulated properly. Our windows were not repaired prior to purchase, despite a clause the owner was supposed to get this done; we dread the future cost. Poke around the bathroom and appliances. Our dishwasher was cracked inside, something not easily visible, not discovered till after purchase. Turn on the oven to see how heat carries. Our oven heats up the whole wall and neighboring appliances, so we can’t slow-cook roasts or turkeys. Thank God for pizza.A HARP refinance didn’t help much, except lower our monthly payments, small recompense in the overall financial disaster. At this point, considering risk of no-return in the investment, it would be foolish to pay extra towards the principal. After the HARP refinance, which does not require PMI for those who didn’t have it before, the bank insisted we escrow our home insurance policy. But whenever they are supplied with the certificates (we get copies), they lose them, and we have to make multiples calls to get this straightened out. This is ridiculous, when they insist on the arrangement, and make the payments. This is another way responsible homeowners are humiliated. We really are too old for this nonsense! God forbid we ever move out of state and have this property go to rental. This place is strung together with ball and twine, with a manager who is beyond belief. The fabulous, historic wood window frames were so poorly restored that one of the only effective, removable cures, in this harsh climate, is brown

⭐. What I really need are

⭐, or fun with

⭐.We despise living here, but can’t walk away from this nightmare, the value has declined so precipitously. We know that whenever we do sell this place, it will be at an enormous loss, decades of hard-earned savings gone in false value/negative appreciation. In essence, all we paid for is a worthless piece of paper. I wake in the night with a pounding heart, thinking of all the money we’ve paid to the banks, how we’d be free if we hadn’t bought this condo, and what we could have done with all that money (lining a banker’s pocket). Even with a HARP refinance, this is a financial disaster. We can’t even enjoy peace and quiet, it doesn’t exist in this environment, we watch DVDs to escape (fly to Hogwarts!) and tune-out the surrounding noise. There is no waking up from this nightmare. We hope to leave here, and buy a tiny place that is sound, to eventually be free. Good luck, I hope you have a better experience than us.PS: Regarding HARP, we received an unsolicited cold-call from a small, out-of-state branch of our mortgage bank, outside our servicing-region, breaking bank protocol. The banker promised various incentives to refinance, and claimed she was obliged to send a Good Faith Estimate since a conversation took place (a lie). She created a loan application without our permission, which is illegal. This meant a “hard-pull” on credit history; no one has any right to poke into your credit history, or create a loan, without your express permission. This insanely aggressive broker then sent us sloppy paperwork, rife with errors. We made numerous calls to the bank, got nowhere with Customer Service, and finally broke through via (of all things) a good person in Collections, where a vindictive rep had transferred us. The Collections guy was glad to talk to someone who paid their mortgage, and transferred us to a higher level than Customer Service. We uncovered loan activity done in our names by the broker, and thus froze our credit. Suggestion: speak with your bank’s Loan Compliance Officer if this ever happens to you, and report it to all the appropriate agencies.

⭐This book goes without saying that it covers all the basics and provides additional information through web links. This is my 4th Dummy book and will continue to use it as a reference for many years to come! Easy read, funny at times without being to cheesy. Kudos to the authors again for another quality book!Read this book in any fashion you like and mark points down to inquire with Realtors, loan officer, appraisers and inspectors… You’ll make some mad for being informed and catch others trying to lie or sugar coat it to you!

⭐This sums it up pretty quick, like all “dummies” books do. I really like how you dont have to read these books in order to find the info your looking for. I plan to buy my first home within a year, and this book has given me a bit of confidence i needed, since i had no idea what to focus on.Its a good start, one that saves you money too. Instead of paying to talk to someone.Adrea Sherman

⭐A very good book for a non-professional like me. This is one of the better “Dummies” book that I have purchased. After reading it cover to cover, I felt like I just finished a college course on the subject. Highly Recommended!

⭐This book is great if you have never bought a home before. It has lots of valuable information in it. I was about to purchase a home in another state and I bought this book. The book helped me find a license inspector in the state where the home was. The book also provided a lot of helpful information regarding what you should look for when purchasing a home. Without this book I could have purchased a virtual money pit. Highly recommended.

⭐Exact same book as in description and in better condition that expected. Definitely satisfied.

⭐Kind of cool that it came from a Texas library and I’m from MA 😀 I wanted a cheap book for home buying and this was perfect! Only $0.01 plus shipping and it is in pretty good shape

⭐much tattier than expected, definitely not in good used condition!!

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