Synopses & Reviews
Everything a buyer needs to know to buy a first home, with insider tips and advice from the experts!
Rental prices have gone through the roof, more homes are coming up for sale, and buying a home remains a sound investment. But how do you know whether you're ready? And what steps should you take in the weeks or months ahead to find, buy, and move into your new home? Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home will help you find the right place to live and invest in -- and enjoy the process, too.
Filled with interesting facts, real-life stories and insights, and common pitfalls to avoid, this book provides everything you need to select the right type of home, the right mortgage, the right agent, the right inspections -- and much more. Get the inside scoop on:
- deciding between a house, condo, co-op or townhouse
- exploring your local market for the best value
- creating and managing a realistic homebuying budget
- qualifying for and securing loan financing
- getting the right inspections and insurance
- negotiating with sellers or new home builders
- successfully closing the deal
Read through the real-world experiences of over 20 first-time homebuyers, as well as valuable insights from a team of 13 real estate professionals, including:
- real estate brokers
- attorneys who specialize in real estate
- a home inspector
- a neighborhood researcher
- a mortgage specialist
- and more!
The brand new edition of
Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home is fully updated to reflect the dramatically changed U.S. housing market, with emphasis on how to assess the state of your local market and local homes' true worth before making an offer and negotiating the terms of the deal. Download forms for book at nolo.com
Review
"Nolo's excellent guide for novice home buyers provides fresh, updated information about the whole process that even those in the know will find useful." Library Journal "Takes the guesswork out of home buying...two thumbs up." Elizabeth Weintraub, Home Buying and Selling Guide, About.com "Coming from a gal that knows tools, this book is a must-have tool for any home buyer." Norma Valley, Host of "Toolbelt Diva" (Discovery Home Channel)
Synopsis
Buying a first home should be fun--but should also be done with full knowledge of what you're getting into, financially and otherwise. This book preserves the fun by making the process easy and organized, while gently introducing readers to some of the tough legal and financial concepts they need to understand before closing the deal.
Synopsis
Anyone currently living either in a rental, with Mom and Dad, or in another setting where the next logical step might be to buy a home, and interested in finding out whether to do so and how to best bring it about.
About the Author
Ilona Bray is an author and legal editor at Nolo, specializing in real estate, immigration law, and nonprofit fundraising. She is coauthor of Becoming a U.S. Citizen, U.S. Immigration Made Easy, Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home and numerous other top selling books. Bray's working background includes solo practice, nonprofit, and corporate stints, as well as long periods of volunteering, including an internship at Amnesty International's main legal office in London. She received her law degree and a Masters degree in East Asian (Chinese) Studies from the University of Washington. Bray also blogs on Nolo's Immigration Law Blog.Alayna Schroeder is a coauthor of several Nolo books, including Selling Your House in a Tough Market and Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home. A Sacramento, California lawyer, she has represented employers in litigation, drafted employee handbooks and policies and counseled employers on sound employment practices. She holds a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of Law.Marcia Stewart writes and edits for Nolo on landlord-tenant law, real estate, and other consumer issues. She is the coauthor of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, Every Landlord's Legal Guide, First-Time Landlord, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Leases and Rental Agreements, Renters' Rights, and The Legal Answer Book for Families.
Table of Contents
1. What's So Great About Buying a House?
2. What Do You Want? Figuring Out Your Homebuying Needs
3. Does This Mean I Have to Balance My Checkbook? Figuring Out What You Can Afford
4. Stepping Out: What's on the Market and at What Price
5. Select Your Players: Your Real Estate Team
6. Bring Home the Bacon: Getting a Mortgage
7. Mom and Dad? The Seller? Uncle Sam? Loan Alternatives
8. I Love It! It's Perfect! Looking for the Right House
9. Plan B: Fixer-Uppers, FSBOs, Foreclosures, and More
10. Show Them the Money: From Offer to Purchase Agreement
11. Toward the Finish Line: Tasks Before Closing
12. Send in the Big Guns: Professional Property Inspectors
13. Who's Got Your Back? Homeowners' Insurance and Home Warranties
14. Seal the Deal: Finalizing Your Homebuying Dreams
15. Settling Into Your New Home
Index