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hufflepuffbiologybuff's review against another edition
4.0
I did help with a good number of questions and questions I didn't know I even had. I had a older version of the book but I was frustrated that they gave the internet/web pages toward the end of the book. The webpages would have been useful when searching for a home.
curly83185's review against another edition
4.0
This was a helpful resource. I now feel more enlightened about the home buying process and know what factors (financial and otherwise) to consider.
peacelovemath's review against another edition
3.0
Since we've bought a house, I guess I'm finished reading this book.
I learned some good things from this book, but I think it was aimed at someone looking to buy their dream home that they plan to live in forever. Paul and I were looking to buy our first home, and we would have been happy with any number of different homes as long as they met our price, space, and functional requirements; we weren't planning on spending months and months looking at every house on the market.
One thing in particular that was weird about this book was their advice on finding a realtor, and then what a realtor should be doing for you. They said you should interview multiple realtors and then call people the realtors had worked with over the last year as references. Once that arduous process was complete, we were instructed to expect our realtor to visit all the houses we were interested in without us, take additional pictures of her own, and then only show us the best houses. That might make sense if we were looking for our very specific dream home and planned to spend a quarter million or more, because then 3% of the purchase price might have made all that worth her while. But 3% of the lower-end price range we were aiming for hardly buys us that level of single-minded work from our realtor. She's done a very good job, and we are getting a great house at a great price that exceeds our expectations in all the important categories.
I'm going to put this one on amazon.com for resale; buy it used or else check it out of the library. This one is worth a skim, but not a dedicated read-through.
I learned some good things from this book, but I think it was aimed at someone looking to buy their dream home that they plan to live in forever. Paul and I were looking to buy our first home, and we would have been happy with any number of different homes as long as they met our price, space, and functional requirements; we weren't planning on spending months and months looking at every house on the market.
One thing in particular that was weird about this book was their advice on finding a realtor, and then what a realtor should be doing for you. They said you should interview multiple realtors and then call people the realtors had worked with over the last year as references. Once that arduous process was complete, we were instructed to expect our realtor to visit all the houses we were interested in without us, take additional pictures of her own, and then only show us the best houses. That might make sense if we were looking for our very specific dream home and planned to spend a quarter million or more, because then 3% of the purchase price might have made all that worth her while. But 3% of the lower-end price range we were aiming for hardly buys us that level of single-minded work from our realtor. She's done a very good job, and we are getting a great house at a great price that exceeds our expectations in all the important categories.
I'm going to put this one on amazon.com for resale; buy it used or else check it out of the library. This one is worth a skim, but not a dedicated read-through.
feminist_mayhem's review against another edition
4.0
Easy to understand. Good resource for good time home-buyers.
soyboyjames's review against another edition
3.0
Though the 2009 edition is a little out-dated now, I still took a lot away from this read. I knew nothing about the home-buying process when I started. But I took extensive notes as I read, and I went into the process feeling confident. One loan officer I spoke with even said I seemed too savvy to be a first-timer. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what's up as they buy their first home.
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