Pros: excellent information, well organized, answered questions I didn't know I had, real estate glossary
Cons: a bit out of date
The Bottom Line: Even though it was written in 1994 this book has a lot of helpful information to help the first time homebuyer understand the process of buying a house.
quasar's Full Review: Ilyce R. Glink - 100 Questions Every First-Time Ho...
Some of you who know me may know that I've been trying to buy a house or condo without success for a long time now - nudging close to a year. Invariably whenever the topic of realtors or buying houses works its way into conversation, I express my disgust with the whole process and how difficult I am finding the house search. Often the people who started down this slippery slope end up running away in horror to stop me before I enter full-blown rant mode. A few brave souls let me whine, and one or two of them have even had helpful suggestions. One such wonderful soul, a coworker of mine, loaned me her copy of 100 Questions Every First Time Home Buyer Should Ask by Ilyce R. Glink.
I've read all sorts of stuff online, and it seems like just about everyone I know has bought a new house in the past 18 months so I haven't been lacking advice or resources. I wasn't sure that I'd find anything helpful in a book published in 1994. The Real Estate market and its practices have changed significantly since then. But being desperate to lose the rent payments and exchange them for smaller mortgage payments (gotta love Boston!), I gratefully accepted the book and started reading.
I'm glad I did. Sure, parts of the book are out of date. The timeframes for the various stages of home purchase are laughable - these days offer to closing is often in 6-8 weeks, sometimes even less. But it did cover all of the necessary steps in detail with helpful hints and things to watch out for. I have a much better sense of exactly what the legal obligations of buyer, seller, and realtors are. I understand a lot more of the confusing legalese and financialese that surrounds purchasing a home. I understand a lot more about the different types of mortgages and the possible consequences of chosing one over another.
In short, I am a much more educated home buyer. Unfortunately the book cannot magically make that perfect abode appear so I am still in the looking phase, but when it does come I will be prepared.
The Contents
The book is split into four parts in addition to six appendices. Each part concentrates on a specific step of the buying process: looking for a house, making an offer, financing, and closing. These four main sections consist of 100 questions and detailed answers to them. The appendices include a lot of helpful things like a list of common mistakes made by first time buyers, sample contracts, and amortization tables. There is also a very helpful real estate glossary.
Part I: Looking for a Home: House, Condo, Co-op, Town House
This part of the book concentrates on helping you understand the different types of housing available for purchase and helping you ascertain what option works best for you. It also talks about differentiating between features you must have versus things you want in a home. Both are important, but prioritization is important. The book also points out very clearly that this is a very personal step that you need to honestly evaluate yourself. A "must have" feature for one person is a "must avoid" feature for another, and a "gee that would be nice feature" for someone else may be one of your requirements. This is perhaps the most important statement in the book, for often realtors will try to convince you that feature x isn't important or feature y that you don't particularly like is a big plus. If you've done your homework in advance, you will be able to counter the realtor with what you want and have confidence that you indeed know what you are talking about.
This section also provides tips on things like how to remember which house has which features and talks about determining how much house you can afford.
Part II: Putting Together the Deal
This section of the books asks and answers questions pertaining to making the offer and the various inspections needed prior to closing. It also talks about issues commonly encountered during this time period such as buyer's remorse.
A lot of time is devoted to deciding on an offer price, talking about the advantages and risks of lowball offers and how to gauge whether to make an offer at the asking price, below that price, or even above it.
Most of the rest of this section talks about the types of contingencies to include in an offer and the implications of each contingency clause as well as what happens if an inspector finds a problem with the house. I really liked the explicit outlining of all of the possible types of inspections and the states where some are required or common. For instance, I live in Massachusetts and most offers in Massachusetts include a Lead Paint contingency clause. If the home you are looking to buy was constructed before 1972 you have to have this inspection, otherwise it is optional. At the time of the writing of the book, Massachusetts was the only state with lead paint inspections (it may still be; I don't know). It was discussed even though it only applies to a percentage of readers.
Part III: Financing
In this section I learned more than I could possibly want to know about all sorts of different types of mortgages. Want to know what a balloon mortgage is and whether it's for you? This book will tell you. How about a FHA mortgage or a VA loan? Both covered, as well as the more common fixed rate and adjustable rate mortgages. In addition to explaining all of these in detail, this section talks about the process of applying for a mortgage, when to fix your rate (if applicable), and what to do if your loan is denied.
Part IV: The Closing
The last section of the book covers the closing, starting from the point of the pre-closing inspection, or a final walkthru to ensure everything is in order as close to the closing date as possible. Buyers need to request this and most don't know that it is within their rights to do so (I sure didn't). This section also talks about closing costs, moveout dates, what to take to the actual closing, and what to do if something goes wrong at the closing.
The Appendices
The most useful appendix is Top Ten Mistakes Made By First Time Buyers, a list including such items as "looking at houses they can't afford" and "buying a property that's difficult to resell." As with the questions in the main book, each mistake is accompanied by explanatory text including hints on how to avoid making the mistake under discussion.
I didn't find the other appendices terribly useful. They mostly consist of sample forms that, although they give you some idea of what to expect, are out of date.
The Glossary
The real estate glossary is wonderful. About 20 pages long, it takes the time to define both common and less common terminology related to all aspects of buying a house. Unlike many glossaries I didn't feel that they were skimping on the definitions or that I needed to know 20 other terms to understand the definitions provided.
Is This Book Helpful?
Yes. Don't get me wrong. I didn't immediately find the perfect house on reading it, nor did it help me solve my biggest problem, that of realtors not understanding my transportation needs and getting frustrated when most of the listings they send me don't fit my needs. But I feel like I have a much better understanding of how the process of buying a house works, who all the players are in that process, and what to think about when looking at houses and hopefully when someday crafting an offer.
If you are currently looking to buy your first house or even thinking about it, I strongly recommend picking up the book even if it is a bit out of date.
Fully revised and updated for today s marketplace, this classic from America s most trusted real estate expert has helped countless home buyers land t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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