Home buying kit
Book - 2025
This updated book for first-time and inexperienced home buyers helps you through the largest and most complex purchase you're likely to make, offering a map to navigating the occasionally choppy waters of home buying. Get insight on evaluating your financial readiness to buy a house, securing a mortgage, building a team of advisors, negotiating a deal, and getting your new home ready after you buy. Understand interest rates and determine your budget for buying a new home; learn how to get approved for a mortgage and recognize fair house prices; get a real estate agent and find the home that fits your needs; and survive the inspection and appraisal stage, then seal the deal.
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Handbooks and manuals
Guides et manuels - Published
-
Hoboken, NJ :
John Wiley & Sons, Inc
[2025]
- Language
- English
- Main Author
- Other Authors
- ,
- Edition
- 8th edition
- Physical Description
- xvii, 423 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
- Bibliography
- Includes index.
- ISBN
- 9781394290802
- Introduction
- About This Book
- Icons Used in This Book
- Beyond the Book
- Where to Go from Here
- Part 1. Getting Started with Buying a Home
- Chapter 1. Deciding Whether to Buy
- Weighing the Advantages of Owning versus Renting
- Ownership advantages
- Renting advantages
- The Pitfalls of the Rent-versus- Buy Decision
- Renting because it seems cheaper
- Fretting too much over job security
- Buying when you expect to move soon
- Succumbing to pushy salespeople
- Ignoring logistics
- Overbuying
- Underbuying
- Buying because it's a grown-up thing to do
- Buying because you're afraid that escalating prices will lock you out
- Misunderstanding what you can afford
- Chapter 2. Getting Your Financial House in Order
- Surveying Your Spending
- Gathering the data
- Analyzing your spending numbers
- Reckoning Your Savings Requirements
- Setting some goals
- Retirement savings accounts and a dilemma
- Other reasons to save
- Protecting Yourself, Your Dependents, and Your Assets
- Insuring yourself
- Insuring your assets
- Invest in Yourself
- Chapter 3. What Can You Afford to Buy?
- Lenders Can't Tell You What You Can Afford
- The Cost of Buying and Owning a Home
- Mortgage payments
- Property taxes
- Insurance
- Maintenance and other costs
- The tax benefits of homeownership
- Considering Closing Costs
- Accumulating the Down Payment
- The 20 percent solution
- Ways to buy with less money down
- Where to invest the down payment
- Chapter 4. Why Home Prices Rise and Fall
- What Drives Real Estate Markets and Prices?
- Jobs, glorious jobs
- Available housing
- Inventory of homes for sale and actual sales
- The rental market
- Tax rules and changes
- How to Get a Good Buy in Any Market
- Seek hidden opportunities to add value
- Buy when others are scared to buy
- Find a motivated seller
- Buy during slow periods
- Become a great negotiator
- Buy in a good neighborhood
- Part 2. Financing 101
- Chapter 5. Understanding and Improving Your Credit Score
- The Record You Can't Ignore: Your Credit Report
- What your credit history comprises
- What goes into your credit report
- Why you should check your credit report
- The Most Popular Kids on the Block: FICO Scores
- How scores work - the short version
- How a FICO score assesses your credit history - the long version
- What FICO scores ignore
- Why your score is what it is
- Getting Hold of Your Report and Score
- Chapter 6. Selecting a Mortgage
- Getting a Grasp on Mortgage Basics
- Fixed or Adjustable? That Is the Interest(ing) Question
- Distinguishing fixed-rate mortgages from adjustables
- Looking at hybrid loans
- Starting out risky: Interest-only mortgages
- Making the fixed/adjustable decision
- Deciding on your loan's life: 15 years or 30?
- Finding a Fixed-Rate Mortgage
- The all-important interest rate
- The finer points of points
- Other lender fees
- Arriving at the Absolute Best Adjustable
- Where an ARM'S interest rate comes from
- How often does the interest rate adjust?
- Limits on interest-rate adjustments
- Locating the Best, Lowest-Cost Lenders
- Shopping on your own
- Working with a mortgage broker
- Chapter 7. Mortgage Quandaries, Conundrums, and Forms
- Overcoming Common Mortgage Problems
- Insufficient income
- Debt and credit problems
- Dealing with Appraisal Problems
- You've overpaid
- The appraiser doesn't know your area
- The appraiser/lender is sandbagging you
- Those Darn Mortgage Forms
- The laundry list of required documents
- Permissions to inspect your finances
- The Uniform Residential Loan Application
- I. Borrower information
- II. Financial information - Assets and liabilities
- III. Financial information - Real estate
- IV. Loan and property information
- V. Declarations
- VI. Acknowledgments and agreements
- VII. Military Service
- VIII. Demographic information
- Other typical documents
- Part 3. Property, Players, and Prices
- Chapter 8. Where and What to Buy
- Location, Location, Value
- Characteristics of good neighborhoods
- Selecting your best neighborhood
- Fundamental Principles for Selecting Your Home
- The principle of progression: Why to buy one of the cheaper homes on the block
- The principle of regression: Why not buy the most expensive house on the block?
- The principle of conformity: Why unusual is usually costly
- Defining Home Sweet Home
- Detached residences
- Attached residences
- Finding a Great Deal
- Finding a fixer-upper
- Taking over a foreclosure
- Seeking a short sale
- Pooling Your Resources: Ad Hoc Partnerships
- Types of residential co-ownership
- Structuring a successful co-ownership
- Chapter 9. Assembling an All-Star Real Estate Team
- The Team Concept
- Lining up the players
- Avoiding gratuitous advice
- Reeling in a Real Estate Agent
- Types of agent relationships
- How agents get paid
- Characteristics of good agents
- Selecting your agent
- Getting the most from your agent
- Bagging a Broker
- Landing a Lender
- Procuring Property Inspectors
- Electing an Escrow Officer
- Finding (or Forgoing) Financial and Tax Advisors
- Looking for Lawyers
- Selecting your lawyer
- Getting the most out of a lawyer
- Chapter 10. What's It Worth?
- Preparing to Tour an Endless Parade of Homes
- Noting the Three Elusive Components of Worth
- Value is a moving target
- Cost is yesterday
- Price is what it's worth today
- Seeking Fair Market Value
- When fair market value isn't fair - need-based pricing
- Median home prices versus fair market value
- Determining Fair Market Value: Comparative Market Analysis
- The basics of a helpful CMA
- The flaws of CMAs
- Getting a Second Opinion: Appraisals versus CMAs
- Figuring Why Buyers and Sellers Often Start Far Apart
- Inept agents
- Unrealistic sellers
- Chapter 11. Tapping the Internet's Best Resources
- Finding Useful Information
- Get your feet wet at Realtor.com
- Discover more at these sites
- Doing Some Preliminary Shopping
- Surveying homes for sale
- Watching out for sites promoting foreclosures
- Sifting through school information
- Perusing "best places" to live
- Familiarizing yourself with financing options
- The Drawbacks of Searching for Houses in Cyberspace
- Conflicts of interest
- Bankruptcies
- Misleading home-valuation tools
- Untrustworthy mortgage calculators
- Part 4. Making the Deal
- Chapter 12. Negotiating Your Best Deal
- Understanding and Coping with Your Emotions
- Examining the violent forces at work
- Controlling yourself
- The Art of Negotiating
- Being realistic
- Examining your negotiating style
- Negotiating with finesse
- The Negotiating Process
- Making an offer to purchase
- Leaving an escape hatch: Contingencies
- Getting a counteroffer
- The Finer Points of Negotiating
- Negotiating when the playing field isn't level
- Spotting fake sellers
- Lowballing
- Negotiating credits in escrow
- Chapter 13. Inspecting and Protecting Your Home
- Conducting Thorough Inspections
- All properties should be inspected
- The two types of defects: Patent and latent
- Patent defect red flags
- Types of property inspections
- Identifying environmental issues
- Inspecting inspectors
- Insuring Your Home
- Homeowners insurance
- Title insurance
- Chapter 14. It Ain't Over till the Escrow Officer Says So
- An Escrow Is a Good Thing
- Know thy escrow officer
- Cover all the bases
- Tis the season: December escrows
- Follow through
- How You Take Title Is Vital
- Joint tenancy
- Community property
- Tenants-in-common
- Getting help drafting an agreement
- Getting Possessive
- Moving day
- Final verification of condition
- Coping with Buyer's Remorse
- Part 5. The Part of Tens
- Chapter 15. Ten Financial "To Dos" After You Buy
- Stay on Top of Your Spending and Saving
- Consider Electronic Mortgage Payments
- Rebuild Your Emergency Reserve
- Ignore Solicitations for Mortgage Insurance
- Disregard Solicitations for Faster Payoff
- Consider Appealing Your Tax Assessment
- Refinance if Interest Rates Fall
- Keep Receipts for All Improvements
- Ignore Solicitations to Homestead
- Take Time to Smell the Roses
- Chapter 16. Ten Things to Know When Investing in Real Estate
- Real Estate Is a Solid Long-Term Investment
- Real Estate Investing isn't for Everyone
- REITs Are Good if You Loathe Being a Landlord
- Don't Invest in Limited Partnerships
- Avoid Timeshare Condos and Vacation Homes
- Residential Properties Are Your Best Investment Option
- Consider Fixer-Upper Income Property
- Consider Converting Small Apartment Buildings to Condos
- Consider the Property's Cash Flow
- Your Rental Losses Are Limited for Tax Purposes
- Chapter 17. Nearly Ten Things to Consider When Selling Your House
- Why Are You Selling?
- Can You Afford to Buy the Next Home?
- What's It Worth?
- Have You Done Your Homework to Find a Good Real Estate Agent?
- Do You Have the Skills to Sell the House Yourself?
- Have You Properly Prepared the House for Sale?
- Do You Understand the House's Hot Buttons?
- What Are the Financial Ramifications of Selling?
- Do You Know the Rules for Capital-Gains Taxes on the Sale?
- Part 6. Appendixes
- Appendix A. Example of a Good inspection Report
- Appendix B. Glossary
- Index