Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Books on Buying a Home

Though I'm not necessarily looking to purchase a home in the immediate future, it is something that is on the conceivable horizon so I wanted to get acquainted with some of the intricacies to know when purchasing a home.


Guide to Buying Your First Home by Century 21 Editors and Patrick Hogan



This first book has more of an overall view towards buying a house and the various steps involved. They discuss Townhome/condo vs. Single Family dwelling, financing, what to look for in a Realtor, some of the fees to expect, title insurance, title search, legal information, inspections, home insurance, earnest money, escrow and a host of other items pertinent to buying a home.

Tips & Traps when Buying a Home by Robert Irwin



This book was also good from the sense of insider things to know on how to get the best bang for your buck and what to be aware of as possible problems. One useful piece of information provided in the book was a sample list of things to look for when walking through houses similar to what an inspector might look for if inspecting the house. He also provides advice on negotiating and ways to structure offers.

Overall I came away with the sense that there are so many things involved with a house that it is well worth hiring a real estate agent to walk you through the process. While people may be able to sell a home without using an agent, my thought is that they are probably going to help you on the selling side in increasing traffic to the home as well as advise on the many aspects of the transaction.

A useful tool online that I've heard of for estimating home prices is Zillow.com

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