Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home


Book Description

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




Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home


Book Description

There’s no place like home! Ready to say goodbye to your landlord? With help from Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, you’ll not only find the right house for you, you’ll have fun doing it. Learn how to: • research the local market and listings • choose a house, condo, co-op, or townhouse • create a realistic budget • qualify for a loan you can truly afford • borrow a down payment from friends or family • protect yourself with inspections and insurance, and • negotiate and close the deal successfully. You’ll find insights from numerous real estate professionals—agents, attorneys, mortgage specialists, a home inspector, and more. It’s like having a team of experts by your side! Plus, read real-life stories of over 20 first-time homebuyers.




Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home


Book Description

A fun-to-read guide for anyone looking to leave apartment living behind and enjoy the benefits of homeownership. Makes the complicated process of buying a first home manageable, financially and otherwise. Helps avoid newbie mistakes and possible legal disputes. A favorite among readers, fully updated to reflect today's widely variable U.S. real estate market.




First-Time Landlord


Book Description

The 101 on earning rental income from a single-family homeDo you own a house you’d like to rent out rather than sell? It’s a common scenario in today’s market, especially if you’ve inherited a house, are moving to another home, or are buying an investment property. And it may mean you’re about to be a first-time landlord. Follow the advice in this book to ease into your new role and earn substantial profits while avoiding costly mistakes. Learn your legal obligations. Estimate costs and profits. Choose good tenants and avoid problem ones. Make the most of valuable tax deductions. Handle repairs and property management tasks. The 5th edition is updated to cover major legal changes, in particular how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created pass-through deductions that can benefit landlords. Includes sample forms and budget worksheets.




Home Buying 101


Book Description

"Buying a first home can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. Will you qualify for a mortgage? Is your dream home achievable? How do you make sure your offer will beat others? Don't worry-now you can arm yourself with the information you need to know before you begin the hunt! In Home Buying 101, you will learn all the skills you need to find the right house at the right price, with financing that fits your budget. Full of nuts-and-bolts advice and organized in an easy-to-read format, this book will teach you all the basics of: deciding the right time to buy; getting your finances in order; deciphering the MLS/reading the listings for clues; types of mortgage loans; and much more! With the help of this guide, you'll learn how to find the house of your dreams at a price you can afford!"--




Home Buying For Dummies


Book Description

Now updated — America's #1 bestselling home-buying book! Want to buy a house, but concerned about the market? Have no fear — this trusted guide arms you with Eric Tyson and Ray Brown's time-tested advice and updated strategies for buying a home in current market conditions. You'll discover how to find the right property, make smart financial decisions, and understand the latest lending requirements and tax implications. New to this edition — new and expanded coverage to help homebuyers take advantage of low home prices, understand the subprime mortgage crisis, obtain a mortgage, and improve credit scores To buy or not to buy? — weigh the advantages of owning versus renting, get your finances in order, and know how much house you can safely afford Handle financing — understand your credit rating, navigate the different types of mortgages, and complete all paperwork Play the real estate game — find the right location and property, assemble an all-star real estate team, and make the most of the Internet's real estate resources Let's make a deal — negotiate with finesse, make successful offers, inspect and protect your new home, and cover all your bases in escrow "Invaluable information, especially for the first-time home buyer." —Fort Worth Star-Telegram "A reference you'll turn to time after time." —St. Petersburg Times Open the book and find: Reasons why home prices rise and fall Hands-on instruction for buying a home in up or down markets How to pay the price you want The best mortgage options A sample home-buying contract Pros and cons of comparable market analysis Tips for overcoming mortgage and appraisal problems How to cope with buyer's remorse The best real estate Web sites




Saving the Family Cottage


Book Description

Estate planning for family cottages and cabins When family members inherit a vacation home together, problems are often unavoidable, given that the new co-owners may have different financial circumstances or emotional attachments to the family cottage or cabin. But you can head off damaging family squabbles by developing a legal structure (typically an LLC) to take care of the business of ownership. Whether you’re planning to pass on a cottage to your children, or you’ve inherited a cabin with your siblings, Saving the Family Cottage provides practical, legal solutions for preserving a beloved family property for generations to come. You’ll learn how to: keep the peace (and avoid fights) among siblings over jointly-owned property prevent a family member from forcing a sale of the cottage or cabin keep your vacation home out of the hands of in-laws and creditors, and make a smooth transition from one generation’s ownership to the next. The fifth edition is updated to reflect current tax laws, including state property tax laws which affect choice of legal entity. It also includes an expanded discussion of legal issues when renting a family cottage or cabin on Airbnb, VRBO, or similar rental services.




Trouble-free Travel ... and what to Do when Things Go Wrong


Book Description

Readers can find out how to travel smart and get the service they deserve by following the strategies for protecting themselves against illegal or unfair travel practices. Illustrations.




How to Buy Your Perfect First Home


Book Description

"What every first-time homebuyer needs to know... this easy-to-read guide efficiently answers all the questions every first-time homebuyer should ask: How to start the home buying process; how long does the home buying process take; home much home can you afford; how to compare mortgages; why first-time home buyers should use a realtor and need a real estate attorney; how to make and negotiate your offer and much more." from the back cover.




Deciding Where to Live


Book Description

Deciding Where to Live: Information Studies on Where to Live in America explores major themes related to where to live in America, not only about the acquisition of a home but also the ways in which where one lives relates to one’s cultural identity. It shows how changes in media and information technology are shaping both our housing choices and our understanding of the meaning of personal place. The work is written using widely accessible language but supported by a strong academic foundation from information studies and other humanities and social science disciplines. Chapters analyze everyday information behavior related to questions about where to live. The eleven major chapters are: Chapter 1: Where to live as an information problem: three contemporary examples Chapter 2: Turning in place: Real estate agents and the move from information custodians to information brokers Chapter 3: The Evolving Residential Real Estate Information Ecosystem: The Rise of Zillow Chapter 4: Privacy, Surveillance, and the “Smart Home” Chapter 5: This Old House, Fixer Upper, and Better Homes & Gardens: The Housing Crisis and Media Sources Chapter 6: A Community Responds to Growth: An Information Story About What Makes for a Good Place to Live." Chapter 7: The Valley Between Us: The meta-hodology of racial segregation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Chapter 8: Modeling Hope: Boundary Objects and Design Patterns in a Heartland Heterotopia Chapter 9: Home buying in Everyday Life: How Emotion and Time Pressure Shape High Stakes Deciders’ Information Behavior Chapter 10: In Search of Home: Examining Information Seeking and Sources That Help African Americans Determine Where to Live Chapter 11: Where to Live in Retirement: A Complex Information Problem While the book is partly about the goal-directed activity of individuals who want to buy a house, and the infrastructure that supports that activity, it is also about personal activities that are either not goal directed or are directed at other goals such as deciding in which geographic location to live, personal entertainment, cultural understanding, or identity formation.