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Field Guide to Home Buying in America
Buying a home is probably the single most important investment people ever make. But once you understand the process, much of the fear will vanish. And the joy of owning your own home and putting down roots offers security and satisfaction.
Stephen Pollan walks first-time buyers through the whole process, from house hunting to moving day. He has seen the whole picture as a lawyer, broker, banker, and financial adviser. He, Mark Levine, and Michael Pollan show you how to:
search for a location and learn how to evaluate it
assemble your team: broker, lawyer, contractor, accountant, inspector, and insurance broker
make sure your team serves you, not just the deal itself
use the tactics of negotiating, including offers, increments, what to say, and when and where to say it
examine the contract in detail--what to look for and what to insist on
choose the right bank for your mortgage, straighten out credit difficulties and potential objections
prepare, practice, and plan for the "mysterious ritual" of closing or settling on a house.
"The Field Guide to Home Buying in America" teaches you to be your own best expert and makes home buying a joyous and rewarding experience.
Stephen Pollan walks first-time buyers through the whole process, from house hunting to moving day. He has seen the whole picture as a lawyer, broker, banker, and financial adviser. He, Mark Levine, and Michael Pollan show you how to:
search for a location and learn how to evaluate it
assemble your team: broker, lawyer, contractor, accountant, inspector, and insurance broker
make sure your team serves you, not just the deal itself
use the tactics of negotiating, including offers, increments, what to say, and when and where to say it
examine the contract in detail--what to look for and what to insist on
choose the right bank for your mortgage, straighten out credit difficulties and potential objections
prepare, practice, and plan for the "mysterious ritual" of closing or settling on a house.
"The Field Guide to Home Buying in America" teaches you to be your own best expert and makes home buying a joyous and rewarding experience.
256 pages, Paperback
First published May 15, 1988
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December 22, 2011
In 1990 an old high school friend moved into the apartment at 1634 W. Chase where I was living with my wife, Linda, and two cats. He had gotten divorced and developed an expensive habit which was threatening his business as well as his health. We invited him in to get over the marriage and the addiction.
I'd lived on Chase as a tenant since 1979, being joined by Linda on or around 1983. Throughout my tenure the nextdoor neighbor had been Kathleen, now a friend for over eleven years. The idea of switching to home-ownership probably came to each of us individually, but the real plans were hatched between the old friend and me over dinner at the Navaho outside of Bridgman, Michigan, and they were exceptional. Although I had had a career job for six years at this point, my income had just begun to provide a surplus upon the repayment of tens of thousands of dollars of school loans. Linda was just finishing graduate school at the University of Illinois. My old friend, being an independent businessman, could never be sure of his income one year to the next. Kathleen, a mere secretary, could never hope to afford a mortgage in the city. Together, however, we could.
I picked up this immensely boring, but practical, book and read it in preparation. Linda, through her contacts in the disabled rights community, got us linked up with a labor attorney willing to take on our unusual project. The four of us (later, five, as my friend got a fiance) started looking around for a three flat which we could afford to occupy without tenants.
We found one, the one I still live in on Bosworth near Loyola's campus, and, after a lot of work, it seemed a very good thing. Then Linda decided to leave, my friend's new wife discovered she had to have children who couldn't possibly grow up in the city, and their replacement, a workmate of Kathleen's, turned out to be a disaster.
The book, while helpful about conventional home (individual, condo or coop) purchases, does not discuss the kind of limited partnership we ended up with. Although, with the help of our attorney, we came up with a great contract between ourselves, in practice it proved worthless when the replacement, unwilling to honor it, moved in. We could sue, sure, but the ugliness and expense of that make the prospect daunting. While the idea of collective home purchase makes it possible for people to own their own residences who otherwise couldn't, the viability of such arrangements depends ultimately on the viability of the relationships between the contracting parties. Someone should write a book about that. I, at least, should have looked for one.
I'd lived on Chase as a tenant since 1979, being joined by Linda on or around 1983. Throughout my tenure the nextdoor neighbor had been Kathleen, now a friend for over eleven years. The idea of switching to home-ownership probably came to each of us individually, but the real plans were hatched between the old friend and me over dinner at the Navaho outside of Bridgman, Michigan, and they were exceptional. Although I had had a career job for six years at this point, my income had just begun to provide a surplus upon the repayment of tens of thousands of dollars of school loans. Linda was just finishing graduate school at the University of Illinois. My old friend, being an independent businessman, could never be sure of his income one year to the next. Kathleen, a mere secretary, could never hope to afford a mortgage in the city. Together, however, we could.
I picked up this immensely boring, but practical, book and read it in preparation. Linda, through her contacts in the disabled rights community, got us linked up with a labor attorney willing to take on our unusual project. The four of us (later, five, as my friend got a fiance) started looking around for a three flat which we could afford to occupy without tenants.
We found one, the one I still live in on Bosworth near Loyola's campus, and, after a lot of work, it seemed a very good thing. Then Linda decided to leave, my friend's new wife discovered she had to have children who couldn't possibly grow up in the city, and their replacement, a workmate of Kathleen's, turned out to be a disaster.
The book, while helpful about conventional home (individual, condo or coop) purchases, does not discuss the kind of limited partnership we ended up with. Although, with the help of our attorney, we came up with a great contract between ourselves, in practice it proved worthless when the replacement, unwilling to honor it, moved in. We could sue, sure, but the ugliness and expense of that make the prospect daunting. While the idea of collective home purchase makes it possible for people to own their own residences who otherwise couldn't, the viability of such arrangements depends ultimately on the viability of the relationships between the contracting parties. Someone should write a book about that. I, at least, should have looked for one.
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