How To Buy Your First Home: Expert Advice from an Attorney

by Diana Brodman Summers

Take the fear out of buying your first home

For many, the process of buying a home for the first time can seem intimidating and overwhelming. How to Buy Your First Home is your resource for information on the subject. This book guides you through the entire process,

Preliminaries-Renting versus buying, determining what you can afford, deciding where to live

Searching for Your Home-What to look for in a home, hiring a realtor

Finances-Mortgage basics, government agencies, home loans for veterans

The Buying Process-Weighing your mortgage options, hiring an attorney, making an offer, inspecting and appraising your home

The Future-Caring for your home and increasing the value of your investment

Included within the text are Attorney Tip boxes that highlight important facts. Click on This boxes will guide you to helpful websites for additional information about calculating costs, locating homes in your area and more.

Extensive appendices include a glossary of important terms, contact information for state offices of real estate regulation and sample worksheets to help you as you make your decisions.

Written by an experienced attorney, How to Buy Your First Home is the resource that will take the mystery out of buying a home.

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Reference

303 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

About the author

I am an attorney with my own law firm in Lisle, Illinois. I currently concentrate on employment law cases for employees and small businesses. I am also an arbitrator for Cook and DuPage County.

One of my hobbies is real estate, in previous years I enjoyed buying houses, fixing them up and selling them. Right now I am merely following in the market. I have written two books that concentrate on real estate for the consumer.

I love writing and enjoy the pace of working with a publisher. My goal is to take complex legal subjects and explain them in terms we all use.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most helpful was the 28/36 formula, the neighborhood and location considerations and corresponding worksheets. However, I agree with the other reviews about how outdated it is. The part about secondary mortgage markets especially.

[Nithin Thompson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty good for overall understanding. But outdated.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by an attorney, this book went into greater depth than other books I've read that came from a different perspective and in areas was more specific and thorough. It's more prescriptive--while other books often illustrate with relevant stories of people's experiences, Summers rarely does this, instead giving more explanation of principles or action items. For example, the author drills down on what to look for at a final walk-through, what things you see or need to bring to the closing, etc. Boxes supplement the text with legal tips. It takes a different approach that differs from other real estate books I've read. For example, Summers advises buying your normal grocery list at the local grocery store of an area you're considering, and then comparing the prices to what you're used to so you get a sense of the difference of cost of living.
There isn't as much info on what to look for in a house as other books, but I think this book offers a unique perspective and compliments other real estate books. After reading a few books in this genre, I've begun skimming and skipping parts that I already understand or that don't apply to me, which makes reading each much faster. Like others in this genre, this book is a relatively quick read. The chapters are relatively short, and have a lot of subsections and side bars, and almost half of it consists of a glossary, appendices, and index.

[KellyAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not entertaining or anything, but pretty helpful info for first time homebuyers. I didn't mean to actually READ the whole book but I realized suddenly that I was at the end of it, and tada! I'd read the whole darn thing! I WOULD recommend it if you need to know how buying a home works, but it won't be the only source of help you need.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this before we moved to NC in 2006, it served its purpose of preparing us for the many considerations of buying a house. I would give it five stars for useful information (at least at the time it was published--may not be as useful now) and readability, but it just wasn't what you'd call a life-changing book.

[Kylene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book isn't going to knock your socks off, and since it is 5 years old, some of the info isn't up to date. But it is a good reference for first time home buyers. At least...I think it is...since I am buying my first home. I hope it is.... :)

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are in the market for your first home, I'd highly recoment this book. The author gives several websites and tips to help you with the daunting process of buying your first home.

[Becky · Rating 2 out of 5]

easy read! good book for the basics on house buying

[Chelsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

very informative.

[Bostonuchic]

Skimmed.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Readable primer.