World Famous Comics: The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (and How to Avoid Them)
The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make (and How to Avoid Them)
By: Gary W. Eldred Publisher: Wiley Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Wiley Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 320 Publication Date: December 06, 2005
Product Description: Everything first-timers need to know to avoid the most common mistakes homebuyers make
Written especially for first-timers, this eye-opening guide turns you into an educated consumer, ensuring that the home or condo you buy is both a comfortable place to live and a great investment for the future. Compiled from the experience of hundreds of homebuyers, real estate agents, home builders, and mortgage lenders, it shows you the most common mistakes buyers make and illustrates them in practice so you don't fall into the same traps.
Now revised and updated for today's hot real estate market, this invaluable resource covers everything from negotiating with sellers and making the down payment to shopping for the best mortgage and handling the closing. The new Fourth Edition also includes totally up-to-date guidance on using the Internet to find properties, secure financing, and collect important data. If you're thinking about buying a home in this overheated market, don't make these mistakes: * Researching selling prices and still overpaying * Believing everything your agent tells you * Buying into an upscale neighborhood that's moving downscale * Underestimating utilities and other costs * Allowing your agent to negotiate for you * Letting fear get the better of you and not buying at all
Written by one of the nation's leading real estate experts and packed with hundreds of valuable tips and suggestions, The 106 Common Mistakes Homebuyers Make, Fourth Edition will give you the confidence--and the wisdom--to buy the right home at the right price.
Seriously Out-of-date This is one of those people who should have to eat every copy of their book sold. Most of the first few reasons detail why buying is better than renting (not always true; us California renters are laughing now at the people who bought 2-3 years ago) and how you can finance a home with zero down and bad credit (and get the taxpayers to insure your bad debt.) The latest edition was published in 2006, at the very precipice of the housing price spiral we're all riding down, down, down with no bottom in sight. It's the irresponsibility of advisors like this that got us into this mess; do yourself -- and the economy -- a favor and skip this one.
Some good tips This was great for tips. The book was not 100% applicable to our situation and at times was a bit repetetive. But overall it was a good buy and was informative.
Be careful about "expert" advice. I haven't finished the book, yet, but I quickly noticed how this author, along with other real estate "experts", sees himself as an advocate of an active real estate market. He wants people to buy. I don't really think rent versus own is what this book is suposed to be about. But, it's like the author couldn't help but get on his soapbox. Some of his suggestions are to eat less, use all cash reserves and even buy a home with a partner.
The author questioned whether historical stock valuations would continue to rise on past performance, but automatically assumed that the same limitations didn't apply to home purchase. Not everyone belongs in their own home. Interesting how this book was written before the whole real estate bubble popped, so I think he's always been proved completely wrong on that point.
The 107th common mistake is reading this book This book is very light on facts and written in surprisingly defensive tone. Also, it is at best lazy and deeply flawed in its analysis of investment returns, and at worst deliberately misleading. It is stated in an example that 10K down on a 100K house will likely net you a 24% annual return on your investment. It is figured that (on a 30-year loan) after 8 years we've paid down to an 80K balance and the house is now worth 137K. It is then calculated that our original 10K has increased in value five-fold like so: 137K - 80K = 57K. But (for starters) didn't we add 10K in additional equity through mortgage payments for those 8 years? Also, if 10% down gets us a five-fold increase, would 5% down give a 10-fold increase in value over 8 years? 57K/5K * 100% = 1140%!! NICE!! And if that's so, can I just buy a bunch of houses with no money down and experience an infinite percentage increase in value on my investment in each one (0 to 57K in just 8 years!)? Interest payments don't seem to figure into these calculations, though a specific rate is stated in the premise. With such staggering numbers backing him up, this guy must be wondering why he still has to write books to support himself. Also, the author is so insecure that another dissenting Amazon reviewer was lambasted in the '06 edition. Hey Gary, do me next.
Common? *NOT* If you need motivational material, this is for you. This is written for someone who is dragging their feet and does not want to buy a home. The 'for Dummies' series if far better if you want to learn something about buying.
About 12 "mistakes" deal with how renting is a waste of money. If you are shopping for a book about buying - you probably don't need 50 pages of 'you're throwing your money away by renting'.
Mistake #20 states the stock market is over valued, so real estate is a better investment. 1) "outsized returns during several decades of times must be offset by low returns over the decades to follow." 2) US GDP grows at just 3% a year - therefore, the stock market has to follow this trend. Anything over it (like the last 50 years of precedent) must be an economic bubble. 3) "When you invest in a home, you gain the magic and wealth-building power of leverage" seriously, that's what it says. So cash out your retirement! 50 years of stock market growth is nonsense. That's what this book tells you.
The book promotes interest only loans. Page 265 is about a "strategy to qualify" for a loan. Praising a mortgage broker who says, "If you don't qualify, then I'm going to see what I can do to make you qualify." Same broker states, if she turned people down for not meeting Fannie Mae's guidline ratio's, she "wouldn't earn enough to make my own mortgage payments" This book recommends finding a broker like this. Google "subprime lending" if you don't see the err here.
It just continues to babble as the pages read on. Not Married? Buy with a friend! Take in housemates. Work overtime or take on a second job. Find a higher paying job. And my favorite, "Put your spouse or kids to work"
I bought this book because I intend to buy. I already read and learned a from 'homebuying for dummies' which is a fact driven, educational read. I feel ripped off that I paid for this book and it's telling me to get a better job, put my wife to work, so I can buy a house, so I can be rich. I already WANT to buy, which makes 95% of this book B.S. for me.
there were only two "mistakes" in this book that I've heard of. First, smaller homes appreciate in value faster than larger homes (so, over time, a small house would cost more than a large home?). Second, it makes an argument for a condo as an invesment where I've always heard single family residential homes make better investments.
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