The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home

by Shelley O'Hara, Nancy D. Lewis

An updated guide to the home real-estate market explains how to locate a house to buy, negotiate an offer, get a mortgage, use the Internet to finance and sell one's home, increase resale value, and sell without a real estate agent. Original.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, Business, Finance

464 pages, Paperback

First published November 12, 1997

Reviews

[Anita · Rating 2 out of 5]

I knew I was in trouble when I read, "some experts think that the home market is a bubble waiting to pop."

[Jules · Rating 3 out of 5]

simply informative.

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Time to revise this one again! The section on all of the different closing costs was helpful, but much of the advice on buying and selling was made irrelevant by the current real estate climate. The charts in the book don't include interest rates on the low side that are available now. The book still had plenty of the kind of bad advice that has put so many buyers and lenders in trouble, like the old chestnut that your income will raise so much over time that what is a difficult payment the first few years will be easy later on. Complete Idiot's is usually better than this: time for a revision!

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was great for looking terms. When I needed to know the difference between good faith money and earnest money it was there for me. It seems like the charts and graphs were a little outdated.

[Hank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the basics, as one would expect it to be. Frankly I skimmed or skipped most of it but I'd call it a worthwhile read for someone entering the market for the 1st time and a good review for those coming back.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book (and a few others) helped get my husband and I through our first and second home purchases. Lots of good info. for the first-time homebuyer and simulanteous home seller/buyer. Please note: while the ISBN matches my edition, my cover is not the same as the one pictured.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Helpful, easy to read step-by-step of what one needs to think about and do when buying or selling a home. Much appreciated by us first-time home buyers!

[Kelly Holmes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a big help when buying my first home. I even referred to it a little when buying my second home as well.

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

We bought a house. This book was somewhat useful for the basics.

[Paula · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative, but probably should have borrowed it or checked it out at the library.