This new edition of America's # 1 best-selling real estate book takes the pain out of choosing, negotiating for, and buying a home. Helping home buyers save time and money, personal finance guru Eric Tyson and real estate maven Ray Brown deliver the up-to-date information people need, showing them how to:

• Research neighborhoods and home values
• Select the best mortgage-including the latest developments
• Understand the pros and cons of buying different types of housing
• Assemble the right team for putting the deal together
• Negotiate the best price and terms.

reviewed:"This is the book I used most often,    I just successfully bought my first house. I shopped Amazon.com and bought half-a-dozen "how to" books for buying a house before I started my search. I was buying this house on my own, and had no one to rely on for hand-holding or expert advice. I also had a lot of qualms about the whole process. Out of all the books I bought, this was the one I kept going back to. It's typical of a "Dummies" book in that it doesn't give you too much unusable knowledge, but--coversely--it also doesn't drill down to the nth degree on any one topic. This is okay, though. With the usual high-quality editing that goes into most "Dummies" books, this one is very easy to read. It talks about who to hire (e.g., real estate agent, mortgage broker, etc.), how to go about hiring them, how to go about getting a mortgage, what are the ins-and-outs of mortgages, how to get a down-payment together, and--I thought--most importantly; how to budget yourself in preparation for homeownership. This part on figuring out what you spend as a renter and what you think you'll spend as a homeowner helps you decide how much of a house you can afford, and, in my experience, this is one of the big mysteries of buying your first house. Overall, the book is comforting, reliable [now that I'm in a house, I can see that the advice was good], and well organized. If you don't know much about how to buy a house, this is a fine start and a trustworthy source of information."

The first simple guide to understanding the real estate closing process.
Closing and escrow are among the most important­­and least understood­­components of a real estate transaction. The Complete Guide to Your Real Estate Closing takes the mystery out of the confusing, expensive process by giving real estate professionals, investors, and consumers a step-by-step explanation. In simple, everyday language, the book explains closing documents and paperwork, what to do when something goes wrong, mortgage options, how to save money on title insurance, problems that can occur on a title report, and much more. With sample forms, work sheets, and more, this sophisticated but accessible book covers:

• Insider tips on how to save money --from a closing professional
;
• Who does what: the real estate agent, lender, title company, closing officer, attorney;
• State-specific information for all 50 states.

reviewed:"The Best Guide,    This book has all the information anyone needs for all aspects of a closing. It tells you the right questions to ask, when to ask them, and includes helpful checklists, which are really user-friendly. I used this personally in my latest closing, and it was the best guide I could have had. The list of documents needed to be sure the closing goes smoothly was great. Sandy Gadow is the leading author and expert on closings and escrow and I appreciated the easy to read style of her book. Worth buying this book!"

A superbly presented 'how to' primer for anyone who is considering selling, with or without the aid of a broker!

reviewed:"For anyone who is considering selling their home,    Sell It By Owner & Save is a practical, straightforward guide to selling a home without a broker. Accessibly written by a professional broker in down-to-earth, layman's language, Sell It By Owner & Save covers each step of the sale in clear detail. Sell It By Owner & Save is a superbly presented "how to" primer for anyone who is considering selling their home, whether they want to enlist the aid of a broker or not!"