Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home

Say goodbye to landlords and laundromats with Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home. This timely title will help you find the right place to live and invest in -- and even enjoy doing it.

Filled with interesting facts, real-life stories and insights, and common pitfalls to avoid, this book provides everything you need to select the right type of home for your family, the right mortgage, the right agent, the right inspections -- and much more. Get the inside scoop on:

• deciding between a house, condo, co-op or townhouse
• exploring your local market for the best value
• creating and managing a realistic homebuying budget
  
• qualifying for and securing financing
• getting the right inspections and insurance
• negotiating with sellers or new home builders
• successfully closing the deal

Read through the real-world experiences of over 20 first-time homebuyers, as well as valuable insights from a team of 13 real estate professionals, including:

• brokers
• attorneys who specialize in real estate
• a home inspector
• a neighborhood researcher
• a mortgage specialist
• and more!

Along with this step-by-step handbook, you'll get The Homebuyer's Toolkit, including dozens of forms and MP3s to help you find the right place, crunch the numbers, interview real estate professionals, and even borrow down payment money from your parents.

The brand new 3rd edition of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home is fully updated to reflect the dramatically changed housing market, with emphasis on how to do the right kind of research before deciding on a price and the terms of your offer. It also includes a new discussion of what to expect when you're looking for financing.

Are you a California resident? Check out How to Buy a House in California