Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home

There’s no place like home!

Ready to say goodbye to your landlord? With help from Nolo’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, you’ll not only find the right house for you, you’ll have fun doing it.

Learn how to:

• research the local market and listings

• choose a house, condo, co-op, or townhouse

• create a realistic budget

• qualify for a loan you can truly afford

• borrow a down payment from friends or family

• protect yourself with inspections and insurance, and

• negotiate and close the deal successfully.

You’ll find insights from numerous real estate professionals—agents, attorneys, mortgage specialists, a home inspector, and more. It’s like having a team of experts by your side! Plus, read real-life stories of over 20 first-time homebuyers.

ISBN-13: 9781413330052

Media Type: Paperback(Eighth Edition)

Publisher: NOLO

Publication Date: 12-27-2022

Pages: 448

Product Dimensions: 6.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.30(d)

Ilona Bray, J.D. is an award-winning author and legal editor at Nolo, specializing in real estate, immigration law, workplace wellness, and nonprofit fundraising. Many of her books are consistent Nolo bestsellers, among them Effective Fundraising for Nonprofits, U.S. Immigration Made Easy and Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home. Her latest book is entitled Selling Your House: Nolo’s Essential Guide. She particularly enjoys interviewing people and weaving their stories into her books. Bray's working background includes solo practice, nonprofit, and corporate stints, as well as long periods of volunteering, including an internship at Amnesty International's main legal office in London. She received her law degree and a Master's degree in East Asian (Chinese) Studies from the Universityof Washington School of Law and Jackson School of International Studies, and an undergraduate degree in philosophy from Bryn Mawr College. In her spare time she enjoys hiking, going to open houses, and gardening. Bray also blogs on Nolo.com on topics such as nonprofit fundraising, real estate, and immigration matters. She's the winner of the 2012 "Best Blog" award from the National Association of Real Estate Editors (NAREE). Ann O’Connell is a legal editor at Nolo specializing in landlord-tenant and real estate law. Before joining Nolo as an editor, Ann was a freelance writer for Nolo and other publications and law firms. She has passed the bar exams in California, Nevada, and Colorado, where she is both an active attorney and a real estate broker. Ann practiced civil litigation in California and Colorado, and had her own firm in Colorado. At her firm, she focused on real estate, landlord-tenant, and small business cases. Ann earned her B.A. from Boston College and her J.D. from UC Berkeley Law. Marcia Stewart writes and edits for Nolo on landlord-tenant law, real estate, and other consumer issues. She is the coauthor of Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home, Every Landlord's Legal Guide, First-Time Landlord, Every Tenant's Legal Guide, Leases and Rental Agreements, Renters' Rights, and The Legal Answer Book for Families.

Table of Contents

1. What’s So Great About Buying a House? 2. What Do You Want? Figuring Out Your Homebuying Needs 3. Does This Mean I Have to Balance My Checkbook? Figuring Out What You Can Afford 4. Stepping Out: What’s on the Market and at What Price 5. Select Your Players: Your Real Estate Team 6. Bring Home the Bacon: Getting a Mortgage 7. Mom and Dad? The Seller? Uncle Sam? Loan Alternatives 8. I Love It! It’s Perfect! Looking for the Right House 9. Plan B: Fixer-Uppers, FSBOs, Foreclosures, and More 10. Show Them the Money: From Offer to Purchase Agreement 11. Toward the Finish Line: Tasks Before Closing 12. Send in the Big Guns: Professional Property Inspectors 13. Who’s Got Your Back? Homeowners’ Insurance and Home Warranties 14. Seal the Deal: Finalizing Your Homebuying Dreams 15. Settling Into Your New Home Index