South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Sunday)
Looking to buy a home? This guide will help
Buying a home for the first time is not easy, especially in the current market, with its bidding wars and escalating prices. As with many sorts of financial decision, I recommend educating yourself before risking your money.
One of the best books on the subject is “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask,” by Ilyce Glink, now in its fourth edition (Crown Books). It’s comprehensive, easy to read and authoritative. For many years, Glink has been a real estate newspaper columnist (as it happens, for the same syndicate as I am, Tribune Content Agency), as well as television and radio personality, podcaster and blogger. All that wisdom and experience is gathered between the covers of this book.
Early on, Glink raises the questions firsttime buyers need to ask themselves before they take the plunge into home ownership. Does it make sense to continue to rent? How much can you afford to spend? How will your credit rating impact your mortgage options, and what can you do to improve it? Included are tools and websites that make it easier for you to shop for your home.
Once you decide you will buy a house, you will face more questions. Everybody has heard that real estate is about location, location, location. But what does that mean in practical terms? Should you buy a new home or an existing one? An important discussion covers renovation: how much it costs, how to determine if you should and how much is too much.
Then there’s the subject of brokers and agents, and what the difference is. Glink argues that choosing the right broker or agent is of the utmost importance, and she details the questions you should be asking of prospective candidates for that job. She also explains broker/agent responsibilities and fees, and topics such as exclusivity.
One of the underappreciated challenges of home ownership is the ongoing and sometimes escalating costs. Glink offers a detailed discussion of how to determine what you can afford based on your desired lifestyle. Taxes, homeowner’s association fees and maintenance costs can vary based on the type and age of the property you buy. It’s better to go into a purchase with your eyes wide-open.
Another excellent chapter covers financing, illuminating topics such as the size of a recommended down payment, fees, various types of mortgages, private mortgage insurance, annual percentage rate (APR), and how you can get the best terms and best interest rate.
Then there’s the many issues related to closing the deal, some of which fill prospective buyers with dread. Glink provides great advice on how to bargain, and how to make offers and counteroffers. She details how to place conditions on your good-faith deposit, for example, by specifying that it is dependent on an inspection to ensure there are no significant problems. It is important that you specify the conditions specified in the offer. For example, if you are awaiting mortgage approval, you can ask that you have a specified time frame in which you expect financing to be approved. You want the option to rescind the offer if you are unable to get credit approval.
An immensely useful part of all these discussions is Glink’s examples, culled from years of addressing the predicaments of her readers, some of which work out well and others that end in disaster.
The bottom line is that Glink has encountered virtually every important issue in buying a home, and she covers them well. I have purchased many different types of homes over my lifetime, and there is not an important issue I have come across that is not covered in sufficient detail in the book.