For most people, buying a home is the biggest purchase decision of a lifetime. In fact, it’s one of the biggest decisions, period.
Your mortgage is probably the largest debt you’ll ever take on, and taking care of a house is one of the largest responsibilities. Next to getting married or having children, it’s hard to think of anything that will have a greater impact on your life.
With so much at stake, it makes sense to learn as much as possible about the process before you take the plunge. You can find lots of articles about home buying online, of course, just like any other subject. But for a really in-depth take on the topic, you can’t beat a good book.
Best Books to Read Before Buying a Home
There are literally hundreds of books on home buying, covering the subject from every possible angle. Some real estate books provide a walk-through of the whole process. Some focus on the legal details. And some are all about getting the best deal on a mortgage.
With so many books to choose from, how do you find one that’s useful for you? To get started, look at what books other people have found most helpful. The books on this list all get good reviews from finance professionals, as well as ordinary homeowners.
1. “Home Buying Kit for Dummies” by Eric Tyson & Ray Brown
All the books in the “Dummies” series explain complex topics — from computer languages to sports — to people who know nothing about them. “Home Buying Kit for Dummies” takes the same approach. It covers all the basics of buying a home in an easy-to-digest form.
This comprehensive guide covers every step of the home-buying process, including:
- Deciding whether to buy a house
- Figuring out how much house you can afford
- Comparing mortgage lenders
- Choosing a real estate agent
- House hunting
- Making an offer
- Getting a home inspection
- Preparing for your closing.
- Moving into your new home
The book is ideal for first-time home buyers because it assumes no prior knowledge. It’s all in plain English, with no fancy lingo. You can read it from cover to cover or dip into it as needed to learn about specific topics.
To aid reading, the pages are peppered with icons marking key points. These include a light bulb for tips, a warning sign for pitfalls to avoid, and a deerstalker cap for topics to research on your own. They make it easy to spot important info at a glance.
2. “Buying a Home: The Missing Manual” by Nancy Conner
The “Missing Manuals” series deals mostly with computer software and hardware. But it’s branched out into finance, another subject that ought to come with instructions. In this volume, Conner, a real estate investor, walks you through the home-buying process from start to finish.
“Buying a Home: The Missing Manual” is a step-by step guide to all the ins and outs of home buying. Its includes chapters on:
- Choosing a real estate agent, mortgage lender, and lawyer
- Choosing the right neighborhood
- Finding your dream home
- Figuring out how much to offer on a house
- Financing your down payment
- Comparing mortgages
- Inspections
- Closing costs
And it does all this with simple language and handy, bite-size chunks of information. Fill-in forms throughout the book help you apply the author’s expert advice to your specific situation.
3. “NOLO’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home” by Ilona Bray J.D., Alayna Schroeder & Marcia Stewart
The legal website NOLO is the top place to find legal advice online. Along with its free articles, the site offers an array of do-it-yourself forms, books, and software. This walk-through guide to homebuying is just one example.
“NOLO’s Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home” covers most of the same topics as the Dummies and Missing Manual books, but from a different angle. It focuses on all the legal ins and outs of the home-buying process.
Although three attorneys wrote this book, it doesn’t rely on their knowledge alone. It draws on the knowledge of 15 other real estate professionals, including Realtors, loan officers, investors, home inspectors, and landlords. It’s like having your own private team of experts. For example:
- A real estate agent offers tips on how to dress for an open house.
- A mortgage broker explains the risks of oral loan preapprovals.
- A closing expert discusses the importance of title insurance.
Along with the expert advice, the book provides real-world stories from over 20 first-time home-buyers. Their experiences let you preview the process before jumping in yourself.
4. “Home Buyer’s Checklist: Everything You Need to Know — But Forgot to Ask — Before You Buy a Home” by Robert Irwin
Every home-buying guide talks about the need for a home inspection. However, there are many problems home inspectors don’t always look for. The only way to detect them is to ask the right questions. In “Home Buyer’s Checklist,” Robert Irwin tells you what those questions are.
Irwin is a real estate professional with over three decades of experience. He knows all about the hidden flaws in homes and how to track them down. Irwin walks you through a house room by room and points out possible problem areas, such as:
- Doors and door frames
- Windows and window screens
- Fireplaces
- Light fixtures
- Floors
- Woodwork
- Attic insulation
For each area, he notes possible problems and how to spot them. He also explains what they cost to fix and what damage they can cause if you don’t fix them. And he helps you use that information to your advantage in negotiating the price of the house.
Armed with this information, you can avoid unpleasant surprises when you move into your new home. It won’t make your house’s problems go away, but it will prepare you to deal with them — and keep the money in your pocket to do it.
5. “The 106 Common Mistakes Home Buyers Make (and How to Avoid Them)” by Gary Eldred
To first-time homebuyers, the real estate market is a big, confusing place. In “The 106 Common Mistakes Home Buyers Make (and How to Avoid Them),” Gary Eldred offers you a map to help you find your way around.
Eldred’s guide draws on the real-world experiences of homebuyers, home builders, real estate agents, and mortgage lenders. They shed light on the mistakes homebuyers make most often, such as:
- Believing everything a real estate agent says
- Underestimating the cost of owning a home
- Buying in an upscale neighborhood that’s on the decline
- Paying too much for a house
- Letting your agent handle the price negotiations
- Staying out of the housing market due to fear
With the help of Eldred’s examples, you can avoid these pitfalls and find a house that’s both a comfortable home and a sound investment.
6. “No Nonsense Real Estate: What Everyone Should Know Before Buying or Selling a Home” by Alex Goldstein
As both a Realtor and a real estate investor, Alex Goldstein has been on both sides of a real estate transaction. This gives him a unique perspective on what works and what doesn’t in the home buying process.
In “No Nonsense Real Estate,” Goldstein puts that experience to work for you. He offers a step-by-step guide to the home buying process in language a first time home buyer can easily understand. This comprehensive guide covers:
- The economics of the housing market in simple terms
- The pros and cons of working with a real estate agent
- What to look for in a home
- Assembling a real estate team
- Types of homes, such as single-family homes, condos, and co-ops
- Traditional home loans and non-bank financing
- Tips for sellers to get the best price on a home
- The five elements of a successful real estate negotiation
- Real estate contracts and closing costs
- The eight steps of a real estate closing
- The basics of real estate investing
- A real-world case study of a home purchase
- A list of frequently asked questions
- A glossary of real estate terms
As a bonus, all buyers of the book gain access to a library of training videos and materials. They can help you find a real estate agent in your area, evaluate investment properties, and more.
7. “The Mortgage Encyclopedia” by Jack Guttentag
One of the most intimidating parts of buying your first home is getting your first mortgage. Not only is it likely the biggest loan you’ve ever taken out, there are dozens of options to consider. And the jargon loan officers use, from “escrow” to “points,” doesn’t make it any easier.
Jack Guttentag’s “The Mortgage Encyclopedia” offers a solution. The author, a former professor of finance at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, tells you everything you need to know about how mortgages work and what your options are. The book includes:
- A glossary of mortgage terms, from “A-credit” to “Zillow mortgage”
- Advice on nitty-gritty issues such as the risks of cosigning a loan and the pros and cons of paying points versus making a larger down payment
- The lowdown on common mortgage myths, traps, and hidden costs to avoid
- At-a-glance tables on topics like affordability and interest costs for fixed-rate and adjustable-rate mortgages
For first-time homebuyers grappling with the details of choosing and signing a mortgage, it’s a must-read.
8. “How to Get Approved for the Best Mortgage Without Sticking a Fork in Your Eye” by Elysia Stobbe
Another book that focuses on mortgages is “How to Get Approved for the Best Mortgage Without Sticking a Fork in Your Eye.” As the whimsical title suggests, mortgage expert Elysia Stobbe understands how frustrating the mortgage approval process can be.
To keep you sane, she helps break the process down into bite-sized chunks of info that are easy to manage. Her guide walks you through such details as types of mortgages, loan programs, interest rates, mortgage insurance, and fees.
Stobbe explains how to find the right lender, choose the best real estate agent to handle negotiations, and find an appropriate type of loan. She also devotes a lot of space to mistakes you should avoid. And she supports it all with interviews with top real estate professionals.
9. “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask” by Ilyce R. Glink
Buying a home is such a huge, complicated process that it’s often hard to figure out where to start. In “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask,” Ilyce R. Glink addresses this problem by breaking the process down into a series of questions.
This approach makes it easy to find the information you want. Look through the table of contents to find the question that’s on your mind, then flip to the right page to see the answer. Glink tackles questions on all aspects of home buying, such as:
- Should I buy a home or continue to rent?
- How much can I afford to spend?
- Is a new construction home better than an existing home?
- What’s the difference between a real estate agent and a broker?
- Where should I start looking for my dream home?
- What should I look for at a house showing?
- How does my credit score affect my chance of getting a mortgage?
- How do I make an offer on a home?
- Do I need a home inspection?
- What happens at the closing?
Glink combines advice from top brokers, real-world stories, and her own experience to provide solid answers to all these questions. And she wraps it up with three appendices covering mistakes to avoid and simple steps to make the home-buying process easier.
Final Word
All the books on this list offer a good grounding in the basics of home buying. But if you’re looking for more details on any part of the process, there’s sure to be a book for that too.
You can find books on just about every aspect of home buying. There are books on every stage of the process, from raising cash for a down payment to preparing for your closing. There are books about home buying just for single people and books on buying a home as an investment.
And once you move into your new home, there are more books to help you organize it, decorate it, and keep it in repair. Just search for the topic that interests you at Amazon, a local bookstore, or your local public library.
