eloan

This is the only good advice I gained from this book.
Also, to much focus on existing homes rather than new construction.

This book may be slightly better than two stars, but with all of the overly enthusiastic reviews below, some balance is needed.

For starters, this book is very brief - barely over 100 pages not including appendices - and can easily be read in two sittings. Largely an overview with little detail. Thus, you're better off checking it out of a library than buying it for a long term reference.

It also unbalanced/biased - it is obviously written by a realtor. For example, it does not address the issues concerning buying vs. renting and dogamatically assumes that buying is always a great move. While buying a home is usually a great investment, more of the risks of buying need to be brought up.

More annoyingly, the book makes real estate agents (buyer reps) out to be white knights. Untrue! From my experience, there are far more bad ones than good ones and finding a sharp, diligent agent can be a real chore. And the authors claim that it is in your agent's best interest to be patient and find you the best house possible. Also untrue! It is in your agent's best interest to get you to buy ASAP with as little of their time invested as possible. Understanding the players and their motivations is key in the home buying process, and this book just isn't honest enough in that regard.

It may be worth a trip to the library, but not a purchase. Of the four home buying books I read, "The Unoffical Guide to Buying a Home" was the best. More comprehensive and honest.

I saw the author on a local TV talk show and after hearing her straightforward advice and encouragement for the single woman thinking of buying a house, I purchased the book. I'm just starting out on my house search, but thanks to the advice in this book I know I'm going about it in the right (and smart) way. I'll be a home-owner soon!

You will gain a lot, there is a great deal of information in this book, If you have decided to put your financial life back together this is the starting point. A MUST for the people who need help.

I read the No-nonsense Credit Manual and found it very helpful in cleaning up the "wreckage of my past". It has helped me to better plan for the future and it's very easy to understand. Thanks for all the help.

I recently read this book and found it very helpful. I have taken direction and started writing my creditors letters and had marvelous results. I have re-established my credit by getting a secured credit card and am very happy to say I am repairing my credit myself through reading this manual.

I suppose this reference work is very informative to the home buyer ... if perhaps a bit too much to digest for the average casual reader. For an intern loan officer in an agressively propserous mortgage brokerage, the book provided some key information, but not the depth I had hoped for. Is it worth getting if your a mortgage professional? Yes, most definately. So much of the do's and don'ts of this industry are shrouded in statements like "well, we always did it that way" rather than simple straight forward explanations. This book was a breath of fresh air when I was floundering in my first year as a loan officer. Now, as a Senior Loan Officer at my company I still find myself referring to it from time to time for some of those elusive little details that always seem to arise in the loan process. Go ahead and get a copy. Either you'll learn something new or your boss will think you're applying yourself at home as well as on the job!

I'm a programmer analyst for a mortgage company. However, the one year experience I had working for a mortgage company with all the ongoing trainings and mortgage software application designs are nothing compared to this book. This is a great book with all info you need to know about mortgages. Would recommend to anyone.

All I can say is this is a great book, that is equivalent to 3 years of mortgage experience.

This book is a great book for consumers as well as real estate professionals. You will definitely want to keep it close by to reference information about FHA, VA and conventional loans. It is easy to forget some of the details about differnt loans but Ms. Garton-Good has made it easy to look up information such as who can pay closing costs on VA loans and does the veteran have to pay the funding fee. Having a list of closing costs FHA borrowers are allowed to pay or not pay is also very helpful. This book answers a lot of questions you probably wanted to know but may have been afraid to ask!

I would recommend anyone thinking about buying or selling real estate and all real estate professionals make this book a part of their reference library right away.

I have read several home-buying books and two other mortgage books and found this to be the only source for detailed information. As another reviewer suggested, if you want the feel-good basics then look elsewhere ("Navigating the Mortgage Maze", by Turnauer or "The Centuray 21 Guide to Choosing your Mortgage"). My view is that if you are taking the time to read a book on a subject, you want details. I find generalities and broad sweeping statements a waste of time. This text provides a breadth and depth of information in a clear and succinct manner. My only complaint is that the book could be updated with a newer edition. However this 10 year-old text is by no means out of date since the author gives you the framework to understand everything in the fast-changing mortgage industry.

Obviously, your success in buying or selling a home -- as a first-time home buyer, an investor, whatever -- or when you refinance -- is due in very large part to the financing you get. So obviously you should strive to learn as much as possible about how to get the best loan. Yes, you could rely on a mortgage broker and hope he/she is honest enough and competent enough to save you that extra [money]. But why risk it.

Here's the bottom line: As the author states, "Most loans...are approved or denied based on some very fundamental reasons." It's a good idea to know those fundamentals and what your options are.

And if you're still wondering whether or not it's worth it to know this info, let me ask you if you're going to pay that $ document preparation fee on your closing statement. How about that loan origination fee? (is 1% reasonable?) It's a very good idea to know this stuff, and I think this is probably the best book on the subject.

Nine times out of ten the biggest factor that decides whether or not you successfully buy or sell a real estate property is -- financing. And yet it is the one area people know the least about. By understanding home loans and how they work, you dramatically increase your chances. And this book is the best on the subject I have read. The writer is a professional experienced mortgage broker who writes well. The bottomline, as the writer states, is "Most loans...are approved or denied based on some very fundamental rules." It's really good to know these fundamentals.

Great book, easy to read, too pricy

This "no-nonsense" book, by a seasoned investor and broker, is mostly focused on non-traditional real estate financing vehicles. Bits and pieces on the subject have previously taught by various gurus, but this book covers ALL of them. If every Realtor and investor read this, we would all be better off.

Other recommended RE investing reads:

The Unofficial Guide to Real Estate Investing
Landlording by Leigh Robinson
5 Magic Paths to Making a Fortune In Real Estate Investing
The Income Stream by Robt. Goodman

This and Landlording, by Leigh, are my two fave's so far as a real estate investor. This one tends towards overkill with many, many examples but other readers may want that more than I did. There are one or two strategy recommendations I disagree with rather heartily, but it's clear, pretty much accurate, and very readable. The no-nonsense writing reminds me a bit of T. Dallow or J. Reed, both also recommended.

This book has a lot of valuable information for the beginningfarmer, but don't let the price fool you! The type is *very* small,the graphics lousy and many of the pages are only photocopied (badly) and un-readable. I would recommend you think twice before sinking $ into this book...

I didnt have any trouble the print was a little small but not impossible to read. Has lots of informaton and directed me exactly where i needed to go.

This book is well written and very concise. It is the most complete book I have read on purchasing country property or rural real estate, finding a job or career in Rural America and starting and running an agricultural enterprise or farm.

Reading this book was much like reading a college textbook. The information therein was helpful, but the style was wordy and technical. The book could have been more concise. As a reference guide, I preferred the book House Buying for Dummies.

A terrific handbook. It gave me all of the information I needed and in a manner that was easy to understand. Highly recommended. I agree with the reader from New York. Decisions like this require expert advice.

This book is an excellent overview of a complex subject. Written in a clear, straight-forward style, Smith's book can be an indispensible companion to buying a first or last home. I haven't read the House Buying for Dummies book that was mentioned by an earlier reviewer, but, when I'm confronted with the bigeest purchase of my life, I'd rather stick with someone who has a bit more obvious expertise.

The author of this book, Steven Wilmsen, was a financial reporter for the `Denver Business Journal' prior to reporting for the Denver Post in 1989. The copy I have of SILVERADO (1991), was published when the father of Neil Bush was President of the United States. Whether anything further has come to light, I can't say, and this book did not know why Colorado's plan to close Silverado at the end of October, 1988, during the presidential election campaign, was delayed by a mystery phone call that resulted in fantastic losses before the official closing date of December 8 or 9, 1988. "On October 21, the Colorado savings and loan commissioner called Mowbray in Topeka and said he would close the thrift before the end of the month. Mowbray, suddenly and unexpectedly, ordered the proceedings to a halt. A call had come from Washington asking Mowbray to hold off closing Silverado for forty-five days." (p. 183).

I do not see any logic for assuming that the bank had hundreds of millions of dollars more in September than in December of 1988, but this book says:

"The cost of that delay is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. In late September, regulators estimated the cost of Silverado's closure to be between $400 million and $600 million. When the thrift was finally closed December 9, it cost $1 billion." (p. 184).

If anything irks me about this book, it is the journalistic sensationalism. I like to look at the pictures (pp. 97-112) to see who the book captures and how young they looked in the 1980s. In the first nine months of 1990, Neil Bush even allowed the author to have six interviews (p. 7), trying to convince the public, "Silverado was no different than any other well-respected savings and loan, and I acted in prudence in all matters, just like any other respected director would in my position." (p. 12). That shouldn't surprise anyone who knows more about the role of money in politics than they know about the role of mathematics in financial transactions, but this book itself is not much higher up the intellectual food chain. There is so little information that I will provide summary topics for each chapter:

Chapter 1: Denver

Chapter 2: Michael Wise, the hypnotic new (in 1979) president of Mile High Savings. "Wise paid himself millions, but he never amassed the ridiculous icons of wealth that became hallmarks of some thrift executives' careers." (p. 28).

Chapter 3: "The measly 5.5 percent savings and loans paid for deposits at the time was a joke. No one in his or her right mind would keep money in a savings account that paid so little . . ." (p. 39). "Mile High was healthy in 1972, when interest rates were relatively stable. That year, the nation's thrifts had a collective worth of $16.7 billion. By 1980, that figure had crashed to a negative $17.5 billion. Mile High, accordingly, was practically broke." (p. 40). "The thrift doubled again the next year." (p. 44). "Propelled by the commissions they got each time a big block of money moved, the brokers had pulled in 20 percent of Silverado's total deposit base by 1985." (p. 51).

Chapter 4: "Neil came into the world on a wintry Texas day, January 22, 1955, the third son . . ." (p. 60).

Chapter 5: "As any number of late-night TV seminars will tell you, the secret to making a lot of money in the real estate business is not to use your own cash." (p. 73). "So, under the approving eye of the Reagan administration, lawmakers passed the Economic Recovery Tax Act, another way of saying Big Tax Break." (p. 74). "An investor could buy a share of a real estate project for $100,000 and get $200,000 in tax breaks." (p. 75).

Chapter 6: "With Neil on the board, that's what Wise got. In January 1986, just four months after Neil joined, vice chairman Vandapool wrote a memo to Wise (the same memo in which he praised Wise for transforming Silverado from a mess to a miracle). `Let's admit it,' he wrote, `The Board is a legal necessity, but you and Jim (majority stockholder W. James Metz) control the company and you control the directors.'" (pp. 90-91).

Chapter 7: "By 1988, M.D.C., Silverado and Walters had donated nearly $1 million to candidates for governor, mayor, county commissioner and a spate of other local seats. Thousands more went to national campaigns for Congress and the presidency." (p. 134).

Chapter 8: "They believed Silverado was in bad shape, but they apparently didn't have any idea of the task on which they were about to embark." (pp. 152-153). "There was no question: The thrift was hemorrhaging, and it had to be stopped." (p. 153).

Chapter 9: "A pig is a powerful and feared beast in the trade that symbolizes an audit out of control, paralyzed by confusion." (p. 162). "Silverado's managers was furious. How dare these pencil necks tell them how to run their business." (p. 168). "The Silverado account was the pig of pigs." (p. 172). "That such a frenzy of greed and irresponsibility should have occurred, of all places, in the accounting profession is mind-boggling." (p. 173).

Chapter 10: "On June 8, 1988, the inevitable happened. The Fort Worth real estate developer missed a $3 million dollar payment on a loan . . . According to the insane terms of the original agreement, Silverado was liable for the payment, and the developer wouldn't be paying Silverado for its $74 million loan." (p. 177). "But it was clear that the thrift wasn't long for the world when on August 15 the Colorado savings and loan commissioner issued a capital call, the first step in a government takeover. Two days later, suddenly sensitive to the appearance of conflicts of interest, Neil Bush announced his resignation from the board." (p. 181).

From the looks of the review attached to this book anyone who writes a review will be the first person to review the book. This is a nutty review, this "Kirkus" review. Is this actually the only book available on this Neil Bush ripoff. If it is I'll be hard put to find reviews of the other Bush boys' gun running and assorted illegal activities.

This book should be entitled "Paying For Your Child's College Without Going Broke". It contains almost no information for one who is trying to pay their own way through college. In fact the information in this book is so insular, I'm led to believe that unless you're a clone copy of the author, you won't find any relevant information in this book whatsoever. This is a throwaway piece of tripe intended to capitalize on peoples' apprehension of college costs. There is nothing here you won't find elsewhere on the net.

Widely quoted on the Web is the assertion from this book that "...almost every family now qualifies for some form of assistance. Many parents don't believe that a family that makes $75,000+ a year, owns its home, and holds substantial assets could receive financial aid. These days, that family--provided it is presented in the right light--almost certainly does."

Financial advice columnist Kenneth Hooker recently wrote the same thing:
"You can take some comfort in the fact that buying a college education has become a good deal like buying a new car -- virtually nobody pays the sticker price. There are a wide variety of financial aid programs available, both through the government and through the schools themselves, and the real costs are likely to be dramatically lower than the figures supplied ...."

As the completely middle-class, full-tuition-paying parent of a child at an Ivy League college, I feel like a total chump when I read this stuff.

Well, maybe I have missed something in all of my researches and walk-throughs with family contribution calculators, but I'm not sure.

Since there has been such a marked reduction, even disappearance of merit scholarships, and almost everything now is needs-based, parents should know that if your child applies to a private school that includes home equity in its EFC (as many now do, maybe most), and
(a) if your debt (mortgage and home loans) is not huge, and/or
(b) if you make a decent salary, and/or
(c) if you have saved and invested over the years and now have a moderate portfolio (however much it's down from 1-2 years ago),

then you almost certainly are NOT going to qualify for any financial aid whatsoever from any number of competitive private schools. Loans, sure. Aid, most likely no.

So far as I can determine, you are expected to take out a home-equity loan (if your house debt is low enough) and pay the full fare. And/or sell some of those "substantial assets."

I am not saying this is wrong, or even unfair for those of us who are comfortably middle-class. But unless I have made some major omissions, similar parents should not be misled by the broad promises and assertions by these college-financing "experts."

My job is helping people find ways to send their kid's to college without bankrupting themselves. This book by far is the best guide to the financial aid process available.

Don't let the anecdotal experiences of the guy you work with disuade you, there is a lot of help out there and this book will give a leg up on finding it.

As I tell my clients, the more you know about the rules of the college funding game, the more money you will save. So get this book and save some money.

Now if they only wrote it with a good index.

I bought this to try to find something to help us send my son to Georgia Tech for Architecture. Out of all the sections I looked at, (which included Retired Navy, Resident of Georgia, Boy Scouts of America, Religious Affiliation and Architecture) I found ONE listing that even came close to what we're looking for. I would have been better to have been a gay, blind, black woman, from New York, looking for a career in journalism. I'd have found THOUSANDS of listings for this. I'm afraid I feel ripped off here, guys.

I bought this book for myself and was disapointed-reason being- I know which field I'm going into and which school I am going to. I didn't find anything for my field so I looked in the general section and didn't find anything for the school I am attending. I don't recommend it for individual use. However, as a reference guide in the workplace or a financial aid office, even a high school counselor's office I think it is great. There are many things to help many students. As for individual use though, I recommend you check for it at the library instead of spending the money.

This book as a lot of good qualities and some bad too. The bad one was that it does take awhile to go through all the scholarship programs. Plus a lof of them repeated themselves in each catorgory. So you waste your time as you are going through the numbes.

Good note is that this books as like 5,000 scholarship keeping in mind of the doubles/triples of a quite a few of the awards. Catagories are within from state, to nationality, to what you want to major in, race, sex etc! So it covers just about everything!!!

Granted nothing is totally free! You have to work a little to receive the money. Either sending a SASE with some basic info. about yourself. But even the FAFSA isn't totally easy on filling out all that paper work either! So if you receive that award then you know what I am talking about.