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Book Review: The Foolproof Guide to Buying a Home
by Stephan M. Pollan and Mark Levine
Simon & Schuster, NY, $11.00, 239 pp.
Reviewed by Stephanie A. Chisholm
If the process of buying a home could be considered a journey to uncharted lands, Stephan Pollan has created a road map with explicit directions. The Foolproof Guide to Buying a Home contains 117 specific steps for home buyers, all the way from assessing your current dwelling to checking the moving boxes for damages after moving into your new home.
Mapping out the home buying process by covering every potential pitfall and opportunity could require an encyclopedia. Fortunately, Stephan Pollan and Mark Levine have created the Foolproof Guide to Buying a Home to get right to the point of every issue that home buyers will face.
Steps in the first chapter on establishing your goals challenge readers to be honest with themselves about their what qualifies as their ideal home. For example, step 3 asks the reader to "Examine your feelings about privacy." By considering the many different benefits and drawbacks about home features, home buyers will feel more comfortable when it is time to actually look at homes.
Additional chapters cover putting together a team of professionals, house hunting, negotiating with sellers, inspections, contracts, getting a mortgage, moving and closing. Instead of a dry text book approach to each area, the reader is treated to bite-sized nuggets of information that are supplemented with many supporting tips.
One of the most refreshing aspects of the Foolproof Guide to Buying a Home is its crisp, direct approach to dealing with the many professionals that a home buyer must to complete a purchase. The authors do not shy away from advising readers what to look for in an attorney, home inspector, Realtor or mortgage lender. They strongly suggest interviewing each professional, and provide a list of criteria and questions for each meeting. Warning 31.4, for instance, suggests that "if the pro takes a telephone call during your preliminary interview, think twice about whether you want him or her on your team. Why? Because he or she will have no qualms about doing the same thing when you're at your wit's end waiting for a response to an urgent inquiry." Despite being taken to task to prove their worth, the best service providers in each area will most likely welcome the opportunity to show their professionalism and credentials.
In reviewing for accuracy, only three tips were found to be outdated. Tip 21 states that "lenders will generally loan only 80% of the purchase price of a home," but mortgage lenders have routinely been offering 5% down payment loans with mortgage insurance for many years. Another tip that compares fixed and adjustable rate mortgages comments that "...the up-front points that have to be paid at closing (for adjustable rate mortgages) are lower than those of a fixed rate mortgage." The reality is that in today's market, lenders offer a 0 point, 1 point and 2 point option for all nearly all fixed and all adjustable rate mortgage programs. Finally, the authors state that "(Adjustable rate mortgages) tend to be combined with initial loan fess that are quite sizable..." In our research we have found no difference in fees between fixed and adjustable rate mortgages.
Aside from these few comments that need updating, the remainder of the Guide is right on target. In fact, one of the best features of this handbook is the collection of tips that support many of the 117 steps. Instead of making one general statement about all types of dwellings, Mr. Pollan and Mr. Levine add comments for buyers of retirement homes, vacation homes and apartments. Learning the many subtleties of these types of properties before plunging into buying them can save buyers the heartache of getting into a bad situation.
As it says on the back cover, "Your dream home is out there. Let the Foolproof Guide to Buying a Home help you find it."
About The Authors of the Foolproof Guide to Buying a Home:
Stephen M. Pollan is an attorney and real estate consultant, and he has been a regular commentator on CNBC and Today in New York. He and Mark Levine are the authors of ten books and numerous articles for New York, Worth, Money, Working Woman, and other magazines. Stephen Pollan lives in New York City and Mark Levine lives in Ithaca, NY.