Profit from the Mistakes of Others

Explore Possibilities, Set Priorities

We want to own, but we pay less to rent

We want to own, but we don't have enough for a down payment

We can't afford to buy; the monthly payments are too high

No bank will give us a mortgage

Our agent told us to get prequalified by a lender so we would know exactly how much home we could afford

Our agent said not to waste time looking at homes outside our price range

Sure, we would like to buy our own home someday

I wanted to wait until I got married

We were told not to buy unless we planned to stay put for at least four or five years

We know exactly what we want

We have to have a pool

We liked the house on Elmwood best, but our furniture wouldn't work there

There were so many rules, it was like living under socialism

What! Beans for dinner again?

We bought because we were so tired of looking

We feared that discrimination would limit our possibilities for home ownership

Home Ownership: How to Make It Your Best Investment

We're not planning to buy. Experts say home prices won't appreciate in the future as they have in the past

The experts were wrong in the past, but things are different today

Lower rates of inflation mean lower rates of appreciation for homes

We thought we could make higher returns investing in stocks

We weren't concerned about our home as an investment; we just wanted a comfortable place to live

We were told to buy in the best neighborhood we could afford. The best neighborhoods always appreciate the fastest

We were told never to buy the biggest or most expensive house in the neighborhood

I'd never buy a condominium. They make poor investments

AT&T never lays anyone off, do they?

With all the new construction, we thought the economy was really booming. Home prices had to go up

The newspapers say home prices are decreasing/increasing

How to Find a Good Buy

We thought we got a real bargain. Our house was listed $20,000 below other houses we looked at in the neighborhood

We thought we got a real bargain. We paid $10,000 less than the appraised value

The appraiser didn't tell us home values were going to fall

We didn't think to calculate replacement costs

We didn't pay attention to lot value. We wasted $22,000 on remodeling

Those ``comps'' weren't really comps

We figured the swimming pool added more to the home's value than it really did

We looked at selling prices but still overpaid

The sellers named the price, we named the terms

Everything looked like a bargain

I didn't buy anything. All the houses were grossly overpriced

Locate a Great Neighborhood

My agent said this was a good school district

We never saw the railroad tracks

We bought into an upscale development that's moving downscale

When we bought our house, the land across the street was a cornfield. Now it's a parking lot and shopping center

It didn't occur to me that on weekends the place could turn into a zoo of wild kids and party animals

Those people were a bunch of snobs

You're saying we can't build a fence around our yard? Isn't that unconstitutional?

No need to worry; those laws are never enforced

We live in Naperville, but our kids can't go to Naperville schools

We didn't know there were stables nearby. The wind was blowing from a different direction the day we looked

No one told us we had bought in a flood plain

After a downpour, we can't drive down these roads

We seldom see the sun here

We bought out in the county to avoid the city's high property tax rates

The city cut our services and raised our taxes

Everyone around here seems apathetic. They've accepted decline

The sellers said it was only 25 minutes to downtown

We didn't walk the neighborhood

Is This Home for You?

Our agent said it was a lot of house for the money

Our agent was part order-taker, part chauffeur, and part narrator---but she didn't give us the help we needed

Our agent never mentioned ...

We didn't hire a professional inspector. My dad knows all about houses

We didn't think a new home needed to be professionally inspected

I thought lead paint had been outlawed years ago

We now know why the sellers put up paneling in the downstairs den

After we moved in, the sellers' remodeling contractor put a lien against our home. And we had to pay it!

We should have looked at the utility bills

Those little repairs and renovations sure add up

Before we could add central heat and air, we had to spend $1,800 for new wiring and ductwork

The house looked great. I just didn't like cold showers, listening to my son's favorite radio station, or lugging groceries up the stairs

We had such great views

I didn't notice that the house was situated on two lots

We focused on problems, not possibilities

Negotiate Win-Win

We thought our agent represented us

I tried to buy directly from an owner to save the commission, but instead lost $5,000

We didn't know we could withdraw our offer

We never met the sellers. We didn't know anything about them

The worst they can do is say no

We thought the sellers had accepted our offer

The listing handout said ``wet bar/sink'' included

We fell in love with the house and had to have it

Our negotiations centered on price

``Split the difference'' sounds like a good compromise to me

We let our agent negotiate for us

We pushed to get the absolute best deal we could

The Best Loan at the Lowest Cost

We never heard of special financing for people like us

We thought the FHA loaned only to low-income people and involved too much red tape

We wanted a fixed-rate mortgage. ARMs were too risky

We didn't negotiate for seller financing

Those were the fastest two years of our lives

I paid $2,500 down to lease-option a townhouse, then found out that no bank would give me a mortgage

We paid too much for our mortgage

Our lender canceled our loan approval because I went into labor early and had to take temporary leave from work

My loan fell through because of poor credit. But it wasn't my credit that was bad

Our lender turned down our loan application

Become a Satisfied Homeowner

Our friends told us we were getting a great deal

The lawyer created more problems than he solved

We shouldn't have taken escrow allowances for repairs

We accepted an escrow allowance of $6,000 for termite damage. Our repairs cost $18,347

We thought the roof warranty was good for 20 years

Our homeowners' insurance didn't cover our losses

After we bought, property taxes jumped $1,200 and we got hit with a $600 special assessment for new sidewalks

We didn't know title insurance companies offered discount policies

Our closing was like showdown at the OK Corral

We couldn't believe the way the sellers left the house for us

The sellers wouldn't move out of the house

The Biggest Mistakes of All

We didn't buy. We were afraid of making a mistake

We thought it over. We're going to continue renting

How to Afford the Home You Want

Writing Your Offer

Internet Appendix

Index