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How to Buy a HouseSnagging.org In association with Amazon.co.ukOnline Shop | Property Guides | Kitchen & Home | Garden Tools | Power Tools | Consumer Electronics Get the Snagging Checklist Here! Rating:  - Only for the stupidThis book provides very little relevant or useful information and will benefit only those with absolutely no idea about buying a property. Its biggest failing is that no consideration is given to the state of the property market and risk, particularly to first time buyers, of committing to a purchase when the market is in decline. Rating:  - An easily accessible guidebookThe book is a very light read and the spacious layout resembles a cookbook more than a book on real estate. Short hints are presented mixed with plenty of (irrelevant) pictures - half of them showing Allsopp and Spencer. The strength of the book is that it has collected *all* the fundamentals in an easily accessible format. It is definitely not for the more experienced house-buyer, but for an infrequent reader about to buy a first home it could prove extremely useful. Rating:  - This book is really usefulThis book is probably best for a first time buyer. A lot of the advice is common sense, but as a first time buyer it's reasuring to know that you have all of your bases covered. There are also a good few golden nuggets too, which could easily save several thousand pounds compared to the cover price. It's true that the book makes no warning that house prices can go both up, and down, but I think that they were correct to ommit it. The book is about buying a house, not the housing market in general. Over a year after it was published the book is very relevant, but any discussion of the housing market would be completely out of date. It's true that the information could easily be condensed into fewer pages, but the design and layout is very good. Rating: - Practical Advice for Property NovicesThis isn't a book about making a killing in the property market - it's just a supremely practical and easy-to-read guide to buying your own home. Unlike other reviewers, I'm impressed with it precisely because it has appeared at a time when the property market seems to be falling: it helps the reader focus on exactly what she or he wants from a house which might have to be home for five years or more before the market picks up again. I wish I'd read it before I bought my first house - it would have saved me so much worry, expense and dissatisfaction. It's worth the money for the advice on dealing with estate agents and solicitors alone. Though it's true that the proportion of photographs to text is high, for me this helped keep my attention through the tedious but necessary technical bits (and even these are set out in a clear and comprehensible way). If you are an experienced property developer then obviously you won't need this book; but for those of us whose home is the biggest investment we will ever make, it's well worth reading. Rating: - Useful discussion on overall process of house purchaseIt's nice to see the process summarised for first time buyers. What's lacking, however, is any warning to first time buyers that they may be investing at the top of a speculative property boom. If some aspect of the timing of the purchase with regards to market conditions was included it could be useful reading. As it stands, it's simply an extension to the 'Location Location Location' mantra of "buy now at any price before it's too late". Go back to: How to Buy a House You might also be interested in the following great products:
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