Check It Out

No matter how street smart you are, buying or selling a house can be

like rolling down a road strewn with potholes, which might be avoided by

doing a little homework.

Regardless of which side of the “for sale” sign you’re on, you might

profit from tactics outlined in two new volumes by Robert Irwin. In

“Power Tips for Buying a House for Less,” find tips for sizing up

brokers, structuring terms, lowering closing costs and using home

inspection reports for price leverage. In the companion title “Power Tips

for Selling a House for More,” learn how to handle multiple offers,

inspire agents and get the highest price and most favorable terms for the

lowest liability.

If you’re new in the residential marketplace, learn from the

experiences of hundreds of home buyers, agents, builders and mortgage

lenders, described in the updated edition of Gary Eldred’s “The 106

Common Mistakes Home buyers Make (and How to Avoid Them).” In addition to

strategies for negotiating with sellers, shopping for mortgages and

handling closing issues, two new chapters cover writing a purchase

contract and using the Internet to find a home.

Online resources have added a new dimension to home hunting. They

include sites with information from Orange County’s Housing and Community

Development Department (www.ochousing.org), AmeriSpec Home Inspection

Service (www.amerispec.com) and the League of California Homeowners

(www.homeowners.org). Other tips for using the Web to preview homes, get

comparative sales information, research communities and qualify for a

loan are in Randy Johnson’s “How to Find a Home and Get a Mortgage on the

Internet.”

Also available in cyberspace is “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online

Buying and Selling a Home,” accessible at www.newportbeachlibrary.org by

anyone with a Newport Beach Public Library card. In this e-book aimed at

novice buyers and sellers, Matthew O’Brien offers guidance for locating

lenders, learning about neighborhoods and negotiating terms.

While driving around looking for “open house” signs, you can get an

overview of the home-purchasing process by popping “How to Buy Your First

Home” into the tape player. Real estate professionals Bill Galvin and

Heather Kibbey outline a 10-step process for first-time buyers on this

book-on-cassette.

If you’re still confused, find answers from top brokers around the

country in the newest edition of “100 Questions Every First-Time Home

Buyer Should Ask.” From negotiating and financing to new tax laws and the

competitive mortgage market, real estate specialist Ilyce Glink covers

nearly every other aspect of the home purchase process. Six appendixes,

including a state-by-state resource guide, are sure to ease the process

of finding a home, sweet home.

* CHECK IT OUT is written by the staff of the Newport Beach Public

Library. This week’s column is by Melissa Adams, in collaboration with

Soon Jung. All titles may be reserved from home or office computers by

accessing the catalog at www.newportbeachlibrary.org.