Nolo's Essential Guide to Buying Your First Home - Step-by-Step Handbook for First-Time Homebuyers | Real Estate Investment Tips & Mortgage Advice | Perfect for New Homeowners & Property Investors

I am a few weeks away from closing on my first home and read this book nearly cover to cover. I bought this book along with the "Home Buying Kit for Dummies" book. Both complimented each other pretty well, though there was a lot of overlap. Overall, this book alone is not going to cover "everything" you need to know, but I nevertheless give it 5 stars for being an excellent resource. It's difficult to recommend one book over the other because they are so different. The Nolo book is better written and covers more topics that were relevant to me, but the Dummies book might be a better resource overall.Strengths:The book is well-written and covers some topics I didn't expect. For instance, if you are considering borrowing money from a family member, you should take the IRS Applicable Federal Rate (AFR) into account when deciding an interest rate. If you set an interest rate too low (e.g. 1%) then the IRS will consider the loan a gift and the giver will be taxed as such. I loved the forms that the book comes with - checklists for looking at new homes, interviewing a real estate agent, a loan officer, even how to talk with your spouse about your ideal dream home.Weakness:The organization could be better if it was more chronological. For instance, home inspection happened pretty early in our process, but that chapter is near the end of the book. I would prefer to have the book organized so that I could read a chapter as it unfolded. But it's easy enough to skip around if you need to.The book is also weak on evaluating mortgage lenders. It capably covers important topics such as why APR (annual percentage rate) is more important to pay attention to than the interest rate (because the APR includes the interest rate as well as fees and most other costs associated with granting the loan) and also things like how to tell when buying points will be beneficial. What is missing is a step-by-step guide that would tell, for instance, at what stage you should shop around, or at what point you should withdraw your application if you find a better offer. For instance, if you get a GFE (good faith estimate) from one lender, you might wish to consider shopping around to see if you can find a better deal. At that point, you could take the GFE from a second lender and show it to the first lender to see if they would match it.Overall this is a great resource and I'm happy with the purchase.