text: This is a great beginner's guide to home buying.  The advice is straightforward and the explanations are easy to understand. 
  
  Buying a home is a scary and daunting prospect for me.  I kept getting a lot of conflicting advice from relatives, friends, and coworkers on when to buy, what to buy, and how to buy.  This is very frustrating as everyone means well, but what worked for them might not apply to me. And don't bother asking a realtor or mortgage company if you should buy--they make their living on our decisions to buy! 
  
  So I bought Home Buying for Dummies to learn more, and it has a lot of sound and thoughtful guidance to help decide when and how much to buy...  And also how to find a good home, and then negotiate with the realtors, the sellers, the mortgage companies, and everyone else that is sticking their hands in your wallet.  
  
  The author's advice is realistic, and he points out the pitfalls of jumping in and what trouble you can get into with the different loan options out there
  