Reader's Reviews
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I am in the process of looking for my first home, and ran across recommendations for this book on Amazon. Overall, I found the information in this book very helpful. In fact, when I discovered her second, more recent, book right after I finished the first one, I bought it as well. I definitely think these books are very helpful for those who like to keep themselves informed, rather than just blindly trusting that things will work out the way they're supposed to. On the other hand, sometimes ignorance is bliss! If I didn't know as much as I do after reading these books, I problem wouldn't be so stressed out about finding the best loan. If you blindly pick 3 lenders/mortgage brokers to compare, I suppose you probably don't feel as bad telling them that you didn't pick them because you thought their fees were too high or they didn't answer your questions just right. But when you pick 3 people who were either highly recommended or who you personally know, it becomes much harder when you begin to question them over the extra fees they are charging. Anyway, I highly recommend the books...as long as your not someone who would rather live in blissful ignorance. In addition, if you get on Carolyn Warren's website, she is amazingly quick in responding to questions and extremely helpful. She's actually doing loans now and her fees are very transparent. I haven't chosen to have her do my loan yet (I'm still working through trying to understand the other estimates I was given), but I am strongly considering it.
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I am in the process of purchasing a home as a first-time home buyer. This week I am heading down to finalize my loan for my dream house. Thankfully I took the time to read this entire book (easily read in 2 days) and found that my own bank was grotesquely taking advantage of me, did not provide accurate information to make any sort of informed decision (all the while they treated me to "good customer service", pampered and reassured me they'd take care of everything). I found a local mortgage company and loan officer that was honest, did not charge extra junk fees or shady back end commissions and with this book I ended up saving thousands of dollars! An absolute must-have book. I have now made a point of passing this book along to any person looking to buy a home and for them to do the same.
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I am usually very skeptical about books that are suppose to help you. But I have read this book because my brother recommended it to me. He literally saved thousands of dollars when he purchased his house. So I though why not? And let me tell you I did not even realize I would have been one of the people paying all the "junk fees" and so forth. I am very happy the author of this book is doing what she is doing by educating us on what could cost us so much of our hard earned money. Especially during the hard economic times of layoffs and pay reductions. Every penny matters more than ever. I would highly recommend reading this book if you are planning to purchase a home or refinance. She makes a boring subject very interesting and very helpful.
On a side note, she advertises that you can ask her question on her website [...] and she will try to respond in 48 hours. I did this and she responded within a couple of hours. She was very helpful with our potential situation and I appreciated she stayed true to what she stated in her book. I was very impressed and has since passed on this recommendation to 3 other people I know are buying houses.
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My sister recommended this book and I'm so glad she did. I bought two prior homes before my current one and this book opened my eyes to how mortgage brokers and loan officers make their profits, sometimes taking advantage of others!! Ms. Warren explains the step by step process concisely and makes it easy to understand for someone with very little experience in real estate (like me). I highly recommend this book to first and repeat home buyers.
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This is Carolyn Warren, author. I've been receiving emails from people asking if the information in this book is still relevant, so I thought I'd answer that for everyone here.
The information about over-charges, bogus junk fees, secret back-end commissions you pay for, how to properly shop for a loan are all still as relevant today as on the day I wrote it. It applies to both home buyers and home owners refinancing.
To illustrate: Just this week, I received an email from a person saying she used the information in this book to save $1,400 in up front fees. And, I received another email from a gentleman who said this book enabled him to save $73,000 overall in the cost of his loan.
In addition, the information about how to negotiate is still relevant. So is the information about how to turn a denial into an approval, what could go wrong in the middle of the loan process and what to do about it to save your home, etc.
There are new lending laws and, of course, new rip-offs, scams, and marketing ploys that have come out since I wrote this book. And a lot of foreclosures. Those are all covered in my latest book, Homebuyers Beware: Who's Ripping You Off Now?--What You Must Know About the New Rules of Mortgage and Credit
One other question people ask me is if there is duplicate information in the books, and the answer is no. The publishers are two different companies; therefore, all the writing for Homebuyers Beware had to be fresh and new. And since I was (and am still) working as a loan officer when I wrote it, the information is "from the trenches," not from the standpoint of a reporter or a professor or a real estate agent who has never actually ever closed a loan themselves.
I hope this helps to answer questions. Thank you for considering my books. My purpose in writing them is to enable people to get the cheapest financing with the least amount of hassle and stress. Since there is so much "bad theory" given as so-called "good advice" from people who have never worked inside the mortgage industry, I wanted to reveal what really goes on behind closed doors. I think the public has a right to know.
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