Mortgages For Dummies, 2nd Edition

very well written.


very helpful, if not extremely polished   September 23, 2000
 29 out of 30 found this review helpful

You will definitely find out just about anything you wanted to know about mortgages: fixed and ARM (all the others are variations on these themes). My only small complaint is the same as the reviewer's below: several times the authors refer to appendices that are not there! There are also some typos ("suprised") some in prominent places -- it just gave me the feeling that the book was rushed. One piece of information I felt they could have spent more time on was the mechanical side of paying down a 30 mortgage faster. For example, how many years does it take off your loan to put in one extra payment a year, or $100 per month, etc.... Home buyers often pick a 30 year mortgage because of the low monthly payment, but can strive to put in an extra payment a year to save tens of thousands of dollars of interest. This information would have given more details to the types of mortgages most people get. The authors spent a bit too much time by comparison on some relatively rare loans (reverse mortgages) although no one will put a gun to your head and make you read those parts. Overall, it was easy to follow and the best of the books on understanding how mortgages work and how to compare them.


Very useful for first time home buyer   January 5, 2000
 17 out of 17 found this review helpful

I've found this book the most useful of the dozens I scanned through at the bookstore. The numbers used in the examples better represented the real-world of 1999 than the others. The authors do a good job of explaining the steps one should take to obtaining a mortgage and the many terms that are thrown about the mortgage industry. I didn't come away from the book with a definitive answer to "which mortgage is right for me?" but I certainly understood what the trade-offs were between the different ones.

One problem I did have with the book is the many references to the graphs in "Appendix C" of how the ARM indices have behaved over time. The copy of the book I have has no such information in appendix C or any other appendix.


Just what the doctor ordered   May 11, 1999
 38 out of 39 found this review helpful

Excellent, plain English explanation of the various mortgages and how to choose one that best fits your situation. Also details how to shop and negotiate the best deal...with all the hype about shopping on the internet, that excellent chapter alone is worth the price of the book. I learned a lot about "creative financing" techniques like 80-10-10 loans that I knew nothing about before picking up a book. I've tried other mortgage books and found them to be dull and not to the point. This book was a joy to read and left me thinking clearly!