Books for First Time Buyers

SGE1

Hello all,

Does anyone know of any good books/guides out there about property purchasing and mortgages, specifically designed for first time buyers, and published relatively recently (ie, that take into account the current economic climate)

I've read Martin's Mortgage Guide, but since it was published in 2006, all the references to 100% (and even 130%!) mortgages don't really apply anymore. It would also be nice to find some info purely on properties, how to negotiate with sellers, how to spot a good deal/stay away from a bad one, etc etc

Thanks :A

poppysarah

Read this forum. It's got tons of stuff on about what to ask at viewings (and sellers hints on avoiding telling the truth lol) and there are people here to answer most questions.

You need to make friends with your local EAs. This will get easier once the supply of landlords dries up and real people can once again buy property.

The mortgagey stuff = save like a looney. Every £1 you save now saves you about £10 in the long run (OK someone will correct that for me I'm sure) - the more you save the better.
Don't go out every week - put the money in an account. Make a concious effort to realise that not p'ing it up a wall means you have less mortgage to pay off.

Find an area you like. Install property bee on firefox and browse rightmove. View a few houses you don't like. View houses you don't think you'd like. Find out what the local area's houses are like. What are the terraces like? Are they tiny? Do you like new builds? Once you've viewed a few houses you don't like you'll be practiced at asking the right questions on properties you do like.

SGE1

Hi
Thanks for all that - I am already quite good with my money, I do check these boards quite often, and I already have propertybee installed, and I check that regularly, I already know what kind of flat I want (a period top floor flat with 2 bedrooms in zone 2-3 London, in a mediocre state of repair so that I can fix it up as I like - that's the plan in my head anyway :P)

All the comments on these boards are very helpful, but I still think it would be valuable to get some more detailed info.