How to Buy a House in California, 10th Edition

Book Description

The most complete guide to buying a home in the Golden State.

A thorough, practical guide to every aspect of buying a house, How to Buy a House in California will help you make informed decisions that can save you thousands of dollars. With this bestseller in hand, you'll learn how to:

choose a house and neighborhood find the right agent get the most up-to-date information on mortgage options and rates take advantage of creative financing strategies - from seller financing to government loans figure out how much down payment you can afford make an offer and negotiate with confidence for the best price buy a new house in a development inspect a house for physical problems and environmental hazards juggle buying and selling houses simultaneously successfully go through escrow The 10th edition, completely updated, explains how to use the latest mortgage financing options - such as no-interest loans - without getting burned. It also covers how to research a home's insurance history, deal with problems with newly built homes, and to what extent a buyer can trust inspection reports provided by a seller.

Home buyers beyond California: Even though this book provides state-specific forms and information for Californians, most of the material in it can help home buyers in the other 49 states as well. Don't buy a house without it!

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"The most complete guide to buying a home in the Golden State. A thorough, practical guide to every aspect of buying a house, How to Buy a House in California will help you make informed decisions that can save you thousands of dollars. With this bestseller in hand, you'll learn how to: choose a house and neighborhood find the right agent get the most up-to-date information on mortgage options and rates take advantage of creative financing strategies - from seller financing to government loans figure out how much down payment you can afford make an offer and negotiate with confidence for the best price buy a new house in a development inspect a house for physical problems and environmental hazards juggle buying and selling houses simultaneously successfully go through escrow The 10th edition, completely updated, explains how to use the latest mortgage financing options - such as no-interest loans - without getting burned. It also covers how to research a home's insurance history, deal with problems with newly built homes, and to what extent a buyer can trust inspection reports provided by a seller. Home buyers beyond California: Even though this book provides state-specific forms and information for Californians, most of the material in it can help home buyers in the other 49 states as well. Don't buy a house without it! List of Forms Describing Your Dream House Ideal House Profile House Priorities Worksheet House Comparison Worksheet How Much House Can You Afford? Family Financial Statement Monthly Carrying Costs Worksheet Mortgage Rates and Terms Table Presenting Your Offer and Negotiating Contract to Purchase Real Property Extension of Offer to Purchase Real Property Counteroffer [Counter Counteroffer] Revocation of Offer to Purchase Real Property Escrow, Contingencies and Insurance Extending Time to Meet Contingencies Contingency Release Release of Real Estate Purchase Contract "

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful Resource.......2007-10-10

I purchased this book because I was a first time home buyer and the information and tips I got from this book were wonderful. There was a tip about calling local title companies to find out who they think are good local real estate agents. I called for a recommendation, and it worked wonderfully! I found a great agent using that tip and I am extremely pleased with how everything worked out. The extra knowledge I acquired from this book was very helpful throughout the whole home buying process. It is an easy and fun book to read. The authors give stories from their personal experiences and also provide explanation of terms, etc. I would recommend it to any one who is going to buy a home.

Demystify the Maze.......2007-07-23

This book rocks! It is well written, clearly organized, full of incredibly useful insights and obviates the need for any other books. Purchasing property in the Golden State is hugely complicated and this book unravels the knots and truly educates the potential buyer to the point that ones agent will be impressed. Every aspect is covered and in such depth that I truly believe it helped me negotiate the best price and the best mortgage terms. I fully understood all the steps and when it came to final closing costs, I was impressed that I was able to accurately predict exactly what those would be ...no shocks here. I highly recommend this book.

I have nothing bad to say about this book........2006-03-18

I will be a first time homebuyer shortly and this book is really helping me put things into perspective and feel confident about purchasing a home. Easy to read. Easy to understand. Easy to find specific information. Highly recommended.

Prepared for the LA Market-Whoa!.......2006-02-02

This book is the only book you will need if buying a home in California. I am in my early thirties and knew nothing about the housing market in California until reading this easy and thorough guide to California home buying.
It provides a detailed and easy to understand guide to preparing oneself for entering theCalifornia housing market. The book is broken down in comprehensible, step by step chapters covering a wide range of subject areas. There are plenty of worksheets designed to help in your home search (practical and financial) as well as plenty of real life examples that illustrate common inquiries, pitfalls and scenarios.
I live in Los Angeles and was very intimidated by the insanely competitive housing market. This book has gotten me over these worries and am now working confidently with an amazing broker in looking for the house that's right for me. Don't bother with other guides, this is honestly the only one you will need!

Informative and easy to understand.......2004-01-28

This book explains all the little nuances about buying a house. I read the whole thing and parts of it more than once before I bought my first house. It is well organized so that you can read just certain chapters if you need specific information right away. I actually sold my copy online after my house closed. Later, I ended up buying a copy as a gift for a friend. I recommend this book to all my friends who are thinking about buying a house.

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An entertaining look at the challenges and charms of growing up on a farm.

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...'A fascinating comprehensive journey...thoroughly recommended.' BLACK FILMMAKER. The cinematic representation of blacks, especially in silent and early film, was shaped not only by the sentimental racism of the culture but also by the popular literature which distorted black experience and restricted black characters to minor, stereotyped roles. By contrast, in the works of black writers from Oscar Micheaux to Toni Morrison, the black experience has been more fully, more accurately, and usually more sympathetically realized; and from the early days of film, select filmmakers have looked to that literature as the basis for their productions.An historical examination of the practice of such adaptation offers telling insights into the portrayal -- and progress -- of blacks in American movies and culture. It reveals that while blacks, on screen and behind the scenes, were often forced to re-create the demeaning film stereotypes, they learned how to subvert and exploit the artificiality of their caricatures. It also reveals the ways that black filmmakers, beginning with Micheaux, Noble and George Johnson, and their less prominent colleagues like Emmett Scott, worked within the conventions of cinema and society, yet managed to produce films that were, at their best, unconventional and pioneering. It demonstrates that as far back as the 1920s and 1930s, black authors like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes already recognized the need for involvement with film production in order to create pictures that were more representative of black life. It illustrates the fact that, in recent years, as more black voices found their way to the screen, among the strongest were the voices of women. And above all, it confirms that within the rich tradition of black literature of all genres lie many exciting cinematic possibilities for audiences of all colors.Barbara Tepa Lupack has written extensively on the topic of literary adaptations in cinema and is co-author (with Alan Lupack) of King Arthur in America.

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In this Issue, Baffler content providers ponder what happens when the mundane things of everyday life-dolls, sports, restaurants, pop music, museums-are given over to the "concept" people to make really big. The results are quintissentially American, and include visits to the Super Bowl, American Girl Place, an Objectivists-owned haute-cuisine joint, and Frank Gehry's McGuggenheim.

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This "Fast Fact Finder" is designed for reference and for quick checks at the bridge table. Five-Card Majors is a particularly accurate system of bidding which leads to a greater understanding between partners—this is why it is used by so many top players at the highest competitive levels.

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Five-card Majors Bidding Flipper

Manufacturer: GOLLANCZ (ORIO)
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Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GOBMUW

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Modern five-card majors: Flipper
Ron Klinger
Manufacturer: Contract Bridge Supplies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Forget the common cold for a moment. Instead, consider the rise of "false data syndrome," a deceptive method of identification derived from numbers rather than more recognizable human traits. Simson Garfinkel couples this idea with concepts like "data shadow" and "datasphere" in Database Nation, offering a decidedly unappealing scenario of how we have overlooked privacy with the advent of advanced technology.

According to Garfinkel, "technology is not privacy neutral." It leaves us with only two choices: 1) allow our personal data to rest in the public domain or 2) become hermits (no credit cards, no midnight video jaunts--you get the point).

Garfinkel's thoroughly researched and example-rich text explores the history of identification procedures; the computerization of ID systems; how and where data is collected, tracked, and stored; and the laws that protect privacy. He also explains who owns, manipulates, ensures the safety of, and manages the vast amount of data that makes up our collective human infrastructure. The big surprise here? It's not the United States government who controls or manages the majority of this data but rather faceless corporations who trade your purchasing habits, social security numbers, and other personal information just like any other hot commodity.

There's a heck of a lot of data to digest about data here and only a smidgen of humor to counterbalance the weight of Garfinkel's projections. But then again, humor isn't really appropriate in connection with stolen identities; medical, bank, and insurance record exploitation; or the potential for a future that's a "video surveillance free-for-all."

In many information-horrific situations, Garfinkel explores the wide variety of data thievery and the future implications of larger, longer-lasting databases. "Citizens," Garfinkel theorizes, "don't know how to fight back even though we know our privacy is at risk." In a case study involving an insurance claim form, he explains how a short paragraph can grant "blanket authorization" to all personal (not just medical) records to an insurance company. Citizens who refuse to sign the consent paragraph typically must forfeit any reimbursement for medical services. Ultimately, "we do not have the choice [as consumers] either to negotiate or to strike our own deal."

The choice that we do have, however, is to build a world in which sensitive data is respected and kept private--and the book offers clever, "turn-the-tables" solutions, suggesting that citizens, government, and corporations cooperate to develop weaker ID systems and legislate heavier penalties for identification theft.

Garfinkel's argument does give one pause, but his paranoia-laden prose and Orwellian imagination tends to obscure the effectiveness of his argument. Strangely, for all his talk about protecting your privacy, he never mentions how to remove your personal information from direct mail and telemarketing groups. And while he would like for Database Nation to be as highly regarded (and timely) as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, the fact remains that we're not going to perish from having our privacy violated. --E. Brooke Gilbert

Book Description

Fifty years ago, in 1984, George Orwell imagined a future in which privacy was demolished by a totalitarian state that used spies, video surveillance, historical revisionism, and control over the media to maintain its power. Those who worry about personal privacy and identity--especially in this day of technologies that encroach upon these rights--still use Orwell's "Big Brother" language to discuss privacy issues. But the reality is that the age of a monolithic Big Brother is over. And yet the threats are perhaps even more likely to destroy the rights we've assumed were ours. Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century shows how, in these early years of the 21st century, advances in technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined. Direct marketers and retailers track our every purchase; surveillance cameras observe our movements; mobile phones will soon report our location to those who want to track us; government eavesdroppers listen in on private communications; misused medical records turn our bodies and our histories against us; and linked databases assemble detailed consumer profiles used to predict and influence our behavior. Privacy--the most basic of our civil rights--is in grave peril. Simson Garfinkel--journalist, entrepreneur, and international authority on computer security--has devoted his career to testing new technologies and warning about their implications. This newly revised update of the popular hardcover edition of Database Nation is his compelling account of how invasive technologies will affect our lives in the coming years. It's a timely, far-reaching, entertaining, and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to privacy facing us today. The book poses a disturbing question: how can we protect our basic rights to privacy, identity, and autonomy when technology is making invasion and control easier than ever before? Garfinkel's captivating blend of journalism, storytelling, and futurism is a call to arms. It will frighten, entertain, and ultimately convince us that we must take action now to protect our privacy and identity before it's too late.

Customer Reviews:

Not Completely Original, But Quite Useful.......2006-06-01

I have been reading books about privacy, notably from Australia where they first got worried about this, and am an admirer of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) based in Washington, D.C. so I can say with confidence that this book is not completely original, but I can also say that it is quite useful. The single best and most original book in this area that I am aware of with my own limitations, is Jeffrey Rothfeder's 1992 classic, "PRIVACY FOR SALE: How Computerization Has Made Everyone's Private Life and Open Secret" (Simon & Schuster).

The author captured my immediate interest when he posited early on that it is capitalism, not totalitarianism, that is the really grave threat to privacy, and then goes on throughout the book to demonstrate how capitalist innovation--and capitalist retribution--can find so many more profitable uses for stolen or insufficiently protected personal information including information about one's precise movements, Internet access, payments, and so on.

I credit the author with providing us with a really SUPERB discussion of an expanded definition of privacy and why it matters for the future, to include how a lack of privacy stifles free speech and individual voting or engagement.

The book is of course timely with the recent revelation of widespread NSA access to telephone records and widespread domestic telephone interceptions without warrants. I am quite certain NSA has full access to all travel and credit card records, and relatively certain that NSA is also obtaining full access to all banking transactions both within and passing through the USA. Eventually, as the dollar collapses and foreigners realize their financial transactions are not private, I suspect that the NSA intrusions will lead directly to a substantial reduction in what people are willing to transfer via US channels, and in this way deprive the US of interest and assets.

The author merits credit for anticipating in 1999 that terrorism would one day be used to justify extensive intrusions against privacy.

Most interestingly, the author reveals, for the first time to my knowledge, that NSA is in the phone card business. All those phone cards that terrorists and criminals have been using evidently have tracking information, and the testimony in the McVeigh case that the author illuminates makes it certain that this source and method will dry up for NSA with those who really matter: literate terrorists and criminals who, like Bin Laden, understand the value of open sources of information and make it their business to follow the literature.

Although the author's information with respect to credit card errors is somewhat dated, it merits comment that in 1991 there were errors in fully 43% of the files of the three main credit bureaus and--this I did NOT know--even if one corrects errors with those three credit bureaus, the corrections do NOT pass down to the 187 independent industry or localized credit bureaus that have purchased the incorrrect data prior to correction. More recently the industry claims a 1% material error factor, but in my own experience, the credit bureaus are quick to post liens or claims, and not at all interested in posting lien cancellations or settlements.

The author spends quite a bit of time, very usefully, in focusing on the fact that identity theft occurs due to lax banking and postal procedures (I for one am very upset over the countless offers of credit I receive in the undefended mail, offers that can be "hijacked" by anyone cruising for such mail before I collect it), and then denouncing the fact that victims of identify theft do not have "standing" in the courts--it is treated as a banking issue.

The book concludes with several scares and big ideas. Car have computers that can communicate--the day is coming when cars will report their owners for speeding, and a husband driving a wife bleeding to death from a farm accident will not be able to override the computerized speed limit. The author concludes that technology is eliminating the expectation of privacy, but I am more concerned by his documentation that we are becoming slaves to computers programmed by morons in bureaucracies.

The author suggests that a major challenge is how to create self-healing systems and I am curious as to why he did not know of Eric Hughes anonymous banking encryption protocols, in which only the bank and the client can see their banking data, which is otherwise constantly encrypted.

The federal government is clearly avoiding accountability, not only with respect to data privacy, but with respect to being accountable for who knew what when. The White House and the Senate clearly knew in 1974-1979 that Peak Oil was upon us (see my review of TWILIGHT IN THE DESERT and also of CROSSING THE RUBICON), and deliberate decisions were made to conceal the facts from the public in order to keep the bribes coming and the easy elections going. We wasted 30 years because of decisions that can now be judged to be treasonous and retrospectively impeachable.

The book has acceptable coverage of biometics, RFID, public video, and commercial space imagery. In the latter, the book has a mistake SPOT Image likes to take credit for many things, and they evidently claim credit for creating a C-130 portable ground receiving station. This is not true. Colonel "Snake" Clark in the office of the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, conceptualized and oversaw the development of that capability which made a major difference to air operations in Bosnia among other places, as it made possible near real time seasonally accurate wide area imagery feeds directly into the Air Force mission rehearsal systems.

To end on a positive note, I point to page 108 of the book, where the author discusses inexpensive discreet video surveillance systems that can be used to keep an eye on kids, cats, baby sitters, realtors showing one's home, and so on. Technology does have its uses for the individual, and I will end by saying that I found this book to be a very professional and useful overview of the implications of both digital technology, and the personal information that technology can capture, store, manipulate, share, and exploit.

how Much IS Big Brother Watching?.......2005-02-08

This is an older book, but one that I specifically requested after reading books like Myth of Homeland Security by Marcus Ranum and Beyond Fear by Bruce Schneier. While those books related directly to homeland or national security in the wake of the 9/11 attack this book predates the attack but describes an Orwellian society where Big Brother monitors everything and privacy is a facade.

When I was in high school I read George Orwell's 1984. It is a work of fiction, but in many ways present society and technology have surpassed Orwell's vision. Simson Garfinkel paints a chilling picture of the complete lack of privacy today because we have the technology to store and retrieve almost every transaction and occurrence that goes on in our lives.

When you make a cell phone call records are kept of the area you called from and the number you called. When you make a purchase with a credit card or ATM/Debit card you create a record of where you were at a specific time and date as well as what you purchased. Medical records tell a lot about a person and are not as protected as people believe. A recent Supreme Court decision essentially states that an ISP can legally intercept and view your email without violating wiretap laws. Common, everyday activities capture and store minute details about your life.

This book offers few solutions, but does an excellent job of describing the problem in a compelling way. Everyone should read this book to learn what a facade your privacy really is.

(...)

Good, but lacks other side of the story..........2004-11-11

Good book, especially for someone living on the other side of the world... From European point of view, such privacy violations are something unbelievable. Garfinkel's book simply shows us the hazards of modern technology, and convinces us that our European privacy protecting laws are a good thing, despite sometimes being used to cover bribery or theft.
Sometimes `Database Nation' seemed so naïve, but to understand it, we must notice it was written few months before attack on WTC. Now we can see how governments are trying to know everything about everybody and the only reason for that is protecting us from terrorism. Nice idea, but Garfinkel has already predicted it - he wrote that a big terrorist attack would happen, even if we maximize security and privacy violations cannot stop really bad people.
As I wrote before - I have never been in the States, so sometimes I was reading this book as some kind of `weird guide to the USA'. Some of described pitfalls can be seen in Europe as well, but usually we do not expect our medical records to be seen by anybody... maybe because in most European countries medical insurance is run mainly by the government. And here is the point, where this book lacks some kind of perspective. What do you think is better: having your medical record sold, or die because funds of some emergency stations are so low, that only one ambulance in fifty-thousand-people-city is on duty? Is it better to protect privacy, or to highlight crooks? The highly illegal under Polish law so-called `Jachnicki list' was a list of people who cheated and deceived a lot of honest citizens. Giving detailed information including name, adress, birthdate and PESEL (unique number every Pole is assigned at birth) about those people, the creators have broken Personal Data Protection Act, and were forced by government officials to stop publishing that list. This is the other side of fighting for permanent privacy - and Garfinkel doesn't write anything about it...

Rapidly increasing technologies invade our rights to privacy.......2004-09-02

As we embark on the 21st century, advances in technology endanger our privacy in ways never before imagined. Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century, by Simson Garfinkel is the compelling account of how invasive technologies will affect our lives in the coming years. It's a timely, far-reaching, entertaining, and thought-provoking look at the serious threats to privacy facing us today.

Garfinkel's book does cover a lot of familiar ground, making the issue of privacy more personal to the average person. For example, he describes how cell phone networks can be used to track preferences and physical movement. He also goes into significant detail about advanced identification technologies, including retina scans and DNA analysis, that can be used to identify and track individuals, but those technologies only serve as a lead-in to the issue Garfinkel seems to regard as the most serious: medical privacy.

Chapter 6 provides strong details of the Medical Information Bureau. The MIB collects medical information entered on insurance forms and into personal records and sells that information to companies that need to set insurance premiums for applicants. What gives the MIB the right to collect that information? Garfinkel reveals that patients give them that permission when they consent to receive treatment.

At the end of Database Nation, Garfinkel calls on our nation's leaders and government to establish an executive agency charged with enforcing existing privacy laws and acting as an ombudsman for individual privacy. The new medical privacy standards the White House offered in early 2000 go part of the way to solving some of the problems Garfinkel describes, but in all I believe his solution is far to weak to result in meaningful privacy reform, nor will it be able to keep up with the ever changing technology.

Database Nation continues the growing tradition of books that cast technology in its social context. And as a doctoral student in leadership and technology, I find it heartening to read a book that so thoroughly examines technology's role in society.

Would have been better without the science fiction.......2004-04-07

This book dashed the high hopes I had for it. There are many very good reasons to be concerned about the ways technology can be used to curtail our civil liberties and constrict our freedoms. I had hoped for a serious discussion laying out the problems, their current state of application and misuse, and some thoughts about how to push back.

We do get some of that and to the extent this book is in this scope I like it a great deal (for example, the discussions around eternal copyrights and huge commercial databases gathering everything known about each of us or the sale of drivers license photos to commercial interests). When it is in the middle area of discussing thought crime and brain wiretapping he begins to lose me. It isn't that the issues aren't worthy of discussion, it is simply they way he discusses them has too much of a paranoid science fiction future feel.

When he paints the future of conscious machines and whether they will demand civil rights or not, well, I think he spoils this book. That speculative stuff should be in a different book. For me, the inclusion of this material makes it impossible to take seriously the good stuff he does have. The weird apple spoils the barrel kind of thing.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Issues in Science and Technology, published by National Academy of Sciences on June 22, 2000. The length of the article is 1707 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century.(Review) (book review)
Author: Priscilla Regan
Publication: Issues in Science and Technology (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2000
Publisher: National Academy of Sciences
Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Page: 85

Article Type: Book Review

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Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century.(Review) (book review): An article from: Security Management

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Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century.(Review) (book review): An article from: Security Management
Ben Rothke
Manufacturer: American Society for Industrial Security
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Security Management, published by American Society for Industrial Security on June 1, 2000. The length of the article is 355 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21st Century.(Review) (book review)
Author: Ben Rothke
Publication: Security Management (Refereed)
Date: June 1, 2000
Publisher: American Society for Industrial Security
Volume: 44 Issue: 6 Page: 128

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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