Buying & Selling a Home for Canadians for Dummies

The success of the Dummies series is to supply information to the beginner, but at a pace and level that does not dumb down the material. This book, Buying a Home for Dummies, successfully takes the new home-seeker through the process of buying a house. It is written by 3 Canadians, and is obviously not just a rehash of the U.S. version. Included are suggestions and hints on finding a real estate agent and lawyer, differences between house-hunting and condo-hunting, things to look for in a house (location, size, age, etc.), and budgeting give an idea of what you can afford. There are a number of helpful regional tips included as well - obviously someone looking for a house in Thunder Bay or Edmonton will care more about heating bills than someone in Victoria or Windsor. There is also a section on selling a first house, so you can keep this book on the shelf until the time comes when you're selling.The most helpful aspects of the book deal with the mechanics of home purchase. There are a lot of new words to be learned, and they are helpfully gathered in a glossary in the back, as well as being fully explained in context in the text. A discussion on mortgages has the danger of becoming very dull very quickly, something this book manages to avoid by including examples and an efficient writing style.The only thing I didn't like is the emphasis on big cities - since the authors are from Vancouver and Toronto, they know big cities best, but the underlying theme of the book is based on big cities in active markets. While it's true that Halifax, Calgary, etc. are in a real estate booms right now, many readers of this book (including myself) are going to be from smaller markets, so many of the tricks and advice don't apply. Other than that, it's an excellent introduction to house (and condo) hunting, and we have found it very useful in our first experience in the real estate market.