Home Buying 101 - Step Four: Know Your Rights

January 13th, 2009 categories: Home Buying 101

This is the fourth installment of my Home Buying 101 series, now updated for 2009.

Home buyers have several rights regarding fair housing and lending practices, including protection from illegal discrimination and the right to know the true costs of borrowing money.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development already has a great section of their website dedicated to the rights of home buyers.  These are all links to their site:

Fair Housing  Laws that provide equal access to housing.

Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) RESPA requires that consumers receive disclosures at various times in the transaction and outlaws kickbacks that increase the cost of settlement services.

Predatory Lending

In addition, you have several other legal rights when you are purchasing a house (in Greater Hartford, the following are included in the standard GHAR purchase and sales agreement):

The right to have an inspection and make purchase contingent upon a satisfactory inspection (must be checked on the contract, though)

The right to receive a seller’s disclosure report

For related topics:

Home Buying 101 Updated for 2009

7 Questions About the Hubbard Clause Answered

Home Inspection Options in Real Estate Purchase & Sales Contract

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1. Fair Housing in Connecticut « Real Real Estate in Connecticut said at April 14th, 2007 at 3:43 pm

   […] If you’d like to read more about fair housing and predatory lending, visit my post called “Home Buying 101 - Step 4: Know Your Rights.” […]

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