Fair Can Help With Details of Home Buying

Disclosure, inspection, contracts, escrow, taxes--the home purchase is a lot more than finding the right house and the right loan.

Buying a home can be a complex and confusing process, especially for first-timers. Sorting it all out is critical to making a good deal.

Get expert answers to all your real estate questions at the seventh annual Los Angeles Times Home Buyers and Sellers Fair, to be held Saturday, March 2, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

Talk to the IRS about the tax benefits of homeownership. Find out from Department of Real Estate officers about what the seller must disclose. Learn from the California Real Estate Inspection Assn. how to assure yourself that the home you buy is in tiptop shape.

In the fair’s opening workshop, “Real Estate Q & A” columnist Robert J. Bruss; “Your Mortgage” writer Dian Hymer; Ilyce Glink, author of “100 Questions Every First-Time Home Buyer Should Ask;” and new-home expert Jeffrey S. Meyers will discuss how to get started in the housing market.

A second workshop on mortgages and credit will feature consumer advice from Times “Property Values” columnist Ron Galperin; Earl Peattie of Mortgage News Co., which provides loan data to The Times; home-loan lenders; and credit counselors.

Admission to the fair is $5. A $1-off coupon will appear in upcoming editions of the Real Estate Section of The Times. Or pull down the coupon from the Internet, at https://www.ired.com/LAFair