Do you know the difference between implied and written warranties? How about being preapproved for a mortgage as opposed to prequalified? Or an appraisal vs. a broker's price opinion vs. a home inspection?

Many neophyte homebuyers don't know, so here's a quick tutorial:

-- Warranties. These are promises that the seller makes to stand behind his product. Builders typically guarantee their homes to be free of defects in workmanship and materials. Federal law requires that all warranties be available for buyers to read before they sign a contract.

Generally, the warranty against poor workmanship -- loose floor tile, for example -- is for a year. Coverage for the plumbing, HVAC and electrical systems usually lasts two years, and protection against structural defects that render the house unsafe typically runs for a decade.

Some warranties are backed only by the builder. In other cases, the builder purchases the warranty from an independent company that assumes responsibility for claims. But all define exactly what's covered and the responsibilities of both the builder and the buyer in resolving problems.

Additionally, every state has an implied warranty that can last as long as four years, depending on the state. So even if you don't receive a written warranty from the builder, you may be protected under state law. Or if you have just a one-year written warranty, you may be protected longer under your state's implied warranty law. Many states extend implied warranties to second, third or even later buyers.

If you are buying an existing home, either you or the seller can purchase a one-year "warranty" to cover the building's systems and appliances. But "warranty" in this case is a misnomer; these are service contracts with deductibles and other limitations.

In either case, new home or used, never rely on so-called spoken warranties, which are promises made orally by a salesman. Always get it in writing. Otherwise, the promise may prove to be an empty one.

-- Loan approvals. Getting prequalified is the first step in the mortgage process. You supply the lender with basic information about how much you earn, how much you owe and your other assets. The lender, in turn, supplies a letter saying that you are qualified to borrow up to a certain amount, which should determine the price range in which you shop.

Generally, real estate agents will not show property to anyone who is not prequalified in this manner. But prequalification letters are riddled with loopholes that allow the lender to escape for any number of reasons. The real promise is when you are preapproved.

With a preapproval, the lender has had time to review and verify the information you supplied in your loan application. If you are preapproved, you are good to go with one condition -- whether the house you choose will appraise at a value high enough for the lender to recoup its investment should you default on your promise to pay.

-- Appraisals. Here's where things really get tricky, so let's start with the difference between a home inspection and an appraisal.

An inspection is a complete, top-to-bottom examination of the house by a third party to make sure all systems are in working order and to spot any issues that may need repair. It has nothing to do with value, only the condition of the property.

An appraisal, on the other hand, is strictly a valuation. While it takes condition into consideration, it is mostly concerned with what the property should sell for on the open market. It is an analysis based on the house itself, plus the neighborhood, recent sales, demand and other factors that impact value.

There are all kinds of appraisals. For example, in a "drive-by" appraisal, the appraiser simply makes sure the house is standing where it's supposed to be.

Then there's a broker's price opinion, or BPO, in which a real estate professional offers his or her educated guess as to the property's value. And there's a competitive market analysis (CMA), which an agent will use to help a buyer make a reasonable offer or help a seller set a reasonable asking price.

If you are paying $300 or more for an appraisal, make sure you are getting the real thing, which is a formal opinion of market value by a licensed or certified independent appraiser. After all, you, too, want to make sure that the house you want to buy is worth what you are willing to pay for it.

That's not to say drive-bys and BPOs don't have their place in the greater scheme of things. They do. A drive-by may be all the lender requires when housing prices are rising rapidly, and informal BPOs may be all the lender wants when the property is involved in a distress sale.

There are all kinds of ways to choose a real estate agent to sell your house. You may use your brother-in-law, for example, or take a recommendation from a co-worker. But according to an informal survey of agents from across the country, there are plenty of things you shouldn't consider.

The aforementioned relative is one. "I'm sorry, but you just can't mix business and family," said Liane Jamason of Smith & Associates Real Estate in Tampa, Fla.

Don't go with an agent just because he or she has the most listings or the most signs up in the neighborhood, say some of the realty pros. Those agents are probably overextended. If they have lots of listings, said Karen Netterstrom-Dooley of RE/MAX Elite in Melbourne, Fla., "they are not going to give you much attention."

Somewhat surprisingly, the agents who answered the question, "What one attribute would you look for if you were hiring an agent to sell your house?" tend not to think too much of professional designations, the agent's brand or whether he is part of a team.

While the letters behind a name signal a certain degree of professionalism and extra education, many agents said they meant little. "Designations mean nothing to me. I have worked with agents who have their walls lined with them and they are lost," said Kenneth Nance of Only Way Realty in North Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Some respondents believe being affiliated with a large, well-known brokerage is an advantage. But Bev Hourlier of HC Realty Services in San Diego said it doesn't guarantee the agent is any better qualified or trained than an agent from a smaller firm.

Respondents had plenty of comments about the attributes that indicate a standout agent. Here are the ones that seemed to rise to the top:

-- Fit. Agents used all kids of terms to indicate how you "click" with an agent, including philosophy, presence, personality, integrity and trust.

"Chemistry," said Allan Glass of ASG Real Estate in Los Angeles. "Clients who don't establish a personal connection with their agent or broker will put themselves at a disadvantage."

Emily Morrison Griffin of John L. Scott Real Estate in Seattle agreed. "There has to be that special spark that makes you and your Realtor a great team."

"All other characteristics are secondary ... to the ability to trust your agent," said Lou Sansevero of the RE/MAX Alliance Group in Sarasota, Fla.

-- Referrals. Referrals are "golden," advised Joshua Hanoud of Tropic Shores Realty in Spring Hill, Fla. Without them, "you don't know you've gotten a bad apple until you are too far into the process to make a change easily," he said. "As a result, going into the game with someone who has a strong recommendation from a friend or relative can make a huge difference."

Beware, though, warned Paul Howard of NJHomeBuyer.com Realty in Cherry Hill, N.J. "Recommendations are based on the outcome of a particular transaction that may have been uneventful and may have little relevance to a future transaction that may have obstacles the agent has to help the consumer navigate."

-- References. Cindy Greenwald of Prudential California Realty in La Jolla wants to see the agent's current list -- not more than 90 days old -- of clients. Brenda Cunningham of West USA Realty in Mesa, Ariz., looks for someone who has used the agent for more than one transaction. Kimberly Tapscott of Keller Williams Prestige Properties in Stamford, Conn., said the agent should bring the names of at least three past clients that you can call on the spot.

-- Experience. There's nothing like a proven track record, said Sandra Geary of RE/MAX Pros in Rohnert Park, Calif. "While experience is no guarantee of skill, real estate, like many other professions, is mostly learned on the job," said Rae Catanese of Prudential Tropical Realty in Tampa.

-- Sales volume. Isabel Williams of Keller Williams Luxury Homes in Jupiter, Fla., said it's better to work with an agent who's closing 40 deals a year than the industry average of four.

Kirstin Willingham of Bergman Beach Properties in Marina del Rey, Calif., pointed out that recent sales volume is most important because today's market is far different from just a few months ago. And Harold Huggins of Harold H. Huggins Realty in Burtonsville, Md., suggested looking at sales similar to yours.

-- Other statistics. A key ratio for Robert Kelly of RE/MAX Main St. Realty in Moorestown, N.J., is the selling price of recent transactions in comparison to the listing price. An agent who is getting 95-plus percent of the asking price is doing a great job, he says.

Another important number is average days on the market. "An agent whose days-on-market average is 35 or less also is doing a great job," Kelly says.

It's not a good sign if the agent does not provide these key statistics at the first interview, according to Jamason, the Tampa agent. If they don't know their list-to-sale ratio, it's an even worse sign, she said.

-- Technology. Because nearly eight out of 10 buyers start their home searches online, today's marketing is more than just sticking a sign in the front yard. Technology is essential for word-of-mouth advertising and viral media campaigns, said Florida agent Catanese. Can your agent prepare a YouTube video? Can he or she respond in an instant?

Check the agent's online presence, advised Ines Hegedus-Garcia of Majestic Properties in Miami. An agent who knows how to market himself should also be able to market properties, she said.

"The agent who walks into my home should at the very least have a tablet and know how to use it, and show me examples of his listings' social media footprints," said Tapscott in Connecticut.

-- Photography. Pictures are "the language of real estate, yet most agents' look like they were taking pictures while drunk with a cellphone," said Hanoud in Florida. "The level of detail needed for good photography is usually indicative of an agent's attention to detail throughout the process."

Ken Pozek of Keller Williams Realty in Novi, Mich., said good photos can result in a 15 percent to 20 percent increase in showings.

-- Listening skills. "I want (agents) to answer my questions clearly and be able to explain the process of buying and selling," said Teri Andrews-Murch of Lyon Real Estate in Auburn Calif.

Asked Barry Sulpor of Shorewood Realtors in Manhattan Beach, Calif.: "Do you get a strong feeling that this is an agent who will listen to your needs?"

So listen up and follow the advice of these experts to find an agent who's just right for you.

A federal agency's strange and unexplained decision to nix a plan that would have saved consumers and the government millions of dollars is even more curious when you consider what happened to a Southern California couple who lost their house in a 2003 fire.

Harold Turnbull and his wife were forced to pay for costly homeowner insurance, even though there was no longer a house to insure. Actually, "costly" isn't the word. "Exorbitant" or "outrageous" are better choices.

At one point, according to their lawsuit against Bank of America, the Claremont couple were paying $2,783 for $50,000 in coverage. That's five times more than what they paid for their $100,000 market-rate policy before the house burned down in the Padua Hills wildfire.

Welcome to the wild and highly profitable world of force-placed insurance, in which a lender can maintain coverage on a house if the homeowner doesn't. And if the homeowner doesn't pay on the policy, the lender can foreclose.

It's all right there, spelled out in the fine print in your mortgage papers -- and for good reason. Lenders need to know that the collateral for their mortgages is protected by insurance should something happen to it.

So lenders have every right to force you to pay for coverage of their choice if you don't maintain your own policy. But some lenders have turned forced coverage into a huge profit center by allegedly contracting with insurers that charge hefty premiums and then kick back some of their fees to the lenders who hired them in the first place.

A plan put forth by Fannie Mae would have stopped all that. Rather than allowing the lenders from which it buys mortgages to purchase hazard insurance, the big secondary market company wanted to buy coverage directly from insurers at as much as a 40 percent discount, according to some reports.

Fannie's plan to purchase insurance from its own vendors would have saved the government and consumers upward of $1 billion, consumer groups maintain. But the company's overseer, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, scuttled the idea.

An FHFA spokesman told trade publication American Banker that it wants to put its own forced-place rules into effect, rules that include Fannie Mae's sister company, Freddie Mac, which also covers primary lenders under the FHFA's stewardship. But clearly, there is a lot of behind-the-scenes intrigue going on among the agency, big banks and the carriers that dominate the force-placed insurance business.

The decision did not sit well with consumer advocates. "The FHFA's action maintains the status quo of massive overcharges to borrowers and taxpayers," said Birny Birnbaum of the Center for Economic Justice. Attorney Andrew Pizor of the National Consumer Law Center agreed: "FHFA's decision harms nearly everyone."

Certainly, Fannie's plan would have helped the Turnbulls, who were paying $501 a year for a $100,000 policy on their home until the fire. Then, since there was no house, they dropped coverage. That's when Countrywide Home Loans, which was subsequently acquired by Bank of America, began charging for force-placed insurance.

Originally, the couple was charged $367 for $50,000 in coverage, according to their suit, which alleges fraud. After the merger, the suit maintains, Bank of America jacked up the premium to $1,508.

Twenty months later, the premium was increased again, to $2,783. That's a 658 percent jump from the original fee and more than five times the amount the Turnbulls paid for twice as much coverage before the fateful fire.

"Unbeknownst to them," the suit alleges, "the Turnbulls were funding the commission and the kickback" between Bank of America and the insurance carrier.

During all this, Harold Turnbull, a college professor, says he repeatedly tried to undo the force-placed coverage by telling the bank "that their property was devoid of a home and that they maintained umbrella liability coverage on the vacant lot."

It wasn't until the couple filed suit in the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County that the bank returned their money, about $14,000 plus a "tiny bit" of interest, says their attorney, Travis Corby of the Shernoff Bidart Echeverria Bentley law firm in Beverly Hills.

But the Turnbulls aren't quitters. Not only have they continued to pay their mortgage on a nonexistent house -- the couple still hopes to rebuild one day, says Corby -- but also they are going ahead with their suit. It's about principle now, not money.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Rep. Maxine Waters of California has written FHFA's acting director, Edward DeMarco, asking for an explanation of why his agency gave Fannie Mae's proposal a thumbs-down.

In her request, Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, asked for the documents that formed the basis of the FHFA's decision, plus a list of outside stakeholders it consulted.

Bank of America did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the Turnbulls' suit. But companies rarely have anything to say while an action is pending.