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The Home Buying Process
When looking for a home,
there are many paths you can take. Our job is to make your home search as
enjoyable as possible. We believe you should be able to search with no
pressure, and when you are ready for professional assistance, we are here.
The first step to take in finding the perfect
home is
finding the right lender. From experience,
we know that if you choose a lender not located in Nevada, additional time is
needed to close the deal. We work with many lenders and would be glad to
recommend them to you. The lender will pre-approve you so that you will
know exactly what price range you should be shopping in, and will let you know
your expected monthly payments. Next, a letter of pre-approval will
be issued so when you do find the home you like, the letter can be submitted
with the offer. When a home seller is looking at offers and sees that you
are pre-approved, they will choose your offer over another without the
pre-approval letter.
The next step is
determining where you want to live. There
are many neighborhoods to choose from in Las Vegas and we have put together a
description of most for you to explore. You should pick the nicest area
that you can afford, as the better neighborhoods appreciate faster and sell
quicker. Some neighborhoods are gated, some guard gated, some with Home
Owners Associations (with a corresponding monthly fee) and some without.
The choices are almost limitless, and that is why it is important to have a
professional to guide you on your home finding journey.
After you determine where
you would like to live, we can search for specific features of the home you
like. Did you know that we can search by zip code, school, size, bedrooms,
bathrooms, price, street name, and 171 other specific criteria? Its all
possible through the use of the computer. We narrow down the choices to a
handful and then go and view the homes. When you walk into a home and say
to yourself "this feels like home", you know you have found the home for you.
Now that you have found
the home you'd like to purchase, an offer is prepared. We research the
subdivision to find "comps", or other homes which have sold within the last 6
months and are of similar size and configuration to make sure the home you want
to buy is not overpriced. The price of a home is not set in stone, but
rather is negotiable. Unlike other states where you may offer tens of
thousands less than asking price, in Las Vegas homes usually sell within 2% of
asking price. We don't normally get into a bidding war, and in fact
discourage such practice. There are just too many homes to choose from.
A couple of factors which are important to the seller are price and your ability
to follow through with the purchase. That is where your letter of
pre-approval comes into play. When the offer is submitted, your letter of
pre-approval is also included in the package. The seller will then feel
confidant that you are a solid buyer and there will not be any problems with
financing.
After the offer is accepted, we have ten
days to complete a home inspection and request any necessary repairs to be
completed. The inspector will check all mechanical items, appliances, look
for construction defects or code violations, and present us with a concise list
of his findings. We can't emphasize enough how important a home inspection
is, it could literally save you thousands of dollars.
The lender will send out
an appraiser to make sure the property is not over-priced. The appraiser
represents the mortgage company, but in effect he represents the buyer too.
We do not encourage anyone to pay more for a house than it is worth. In
Las Vegas the appraisal is normally paid for by the seller and typically costs
about $350.00.
A few days before the
transaction is completed, we will do a "walk-thru" inspection of the house.
This is to insure that it is in the same condition as when we first viewed it,
that there have been no windows broken, appliances still work, any needed
repairs have been completed and the structure and landscape are still in the
same condition as when we entered into our contract. After that, we will
go to the escrow office where all the paperwork is taken care of . You
will sign all the loan documents creating your new loan, and the deed transfer
paperwork. After signing, it takes about a day to record the transaction
with the county recorders office, at which time the house legally becomes yours!
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