Where would you like us to send your home valuation report?
By continuing, you agree and understand that you may be contacted by real estate professionals via calls, text, and email.
Las Vegas First Time Home Buyer Guide
First Time Home Buyer Program Las Vegas
by The Quiazon Real Estate Group | Las Vegas Realtor
Congratulations on taking the first steps in to buying a house in Las Vegas. I’m sure by now you’ve read articles after articles about the home buying process. Most get overwhelmed by the information they are receiving so I wanted to share with you the following.
As a local Las Vegas Real Estate Agent, I wanted to share with you, my First Time Home Buyer Guide that I use when I help First Time Home Buyers and seasoned home buyers. Whether you are a first time home buyer or not, these next few steps are for you.
STEP 1 : Meet with a Las Vegas Realtor
Once you’ve decided you want to purchase a home, your first step is to find a Real Estate Agent who can help you in the home buying process.
When hiring a real estate agent, make sure they have the following qualities:
- Full-Time Realtor
- Proof of Sales History
- Reviews from Past Clients
These three things alone will tell you if the agent you choose is an active agent who knows the ins and outs of the local Las Vegas Real Estate Market.
There are over 19,000 real estate agents in Las Vegas and Henderson, a small percentage are full time realtors and majority are part time or real estate is a side gig. Make sure to meet with a few realtors before hiring one.
For more information about my team and I, you can navigate this site to get to me more.
You can easily contact me at 702-553-0593 . I would love to speak with you more about your goals and help you get in the right direction.
STEP 2 : Meet with a Mortgage Lender
Often times, first time home buyers are afraid to meet with a mortgage lender due to the fear of not getting pre qualified for a loan. There is no need to fear because my team and I will be there with you throughout the whole process.
We want to speak with a mortgage lender because we want to know exactly if we can qualify for a loan, and how much can we qualify for. This is very important to know because we need to know if we can proceed to the next step of the home buying process.
The lender will help us assess your financial situation, understand our buying power, and give us advice on the best loan terms.
In the end, they will provide us what we call a Pre-Qualification Letter that needs to be submitted along side our Offer when we find your dream home. The Pre-Qualification Letter will let the Seller know that we have met standard lending qualifications and we are a strong buyer.
Aside from that, we will also receive the following:
- Maximum purchase price we can buy
- Monthly mortgage payment
- Interest Rates
- Loan Programs
- Assistant Programs
- Financial Advice
In the end, whatever we do, there is no obligation to the buyer to proceed. You do not pay anyone while we are in the beginning stages of the home buying process.
STEP 3 : Start the home search
Once we receive our Pre-qualification Letter from the lender showing our buying power, we can start looking for your dream home.
Our first step is to make a list of our Needs and Wants. To be a successful home buyer, we need to be honest and list down the things we need and the things we would want in a home.
- Location
- Number of beds
- Number of baths
- Living Square Footage
- Pool
- Single Story or Two Story
- Outdoor space
- Condition
- Layout
- ETC.
The reality in purchasing a home, you never really get all that you want. At times, the house might not be in the right area, it might have a small bedroom but has everything else you are looking for, or its outdated but it has all the potential, etc. This is why we need to list what is important to you and your family.
Once we know what we are looking for, we will be sending you homes for sale directly from our Realtor database, the MLS. This is where are the most accurate and active listings come from. In fact, this is the database for all homes for sale before they go on websites such as zillow, realtor.com, homes.com, etc.
We will schedule property tours based on your schedule with an average of 3 to 5 homes depending on our goal. We will do this until we find a home that matches everything you have in your search criteria.
STEP 4 : Make an offer
Once we find a home that meets your ideal dream home, we will submit an offer.
Depending on the market condition, it could be a buyer’s market or a seller’s market, we will put a game plan together depending on the current market to help us succeed in your home buying goals.
We will negotiate:
- Price
- Terms
- Repairs
- Appraisals
- Closing Cost
- Contingency Dates
- Personal Property
My goal is to negotiate aggressively on your behalf. I will do whatever it takes to get you what you want.
STEP 5 : Open Escrow
Escrow is a third party company that helps facilitate the home buyer and selling process.
Once our offer gets accepted, we will open escrow to start the transfer of title and ownership to your name. The escrow company will handle documentations and all monies within the transaction.
What To Expect :
- They are a third party that helps both seller and buyer.
- They do research on the home to make sure it will be clear of liens and judgements before it transfer to the new homeowner.
- They also hold all monies and will distribute at closing funds and documents.
- They will produce a clean and clear title.
- They will provide Title Insurance to protect the new homeowner from any challenges and issues.
- They make sure we close on your home and you get the keys on time.
During Escrow :
- We will conduct home inspection
- Negotiate any repairs from the home inspection
- Make sure we are happy and 100% all in
- Get the home appraised
- Negotiate appraisal if we need to
- And finally get ready for closing
STEP 6 : Congratulations and Welcome to your new home
After 30-45 days from submitting an offer, we are now ready to close and get your keys.
We will meet at the title and escrow company to sign your documents. These documents are the final documents you will sign to finalize the sale. Once that is finished, the escrow and title company will send the documents for recording and once we are recorded in the county records, you are now finally a home owner.
Once recorded, I will be welcoming you home and go over a few things we need to do so you can transition into your new home smoothly.
Such things include:
- Transfer of utilities
- Home safety
- Homeowner best practices
- Home warranties and other contacts
DIFFERENT TYPES OF LOANS
FHA
Federal Housing Administration – is a mortgage managed by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which is a department of federal government. This means FHA loans are government insured loans. This program allows you to make down payment as low as 3.5% of the purchase price.
VA
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a loan program for our military service members and their families. This is also backed by the federal government. The primary advantage of this program is that borrowers can receive 100% financing for the purchase of a home. This means no down payment for our military members.
CONVENTIONAL
Conventional home loans are not insure or backed by the federal government. Conventional mortgages generally pose fewer hurdle than FHA or VA loans. Down payment requirements for conventional loans could vary between 3% to 5% of the purchase price depending on the buyer’s financial situation.
Which one is the best? The best one is the one that works best based on your current financial situation. As we move forward, The mortgage lender and I will guide you in understanding these types of loans and how they could affect us both good and bad.
(First Time Home Buyer Program)
The Nevada Home is Possible Program or also called the First Time Home Buyer Program was established by the state of Nevada in 2014. The Home is Possible Program helps new homebuyers receive downpayment up to 5% of the purchase price.
Program Requirements:
- Qualifying income below $98,500
- Home price below $400,000
- Minimum credit score of 640
- Must live in the home as primary residence
- Home buyer education course
- Must meet standard underwriting requirements
Available Home Buyer Programs
Connect with me
The Chris Quiazon Group is your premier Las Vegas Real Estate Team that focuses on “Clients First“.
Contact us today to have a free no obligation consultation. Let’s go over your goals, our plan of action, and any questions you may have. Looking forward to speaking with you soon!