Orange Realty Group understands buying your first home can be stressful. Credit scores, down payments, and mortgages can seem overwhelming. Orange Realty Group is a full-service real estate firm, and our knowledgeable team has prepared an in-depth guide to help you get ready to make one of the biggest purchases of your life.
Step 1: Homework
You’ll want to start researching website, newspapers, and magazines that have real estate listings in the Las Vegas area. Make a note of homes you are interested in and see how long they have stayed on the market. Look for any changes in the asking price. This will help you get an understanding of the housing market in Las Vegas.
Step 2: Determine How Much of a House You Can Afford
Orange Realty Group works with the best lenders in Las Vegas. Our lenders will generally recommend that you look for homes that cost no more than three to five times your annual household income. You will also need to consider how much of a down payment your type of loan will require.
To help you save for your down payment, our Lenders can recommend plans that will help you set aside money each month.
Step 3: Get Prequalified and Preapproved for credit for Your Mortgage
Before you start looking for a home, you will need to know how much you are qualified for. The best way to do that is to get prequalified for a mortgage. To get prequalified, you will need to provide some financial information to a mortgage lender, such as your income, the amount of savings, and any investments you have. The lender will review this information and tell you how much they can lend you. This will tell you the price range of the homes you should be looking at. Later, you can get preapproved for credit, which involves providing your financial documents (W-2 statements, paycheck stubs, bank account statements, etc.) so the lender can verify your financial status and credit.
Step 4: Work with an Orange Realty Group Agent
Our Real Estate Agents are important partners when you’re buying or selling a home. Our agents can provide you with helpful information on homes and neighborhoods that is not easily accessible to the public. Their knowledge of the home buying process, negotiating skills, and familiarity with the Las Vegas area can be extremely valuable. And best of all, it doesn’t cost you anything to use one of our agents – they’re compensated from the commission paid by the seller of the house.
Step 5: Shop for Your Home and Make an Offer
Start touring homes in your price range. You will see a lot of houses! It can be hard to remember everything about them. It’s always a good idea to take notes, pictures and maybe video to help you remember each home.
Make sure to check out the little details of each house. Think of it like being on a test drive.
- Test the plumbing by running the shower to see how strong the water pressure is and how long it takes to get hot water
- Try the electrical system by turning switches on and off
- Open and close the windows and doors to see if they work properly
It’s also important to look around the neighborhood.
- Are the other homes on the block well maintained?
- How much traffic does the street get?
- Is there enough street parking for your family and visitors?
- Is it conveniently located near places of interest to you: schools, shopping centers, restaurants, parks, and public transportation?
Take as much time as you need to find the right home. Then work with your Orange Realty Group real estate agent to negotiate a fair offer based on the value of comparable homes in the same neighborhood. Once you and the seller have reached agreement on a price, the house will go into escrow, which is the period it takes to complete all of the remaining steps in the home buying process.
Step 6: Get a Home Inspection
Typically, purchase offers are contingent on a home inspection of the property to check for signs of structural damage or things that may need fixing. Our Orange Realty Group real estate agents can help you arrange this inspection to be conducted within a few days of your offer being accepted by the seller. This contingency protects you by giving you a chance to renegotiate your offer or withdraw it without penalty if the inspection reveals any significant damage.
Both you and the seller will receive a report on the home inspector’s findings. You can then decide if you want to ask the seller to fix anything on the property before closing the sale. Before the sale closes, you will have a walk-through of the house, which gives you the chance to confirm that any agreed-upon repairs have been made.
Step 7: Work with a Mortgage Banker to Select Your Loan
Our lending partners have a wide range of competitively priced loan programs and a reputation for exceptional customer service. You will have many questions when you are purchasing a home, and having one of our experienced, responsive mortgage lenders assist you can make the process much easier.
Every home buyer has their own priorities when choosing a mortgage. Some are interested in keeping their monthly payments as low as possible. Others are interested in making sure that their monthly payments never increase.
Step 8: Have the Home Appraised
Our lenders will arrange for an appraiser to provide an independent estimate of the value of the house you are buying. The appraisal will let all the parties involved know that you are paying a fair price for the home.
Step 9: Coordinate the Paperwork
As you can imagine, there is a lot of paperwork involved in buying a house. Orange Realty Group can assist you with all of the title paperwork and make sure that the seller is the rightful owner of the house you are buying.
Step 10: Close the Sale
At closing, you will sign all of the paperwork required to complete the purchase, including your loan documents. It typically takes a couple of days for your loan to be funded after the paperwork is returned to our lender. Once the check is delivered to the seller, you are ready to move into your new home! Congratulations!