Buyers Info

Congratulations on your decision to become a new home owner. My team and I love helping people realize their dreams and goals in real estate. We invite you to allow us to act as your professional and trusted guide during your homeownership journey. Together, we will work to help you find your perfect home or to successfully sell the home you own.

I have prepared some home buying tips that you can use now to make your experience easier and better.

Think long-term and think re-sale: Are you planning to have kids? Will you be taking care of elderly relatives? You might be planning to live in your first home for only a few years. In that case, who is your target audience when it comes time to sell the house? If you buy a house in a very bad school district or a house on a very busy street, when you are ready to sell the house, most families with children will be out of your list of potential buyers.

Make a must-have checklist and stick to it: Inherently, home-buying is an emotional process. For most buyers eliminating emotions when looking at homes is impossible. For this reason it is important for buyers who are looking to truly be happy with their decision a year after signing papers to create a checklist of must-haves, nice-to-haves and other essentials. Then print copies of this checklist. Every time you visit a house, take the checklist along with you; take photographs so you can cross each item off your list. If you fall in love with the house and your checklist shows that the house has none of your must-haves, it will at least make you pause and think. It might even be useful to video tape or record conversations using a voice recorder app on a smart phone while walking through the home – this way you can review it later at a neutral location and give the property more dispassionate consideration.

Look at ALL the expenses when budgeting for a house: When budgeting for a house, don’t stop with principal, interest, taxes and insurance; add in utilities, cost of commuting and upgrades. Call the utility companies that service the house you are considering and ask for an estimate of what the cost will be, whether there are any budget plans available, etc. Will the gas budget for your car go up if you are moving further away from the places you frequently visit? Don’t forget HOA fees or other association fees that might apply such as golf course and gate upkeep fees. Budget all of these expenses and see if you can still afford the house. If purchasing within a home owner’s association, ask for the homeowner’s association bylaws and regulations before you make a decision: Reading and understanding the terms of an HOA agreement is absolutely essential before purchasing a home within an HOA. A good for-instance is if you are planning on purchasing a rental property the HOA terms may not allow for renting. Once you are under contract to buy a home you will be given all the association documents. Read them and ask questions so that you understand your obligations.

Research grants and other sources of funding: You may be surprised by how much you can save by doing a little research into grants and funding sources. Today there are a great many funding sources and grants out there that help new home buyers, teachers, farmers, special needs families and more. Often these are not exclusive to low-income either so qualifying might be easier than you think. Research all the grants and funding options you are eligible for before you automatically decide you won’t qualify for anything.

For more information on Las Vegas and international homes, please contact me at 702-612-7099 or email me at LevyTeam@gmail.com

Rena Levy