Finding Your New Las Vegas Home
Once you have established what price range you can afford for your new home, it’s time to start your quest to find it. Blindly searching for a new Las Vegas home can get old quickly, so before you delve in you want to figure out exactly what you need your new Las Vegas home to have. You want to come up with a list of your needs and your wants in terms of your next home, which you will find are very different things. The features of a home, including everything from location to a pool, affect not only the price you pay to buy it, but also things like monthly insurance rates, utility costs and property taxes. Use the following guidance to help you come up with a list of your new Las Vegas home requirements and qualities that can help define your search parameters.
Financial
If you are planning on using financing to purchase your home, it’s important you get pre-approved for a mortgage before you begin searching. This will not only tell you what price range to use to narrow down your new Las Vegas home search, but it may also reveal any issues or problems with your finances that can impede your mortgage process. Having time to sort them out can be extremely beneficial for those hoping to obtain more favorable terms, or more loan principal. Other questions to ask yourself in terms of financial aspects include: are you willing to invest money in renovations? How much do you have budgeted for monthly utilities, maintenance, taxes, insurance, and other possible expenses?
Location
Anyone with any experience in the real estate market is likely to have heard the adage “location, location, location!” when talking about the most important feature of a home, for good reason; location does largely determine and influence the value of a home. You’ll want to consider whether you are looking for a rural, urban or suburban neighborhood, and what cities, if any, in particular you want to live in. Other items to consider in terms of location: do you want easy access to highways? Do you have a preference for school district? How much noise can you tolerate? How important is your view? Do you care about yard size?
Structure
Determining the various features in terms of structure of a home will help you formulate an idea of many of the ‘needs’ you have about your next home. Consider things like whether a townhome or condo are viable options for you, or if you are only looking for single-family homes. Other questions to consider: do you care how many stories a home has? How many bedrooms and bathrooms do you need and how many would you like? Do you need a guest room or home office? Could you live in a historic house and what type of architectural styles can you not stand?
Lifestyle
For many people, features of a home that affect their lifestyle don’t initially come to mind until they see several homes. To help you get the ball rolling, consider the following in terms of your lifestyle: do you have pets that require certain home features (fenced in yard, distance from busy streets)? Do you need wheelchair access or have problems with stairs? Do you need a garage or parking? Is walkability important to you? What neighborhood amenities do you want (pool, playground, no HOA)?
You should create a list of items you ascertained through your analysis of the above factors that influence your new Las Vegas home choice. Rank items in terms of ‘must have’ versus ‘prefer to have’ versus ‘must not have’ so you can include items that may help narrow your search. This list will also be important to provide to your agent so they can find the best options for you.