[Robustus]

I guess I was in a similar position to the OP last summer; now I'm a Vegas home-owner. I did the following:

Came to Vegas for a 3 week stay in July. Googled for realtors, selected one, looked at several dozen houses, had the realtor refer me to a lender, got pre-approved for an FHA loan up to a certain amount, made offers on three houses (two shorts and one foreclosure), and had one accepted (the foreclosure) the day before I left town. Closed in 45 days. Great house in a nice neighborhood (NW corner of Centennial Hills). This was my first home purchase.

Oh, and my $0.02 regarding existing homes vs. new construction: go with existing. You can find foreclosures in Vegas these days on <5yr old homes that are in darn-near perfect shape. At least I did. I see no rational reason to pay an extra 25% just to have a never-lived in home. If you have money to blow, fine. If you don't, you're just being unnecessarily indulgent/wasteful by buying brand-new.

[wwu123]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

I agree with everything you said, except the buyer doesn't pay the realtor anything. The realtor gets his commission from the seller. So there is no reason not to use a realtor in buying a home, and as you said, if they're doing their job, they should save you from making big, costly, mistakes; not to mention save you a ton of time and wasted effort. Another reason is, if you don't have your own realtor, the seller's realtor is going to take advantage of you. You need a knowledgeable person to negotiate for you.

I agree with the recommendation to use a real estate agent, but I also feel forums like these are a great way to get perspective from actual people who have been in the poster's shoes with personal experiences. It's not a substitute for professional advice but can complement it well. There are regional differences in the way transactions are handled, which have been pointed out many times, and even in the agent relationship, including advice on how to select a buyer's agent (for example, that major brokerages in LV area often add a ~$400 buyer fee to their offers).

For example, while most people know what HOA fees are all about, outside NV most people don't know what SIDS/LIDS is. Agents do not often explain it unless asked about, but it can add a few percent to the overall debt obligation of the buyer, so the amount of SIDS/LIDS on each home can matter.

I'm also still not clear with today's laws in each state whether a buyer's agent has fiduciary duty to the buyer or seller (sub-agent vs buyer broker) if the buyer doesn't sign a contract with their agent (which I never do).

[mjjudd]

I bought my house online while stationed overseas. While my case is the extreme, it can be done. Started looking at houses online, sent for information on the first house I was interested in.. and that person ended up being my realtor.

Definately could not have made the purchase without a good realtor and had a really good buying experience because of it (one of the houses I was adamant about because of the price happened to be right off MLK and she kept telling me how bad the area was even when I was pushing her to get that one..ha).

I did make one trip out for a week to look at 12 houses, but all those deals fell through and ended up buying the one I have now without actually seeing the house until the week before I closed on it. Not the recommended scenario, but doable.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by wwu123

I agree with the recommendation to use a real estate agent, but I also feel forums like these are a great way to get perspective from actual people who have been in the poster's shoes with personal experiences. It's not a substitute for professional advice but can complement it well. There are regional differences in the way transactions are handled, which have been pointed out many times, and even in the agent relationship, including advice on how to select a buyer's agent (for example, that major brokerages in LV area often add a ~$400 buyer fee to their offers).

Note that little fee probably is needed for survival by most of the RE brokerages...Virtually all reasonably successful agents are carrying 80 or 90% splits...so the return to the brokerage nowadays is often mostly the admin comminssion...particularly on the smaller homes and condos. They also collect a desk rent but many senior agents don't pay it...or pay it only giving no cut to the brokerage house.

I remain in favor of banning it...let the brokerage houses negotiate more rational splits.

For example, while most people know what HOA fees are all about, outside NV most people don't know what SIDS/LIDS is. Agents do not often explain it unless asked about, but it can add a few percent to the overall debt obligation of the buyer, so the amount of SIDS/LIDS on each home can matter.

That gets complicated. I generally don't get into explaining it until we come across one with a SID/LID. They are quite common in specific areas but not all tracts will have it even in such an area. The Sun Cities in general did not have SID/LIDs for instance.

Note there can also be master plan fees and multiple associations. So when you get looking at a specific house you discuss it. It is all included in the MLS sheet with the provisio that it is a common area of error.

It is also still not clear with today's laws in each state whether a buyer's agent has fiduciary duty to the buyer or seller (sub-agent vs buyer broker) if the buyer doesn't sign a contract with their agent (which I never do).

Sub agency is pretty much dead in the west. Note though that "fiduciary" is often incorrect. The RE Agents duties are often defined by statute rather than common law fiduciary. The brokerages don't really like fiduciary duties...too open ended. So they have modified those duties via statute. The Nevada Duties owed gives a reasonable short form version of the duties.

So you can count on the fact that a buyers agent is pretty completely loyal only to the buyer. But read the disclosure if you want to understand what that means.

[Buzz123]

So there you have it from one of the only three RE agents I recommend.

I've never signed any deals with a realtor. Usually they just offer to show me homes, and we spend a lot of time together driving around.

Well, we did sign a deal a few times for selling a home, but never as a buyer. And, I always make sure I can fire them, no strings attached, if they aren't doing their job, or if I change my mind (or if my wife changes my mind .

Not all realtors are created equal though. Find somebody you like and trust, and that seems to understand what your wants are. You gotta kiss a lotta frogs???

My favorites are Jim, Danny, and Phyllis.

[dynimagelv]

wierd names for frogs!!!!!

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by dynimagelv

wierd names for frogs!!!!!

Yeah, Jim the Frog is kinda cute though. Ever see his website?

[dynimagelv]

yep....he does look a lil froggie.

[Buzz123]

I hope he's not a Greek frog ...you know ...when he leaps.

[svt4cobra6]

yep probably ran into bad luck with random crime. Other complaints are uninsured drivers, had 2 friends whos cars were totalled by uninsured drivers, fortunately no injuries. Also I commuted from northwest to northeast Las Vegas for 5 years and witnessed several people running red lights. also came across 2 red light fatalities within 30 minutes of the accidents. Only other compliant was my HOA as I was renting out the house in Las Vegas after moving and kept paying the monthly HOA fee along with a monthly HOA fine, but this was probably more of a property management issue. I think the property taxes are reasonable now but at the time it took 4 months rent to pay a years worth of property tax. Anyhow all things to consider when buying a house.