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Home Preview |
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Our Las Vegas Home Preview TourFIRST THINGS...Before you hop on the plane there are a couple of things that should be addressed. If we locate a suitable home and you wish to present an offer to purchase, you will need a "lender's approval letter". While this letter is not absolutely essential, it will give you a little more bargaining power, especially in cases where there are multiple offers on the table. You will also be asked to submit an "Earnest Money Deposit" (EMD) with any offer. So don't forget to pack your checkbook. OK, you've arrived safely in Las Vegas and are staying at the Chips 'R Us Casino. Our appointment is for 9:30am. I will be picking you up at the main entrance to the hotel, typically the place where taxis and valet parking are handled. Since we haven't met yet (face to face), I will be looking for an excited person waiving at me. Please dress comfortably and wear shoes that can be slipped off easily. Some home owners insist that we remove shoes before entering. I usually have a booklet that's been prepared for you, including listings, aerial shots of each home, floorplans (where available) and comparable sales sheets. Armed with this information, we can proceed on our tour. If we are visiting homes that are occupied, I will have already phoned the homeowners ahead to make appointments, and will continue to make calls as we proceed. The homes that we visit will have an electronic lockbox containing the keys. As we enter each home I will place one of my business cards on the kitchen counter. The collection of cards will give us an indication of how many other agents have shown the property... unless someone has stored them away. I'm not one of those agents who insists on describing every detail of a home. You can decide for yourself whether the carpet is plush, the pool is sparkling, the den is cozy etc. I may point out some features that are unique to Las Vegas homes but other than that, feel free to explore and ask questions. If the home looks like it might work for you, camera shots might be appropriate. After viewing a few homes, one pitfall that many buyers experience is mentally constructing a home with A's kitchen, B's garden and C's master bedroom. The easiest way to overcome this problem is to keep one or two favorites in mind and forget the rest. In that way, when we visit another home, it either exceeds the features of your number one choice, or not. If it doesn't, then forget it. Please don't feel obligated to view all the homes on our list. If you find a suitable home along the way, just tell me. You will find that I'm a no-pressure agent who will not push you towards any home. THE OFFERTime was when a real estate contract consisted of three pages but that's not the case these days. A typical offer to purchase contains about 25 pages and requires a few hours to prepare and sign. Sometimes this can be done right at the home in question but usually we will return to my office. Some of the contract work is available here on this site so you can read all the fine print prior to your trip. How much to offer? Well, the comparative sales data (comps) in the booklet that I supplied for the tour will tell you the following:
Armed with this information, you should be able to arrive at an offering price that makes sense. AFTER THE OFFEREven the best of offers often result in a counter-offer. One company requires that their agents return a 14-page counter offer on all deals. Bearing in mind that the original offer is 10 pages, this seems like overkill. However, my main point here is this; there may likely be a counter-offer, and I will need to contact you. I would hate to have to page you in the middle of the latest Cirque du Soleil production. So until we have final acceptance of your offer, please remain reachable. In the remaining weeks between the accepted offer and the close of escrow, here are the items that need attention.
Since most of my clients are out-of-towners, I am accustomed to doing many of these tasks on their behalf. But we need to maintain contact. This is not the time to schedule a Caribbean Cruise. THE KEYSYou've paid your money, signed the loan documents and done everything according to Hoyle, so where are the keys? In Nevada you receive the keys once the deed has been recorded at the Clark County recorders office. This recording usually occurs the day following the "close" of escrow. But due to some unforeseen circumstances (usually the lender dragging his heels and not funding the deal promptly) this can be later. Please don't schedule movers to arrive too soon. Give yourself a little breathing room at this final stage.
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