Posted December 27, 2021 in Buyer Info
Most people purchase their home with a mortgage, but did you know you can buy a house with cash? While this is true and while this is not the most popular method to purchase a home, many people purchase homes with cash. Purchasing a home with cash can make the home buying process much easier, however, there are still rules for purchasing a home with cash. For example, it is extremely rare if not almost impossible to purchase a home without verifiable funds, meaning if you have a bunch of cash in your mattress many home sellers and escrow companies will not accept that as a verifiable means of payment. So, can you buy a house with cash? See some guidelines and rules below for purchasing a home with cash.
Just like we said above, it will be extremely difficult to purchase a home with a bunch of stray paper bills. How is a seller or escrow company supposed to know if all of those $100’s you have in your personal safe aren’t counterfeits? Who is going to be the impartial 3rd party that is responsible for counting out enough money to purchase a home with? This is why you will want to put the money in some sort of savings, checking, or another form of certifiable money holding account so that the seller can see that you officially have the money to purchase their Las Vegas or Henderson home. This will also be helpful if you start to look at homes and realize you may want to get into a higher price range by taking out a mortgage. If you will be changing your mind and using a mortgage, most lenders want several months of bank statements and don’t like to see huge deposits of untraceable funds.
When you purchase a home using a mortgage, you have certain rules from the lender that you’ll have to play by. Lenders want to know they’re giving you only what the home is worth, so they send appraisers to provide an expert opinion of how much the home is really worth. Lenders will also want to know what is wrong with the home as significant damages or construction issues can significantly affect the value of the home. When you are purchasing with cash, however, you don’t have to abide by a lender’s preset rules. You won’t need an appraiser, and if you want to you can even waive the home inspection. While many people dislike paying several hundred dollars for a home inspection of the home they’re purchasing, many real estate professionals would encourage you to pay for the inspection. As previously stated, problems with homes can cause huge decreases in value and you will want to make sure you are paying market value with your hard-earned cash. So be encouraged to get that home inspection and know exactly what you’re getting into. Also, enjoy not having to do all the additional loan paperwork and having the headache of having yet another party you have to keep tabs on during the home buying process.
Are you purchasing a home with cash in Las Vegas or Henderson? Can you feel the power? That tingly feeling at your fingertips? Now slowly pull your hands into a fist and take a deep breath, because you’re an epic home buying superhero! Ok maybe not that dramatic, but if you are buying a house with cash in Henderson or Las Vegas you will probably have an edge over others purchasing in your price range. Oftentimes sellers know what a headache lenders can be during the sale of the home and if they accept a lender financed offer they are running the risk of the buyer not qualifying for the loan. If they accept a cash offer, they know that the financing is ready to go, they won’t have to worry about the home appraising, and the sale doesn’t have to spend over a month in escrow. Depending on the current state of the market, sometimes cash buyers can even offer a little less for a home than a lender financed offer as sometimes sellers would rather pass on the drama of including a lender in the sale of their home. So keep this in mind when you are looking to purchase a home – sellers love cash buyers in Las Vegas and Henderson.
Don’t touch the money until it’s time to wire the funds. If you absolutely have to, be sure to discuss with your real estate agent and have them double-check with the escrow company to see what your options are. Why real estate experts advise you not to mess with the funds you have to purchase the home with is because things don’t always move as fast as they appear online. It’s like when you deposit the check and the bank lets you know the funds aren’t actually available in your account for another day or two or however long. This is because it takes time for money to be exchanged from one bank to the other. While you may be able to see the funds in one account or another in a matter of hours, the banks will not always release the full funds until they actually receive it. This can be the same with paychecks or other forms of payment. You may think “I get paid Friday, so I can spend some of this money this weekend because by the time we close escrow I’ll have the total funds back in the account.” Bad idea. For some reason, many times in a transaction if anything could go wrong, it will. Once you have the total amount of funds in the bank and ready to go, don’t touch it!
Wiring fraud is on the rise. What this means is that many times hackers will target people purchasing a home and when the close of escrow comes closer they will send you an email that looks like it’s from escrow, but it’s not. This email will have instructions to send your funds to the hacker’s account instead of the escrow company. They will also provide false phone numbers so you will contact someone “from escrow” who is not the professional you are actually working with. So when you go to wire funds, triple-check that you have the correct phone number for your escrow company/officer. Call them directly when you are about to wire funds so you can double or triple-check again that you have the correct wiring information. When you’ve sent the wire, keep the receipt from the bank that spells out where you’ve sent the money. You may want to put this with your home purchase documents for several years after the home has been funded, just to be absolutely careful. It’s a great thing that you can purchase a home with cash, so be so very careful that you don’t get scammed into losing all that hard-earned cash.
When people purchase with cash, a lot of times they are tempted to purchase without a Las Vegas or Henderson real estate agent. This can be a huge mistake as cash buyers may not understand the local market, the necessary forms, and processes that have to happen during a sale in the Las Vegas or Henderson area. Don’t risk your hard-earned money with something you may not understand as well as a local REALTOR®. If you’ve been able to accumulate enough money to purchase a home with cash in Las Vegas or Henderson, it is worth the extra commission that gets added to the sale of the home from the seller to pay your agent’s commission.
We hope you’ve gotten some answers to the question “Can you buy a house with cash?” Be sure to hire that local real estate expert to help you through your cash purchase in Henderson or Las Vegas so they can answer any additional questions you may have about purchasing a home with cash. They will be able to ask you questions you may have not thought of so they can answer questions based on your specific situation. To contact local real estate experts in Las Vegas or Henderson, call or text Nevada Desert Realty at 702-509-1446!
