Renter Turns Into Happy Homeowner and Saves Money

by Lisa Alberian

When my family decided to move to Las Vegas, we rented a house in a nice neighborhood. Since we didn’t know much about the area, we relied on our real estate agent’s knowledge to help us make decisions in addition to a lot of our own research. We were very fortunate to find a nice rental house in Henderson. 

At first, everything was completely different than what I was used to and nothing felt like home. Every chance I had, I drove around different areas to get a feel for what “living in Las Vegas” could be. You can learn a lot about an area by going into local businesses. It is NOTHING like “The Las Vegas Strip” out here in the suburbs! After a while we finally felt settled in with new careers and that’s when I started thinking…. 

Being a previous homeowner, I knew the benefits of home ownership (and I really, REALLY wanted a vegetable garden!)  I researched housing prices online on a regular basis and it caught my attention when mortgage rates started dropping, so I took the next step and talked to my bank and to a mortgage broker. Since the price of houses are still so low, and mortgage rates are still so low, I wanted to know exactly how much we could afford.

To my complete surprise, not only could we afford to buy a house, but the mortgage is almost HALF what the rent was costing us! Not only are we saving money every month, we have the tax benefits of homeownership and an appreciating investment. We also have a vegetable garden and a place to truly call HOME.