Financing · Las Vegas
You Don't Have to Use Them.
Here's Why My Buyers Do.
Zillow Home Loans covers your appraisal, will match or beat a competing rate, and has come in lower on closing costs for my buyers this year. I am not paid to tell you that.
Three Reasons, All Verifiable
Nothing here depends on taking my word for it. Ask them directly, then ask another lender the same questions and compare.
They pay for the appraisal
Every lender orders one. With most of them it comes out of your pocket, and in Las Vegas that runs $700 or more — paid up front, before you know whether the deal even holds together. Zillow Home Loans covers it. If the appraisal comes in low and you walk away, you have not lost the money.
They will match or beat a competing offer
This is the one that removes the risk of asking. Take their number to another lender. If someone comes back lower, bring it to them and they will match it or beat it. That means getting a quote from them cannot cost you a better rate somewhere else — it can only set your floor.
Closing costs have come in lower
Not a promise, an observation. Across my buyers this year their closing costs have repeatedly landed under what the same buyer was quoted elsewhere. Lender fees vary far more than people expect, and they are one of the few numbers you can actually shop.
The part most people get wrong
Call the lender first. Not last.
Almost everyone does this in the wrong order. They look at houses for months, find one they love, and only then call a lender — and that is the week they discover a collection account from 2019, or that they need eleven thousand more than they thought.
The lender conversation is not about getting a loan. It is about finding out what you are working with while there is still time to do something about it. If something needs fixing, you want eight months. Not eight days.
It costs nothing, it commits you to nothing, and it is the single highest-value hour in the entire process.
What to Have Ready
Two years of tax returns
W-2s too. If you are self-employed, two years of returns and a year-to-date profit and loss.
Your last two pay stubs
Or your last two bank statements if your income is not salaried.
A rough idea of your savings
Not a number to the dollar. Just what you could put down without emptying the account.
Nothing about your credit
Do not pull it yourself first and do not pay anyone to. The lender will pull it, and a single mortgage inquiry is not the thing people think it is.
Straight Answers
Do I have to use Zillow Home Loans to work with you?
No, and you never will. Use your credit union, your bank, the lender your brother-in-law recommends — it genuinely does not affect how I represent you. I send people to Zillow Home Loans because the appraisal credit and the rate match are real and they are easy to verify. If you find better terms elsewhere, take them.
Are you paid to refer me?
No. I receive nothing of value for sending you to any lender, and the law does not permit it. My interest is that your financing holds together through closing, because a loan that falls apart in week three costs my seller a deal and costs you the house.
I am not buying for another six or eight months. Is it too early to call?
It is the opposite of too early. The lender conversation tells you what you are actually working with — whether anything on your credit needs attention, what you really need for a down payment, and what the monthly payment looks like at a real rate rather than a guess. If something needs fixing you want to find out with eight months left, not in the week you want to write an offer.
Will a pre-approval hurt my credit score?
A mortgage inquiry has a small, temporary effect. More usefully, mortgage inquiries inside a short shopping window are treated as one event by the scoring models, so comparing two or three lenders does not stack up against you. Shopping is the intended behaviour.
Does a pre-approval commit me to anything?
Nothing at all. It is not a loan and it is not an application for a specific house. It is a lender telling you what they are prepared to do, and it expires on its own — usually in 90 days — if you do nothing with it.
What if my credit is not good yet?
Then this call matters more, not less. A lender will tell you exactly which accounts are holding the score down and roughly what moving them does. Some of it resolves in a single billing cycle. Some of it takes months — which is the entire argument for starting early.
Want the Introduction?
Tell me roughly when you are hoping to buy and I will put you in touch with my contact at Zillow Home Loans. No application, no pressure, and nobody will chase you.
Also worth reading: the first-time buyer guide, down payment assistance in Nevada, or run the numbers on the payment calculator.
Nik Sharapov is a licensed Nevada real estate salesperson (S.0180179) with LPT Realty, LLC. He is not a mortgage lender, mortgage broker, or loan originator, and nothing on this page is a loan offer, a commitment to lend, or financial advice.
No compensation is received for this referral. Neither Nik Sharapov nor LPT Realty receives any fee, commission, or other thing of value for referring clients to Zillow Home Loans or to any other lender. You are free to use any lender you choose, and your choice of lender has no effect on representation.
Zillow Home Loans, LLC — NMLS #10287. Equal Housing Lender. Programme terms described on this page, including appraisal credits and rate-match offers, are set by the lender, are subject to eligibility requirements, and may change or end at any time. Confirm all current terms directly with the lender before relying on them. Closing-cost comparisons reflect this agent's observations across recent transactions and are not a prediction of what any individual borrower will be offered.