Southern Highlands · Buying a Home
Buying a home in Southern Highlands
Tell me what the house has to do. I will tell you what I would do, and you will hear from me the whole way through.
Buying a home in Southern Highlands: make the comparison on purpose
Buying a home in Southern Highlands usually starts with a Summerlin search that ran into a number. Southern Highlands is a master-planned community south of the Strip off the 15, and at the same price it often gets you more house than a comparable Summerlin address, with the airport closer. Plenty of buyers choose it for exactly that reason, and plenty choose Summerlin anyway for Red Rock and the west side. The point is to make the comparison on purpose, with both houses on the screen, rather than to arrive here by default or to rule it out because it was not one of the two names you had heard of.
The people buying in Southern Highlands are move-up families comparing it against Summerlin on price, relocating buyers who found it after the same search, and people who work south or near the airport, where the drive from the west side would cost them an hour a day. It is master-planned, so HOA dues and rules about what you can do with your own house come with it, the same trade every master-planned community in the valley makes.
Tell me what the house has to do
Why Southern Highlands buyers work with me
I am John Arendt, a Realtor with Compass Realty & Management, and I have sold homes across the Las Vegas valley for 20 years, Southern Highlands among them. Because I also work Summerlin and Henderson, the comparison every Southern Highlands buyer is making gets made honestly, by someone who sells on both sides of it, and when you ask me Southern Highlands or Summerlin at this number, I answer without a thumb on the scale.
We start with what the house has to do and the whole payment, including HOA dues and what the house costs to cool in August. A lender pre-approval is not required to start with me, but I recommend it strongly, because it is better to shop for what you know you can afford. Before or during the first showing we sign a buyer representation agreement, so you know in writing who I work for and how I am paid, which is negotiated and never fixed. The whole way I help you buy is here. When you ask which house, I tell you.
How buying a home in Southern Highlands goes, step by step
The first call covers the commute, what the house has to do, how much yard you want, and what you are hoping to spend. Then the payment conversation with a lender, dues included. Then the comparison: the Southern Highlands house your number buys next to the Summerlin house it buys and, often, the south Henderson house too, so you choose knowing. The 3D walkthroughs do the first pass so we tour the ones you already like.
On a Southern Highlands tour I am looking at what the HOA controls and charges, which direction the big windows face, the age of the air conditioner even on a newer home, and what the street is like on a weekday evening. When you find it, earnest money is typically about 1 percent and negotiable, the due diligence period is usually 10 calendar days to two weeks and negotiable, and the HOA resale package Nevada requires the seller to provide gets read during that window. Then the appraisal, the loan, the walkthrough, signing at the title company or with a mobile notary, recording and keys, with every date on a calendar and a call from me before each one.
Southern Highlands specifics worth knowing before you buy
The extra square footage at a given price is the reason to look here, and it is real; whether it is worth giving up Red Rock and Downtown Summerlin is a question about your week, not about the house. The airport and the 15 are the commute advantages, and the 215 at 5pm is still the thing to drive before you decide. HOA dues belong in your monthly number from the first conversation. And I have not written a village-by-village guide to Southern Highlands here, because the one thing worse than a thin page is a wrong one; on the phone you get what is actually on the market right now and how it compares.
If you are trading up from a starter home, the sequencing comes first. If you are moving in from out of state, relocating to Southern Highlands covers touring from a distance. If this is your first purchase, first-time buyers in Southern Highlands is written for you. Or call or text 702-881-6562, tell me where you work and what you are hoping to spend, and I will show you both sides of the comparison. More about Southern Highlands and how I work with buyers across the valley are here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Southern Highlands or Summerlin?
Southern Highlands often gets you more house for the money and a shorter run to the airport. Summerlin gets you Red Rock, the trails and the west-side commute. I show you both at your number and tell you which I would buy for what the house has to do.
Does Southern Highlands have HOA dues?
Yes. It is a master-planned community, and dues and rules about what you can do with your house come with it. The exact figure is in the resale package for the specific home, and it goes in your monthly number before we write.
How much earnest money will I need on a Southern Highlands home?
On the offers I write it is typically about 1 percent of the purchase price, and it is negotiable. It goes to an escrow company, usually part of a title company, and it stays your money until closing.
Southern Highlands
What buying a home looks like in Southern Highlands
Southern Highlands sits south of the Strip and often gives you more house for the money than a comparable Summerlin address.
Southern Highlands is a master-planned community south of the Strip off the 15 that often gets a buyer more house for the money than a comparable Summerlin address, with the airport closer.
- The homes
- A master-planned community south of the Strip that often gets you more house for the money than a comparable Summerlin address.
- Why people choose it
- Move-up families comparing it against Summerlin on price, and buyers who work south or near the airport.
- Getting around
- South end of the valley off the 15, with the airport closer than it is from Summerlin.
- The trade-off
- Against Summerlin: you trade Red Rock proximity and Downtown Summerlin for more square footage at the same price.
The method
How I do it in Southern Highlands
Buying a Home: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with John Arendt, Realtor?