Category: News

FHA loan requirements have three components: what you need as a borrower (credit, income, debt), what the property needs to pass (condition, value, type), and what the broker needs to document. Every file has to clear all three. Buyers usually worry about the first, occasionally stumble on the second, and almost always underestimate how much paperwork the third involves. Here is the full 2026 FHA requirements list for Las Vegas buyers, with Clark County-specific notes and the real-world gotchas we see in escrow. Borrower requirements Credit score: 580 minimum for 3.5 percent down payment. 500 to 579 for 10 percent down. Below 500 does not qualify. Debt-to-income ratio: 43 percent standard, up to 56.9 percent with compensating factors. Housing payment alone should be under 31 percent of gross income. Income:…

FHA loans are the default first mortgage for most first-time buyers in Las Vegas for good reason. The down payment is 3.5 percent with a 580 credit score, the debt-to-income limits are more forgiving than conventional, and the program stacks cleanly with Nevada down payment assistance grants. Done right, a first-time buyer can close on a $420,000 Clark County home with under $5,000 out of pocket using an FHA loan plus HIP assistance. Here is the complete 2026 FHA picture for Las Vegas first-time buyers, including the pieces that rarely get explained clearly. 2026 FHA loan limits in Clark County FHA sets county-specific loan limits each year based on local home prices. Clark County's 2026 limits are $766,550 for a single-family home, $981,500 for a duplex, $1,186,350 for a triplex,…

The first number every first-time buyer wants to know is what credit score they need to qualify. The answer is less tidy than most websites pretend. The real minimums are lower than the common advice, the real cost of a low score is higher than you expect, and the fastest paths to improvement are not always the ones that show up first in a Google search. Here is what Las Vegas first-time buyers actually need to know about credit scores in 2026, with specifics by loan type and concrete steps to raise your score fast if you are close to a threshold. Minimum credit scores by loan type FHA 3.5 percent down: 580 minimum. FHA 10 percent down: 500 minimum. Conventional with 3 to 5 percent down: 620 minimum. VA:…

Qualifying for a home loan in Las Vegas comes down to four numbers: your credit score, your debt-to-income ratio, your income documentation, and your down payment. Every other question, from FICO models to bank statement history, rolls up to one of these four. If you can pass all four, you qualify. If you cannot, you know exactly what to fix. Here is the full picture of 2026 mortgage requirements specific to Nevada, what underwriters actually check, and the common denial reasons we see every month. Credit score minimums by loan type FHA loans: 580 minimum for 3.5 percent down, 500 for 10 percent down. VA loans: no VA-mandated minimum but most lenders require 580 to 620. USDA: no agency minimum but 640 is the common lender requirement. Conventional: 620 minimum…

There are four real loan types available to first-time home buyers in Las Vegas: FHA, Conventional, VA, and USDA. Each one serves a different kind of buyer, and picking the right one up front can save you $30,000 to $80,000 over the life of the loan. The wrong choice is rarely a disaster, but it usually means you leave money on the table. Here is a clean comparison of all four, the Clark County-specific rules that apply, and a decision framework for picking the right one for your situation. FHA loans — the default for most first-time buyers Federal Housing Administration loans are the most flexible option for buyers with lower credit scores, limited savings, or non-traditional income. The minimum credit score is 580 for the 3.5 percent down payment,…

The single biggest question first-time buyers ask in Las Vegas is how much cash they actually need to close on a home. The internet gives you a wide range of bad answers. Twenty percent is the rule-of-thumb people remember from their parents. Zero down is what the military ads promise. Neither number reflects what most buyers in Clark County actually put up. Here is the real answer, broken down by loan type, with Las Vegas-specific dollar amounts so you can plan accurately instead of guessing. The minimum by loan type FHA loans require 3.5 percent down if your credit score is 580 or higher. On a $400,000 Las Vegas home, that is $14,000. If your credit is between 500 and 579, FHA still works, but the required down payment jumps…