Moving to Nevada
for Work or Pleasure?

Yes. A signed, non-contingent offer letter that states your position, salary and start date is enough to begin. On conventional loans (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) the job generally has to start no later than 90 days after the loan closes, and the income has to be a fixed salary, not hourly or commission. FHA works with a shorter window, usually 60 days. If the job starts after closing, the lender will also want to see cash reserves that cover the gap. Art pre-qualifies relocating buyers by phone or video before they ever pack a box.

See: Start your pre-qualification

Not the income from the job they are leaving. A lender can only use income that is expected to continue after the move, so a position at your origin city that ends when you relocate cannot be counted, even if a similar job is likely here. Once your partner has a signed offer in Nevada, that income can be added under the same offer-letter rules. Plan the purchase on the income that is certain, and treat the second income as room to grow into.

See: Talk it through with Art

Yes, as long as the job continues after the move. The lender verifies your employment as usual and will want written confirmation from the employer that the position is remote or approved to be performed from Nevada. Self-employed buyers qualify on tax returns the same way they would anywhere, and moving the business address does not reset that history. What does not work is a job that is remote today but tied to a return-to-office date, so get that answer in writing before you rely on it.

See: Loan programs

No. Your credit report is national, and a Nevada lender reads the same file a lender in your current state would. You do not need a local bank account either. What your lender will ask for is about two months of statements from wherever your money sits, and a paper trail for any large deposit, including proceeds from selling your current home. If you plan to move accounts, do it after closing, not during the loan.

See: Credit score to buy a house

Lock once you have a signed purchase contract and a closing date, not before. A rate lock has a fixed length, so the lock period should reach past your closing date with a few days to spare. If the seller, the appraisal or your start date pushes closing out, extensions exist but usually cost something, so tell Art the moment a date changes. Relocation timelines slip more often than local ones, and the cheapest fix is a lock period chosen with that in mind from the start.

See: Payment calculator

Most purchase loans close about 30 to 45 days after the offer is accepted, and a relocation loan is no slower if the paperwork is ready when the offer goes in. You do not need to be here to close. Your loan documents can usually be signed with a mobile notary in your current city, and Nevada also allows remote online notarization; the title company confirms which option your loan permits. Many of Art's relocating buyers see the house once on a video walkthrough with their agent and once in person at the final walkthrough.

See: From offer letter to keys

Usually for the better. Money your employer pays toward your down payment or closing costs on a primary residence is allowed on conventional loans, and it can even count as reserves, as long as it comes directly from the employer and the lender has the relocation agreement in the file. A lump sum that lands in your account becomes your own funds once it is documented. What does not count as income is a temporary living allowance that ends on a known date. Send Art the relocation policy at the first call; it changes the structure of the loan more often than people expect.

See: Down payment and programs

Until it is sold, usually yes. If the old house is under contract and the buyer's financing contingency has cleared, the lender can leave that payment out of your ratio. If your employer's relocation company is buying the home under a guaranteed buyout, the executed buyout agreement documents both the payoff and your proceeds. If neither is in place by closing, you qualify carrying both payments. Renting the old house out instead is a separate documentation path with its own reserve rules. Timing the two transactions is the biggest lever in a relocation loan, so map it with Art before you list.

See: Talk it through with Art

Only the calendar, and in your favor. A furnished rental or corporate apartment lets you close on your own timeline instead of the truck's, and gives you time to drive the commute before you commit. Two cautions: keep the lease month-to-month or with an early-out clause so it does not outlast your closing date, and do not let the temporary address confuse the file. Your lender documents where you live now and where you will live at closing, and both are fine.

See: Rent first or buy right away

Yes, in 48 states plus Washington, D.C. Art is personally licensed in Nevada, so for a home elsewhere he pre-screens your file, then introduces you by name to a PRMG loan officer licensed in that state and stays involved. The mortgage mechanics on this page are federal, so the same offer-letter, remote-income and relocation-package answers apply. The two exceptions are New York and Wyoming, where PRMG does not lend; Art will tell you that on the first call rather than waste your week.

See: Nationwide state map

There is no single number, because lenders qualify you on a ratio, not a salary. Your total monthly debts, including the new house payment with taxes and insurance, generally need to stay under roughly 43 to 50 percent of your gross monthly income, depending on the program and the automated approval. A car payment or student loans lower what the same salary can buy. The fastest way to see your real range is a ten-minute pre-qualification with your offer letter in hand; the calculator on this site gets you a first estimate before that call.

See: Payment calculator

Prices differ a lot between these markets, and they move, so this page does not print a number that will be stale in a month. Each city page on this site carries the most recent median we have sourced for that area, and the loan limits page shows the conforming and FHA ceilings for every Nevada county, which matter because the county you choose can change which loan programs fit your price. Look at two or three city pages side by side before you decide where to search.

See: Reno · Sparks · Carson City · Lake Tahoe · Loan limits by county

It is real: Nevada has no state personal income tax. The catch is that it does not start the day you sign a lease. Your former state can still tax income you earned while you lived there, and some states tax certain income by where it was earned, not where you live, so most people file a part-year return for the year they move. Nevada also collects sales tax, property tax and a yearly vehicle tax, so the honest comparison is your total tax picture, not one line. A tax professional who knows both states is worth one hour of your time before the move.

Nevada taxes 35 percent of a home's taxable value, and state law (NRS 361.4723) caps the yearly increase in the tax bill on your primary residence at 3 percent; other property is capped at up to 8 percent. Texas has no income tax either but leans harder on property tax, and California reassesses to the purchase price when you buy, so the same price home can carry a very different bill in each state. Two things to do after closing in Nevada: file the county assessor's owner-occupancy claim so the 3 percent cap applies to you, and read the estimate in your loan file, which is based on the actual parcel, not a statewide average.

See: Important numbers

Start with the housing payment, because it is the biggest line and the one a lender can price for you exactly: principal, interest, property tax, insurance and any HOA for a real house at a real price. Then add what changes with the move: state income tax gone or reduced, a Nevada vehicle registration that is priced on the car's value, winter heating in the north, summer cooling in the south, and commute distance if you move to a smaller town for a lower price. Online cost-of-living indexes are fine for a first look, but a pre-qualification with a specific address replaces the index with your number.

See: Payment calculator

Yes. Nevada's programs are tied to the home becoming your primary residence, not to how long you have lived here. The Nevada Housing Division's Home Is Possible program offers assistance of up to 5 percent of the loan amount for down payment or closing costs, with versions for first-time buyers, teachers, and veterans and service members. Nevada Rural Housing's Home At Last serves the rural counties and does not require you to already be a Nevada resident. The state also launched a Worker Advantage program in late 2025 with $20,000 for essential workers, first come, first served, so availability changes. Income and price limits apply to all of them, and the numbers move every year; Art checks the current sheet on the day you apply.

See: Down payment and DPA programs

Both work, and the right answer is usually about the job, not the market. If the position is new and you have never lived in the area, a short lease lets you test the commute and the neighborhood before you commit, and nothing in the loan process penalizes you for waiting. If you know the area or the job is secure and the numbers work, buying on arrival avoids paying a year of rent and moving twice. One detail either way: down payment assistance programs usually expect you to live in the home for several years, so buy where you plan to stay.

See: Buying a home in Nevada

Nevada gives new residents 30 days to get a Nevada driver license and register their vehicles, and the clock starts when you become a resident, which can be the day you start work, not the day the truck arrives. Registration requires insurance from a Nevada-licensed carrier (an out-of-state policy is not accepted), a VIN inspection, and a smog check for most gas vehicles in the Reno and Las Vegas areas. Set an appointment early; the offices book up. None of this affects your mortgage, but the license is often the easiest proof of your new address for the loan file and the assessor's tax cap form.

Use the commute table higher on this page as the starting point; it shows drive times from the main job corridors to each city we serve. The pattern is simple: Sparks and east Reno sit closest to the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center, Fernley trades a longer drive for lower prices, Carson City and Gardnerville serve the capital and the south, and the Tahoe shore is a lifestyle choice with a mountain commute. Drive it once at the hour you would actually leave for work before you write an offer.

See: Sparks · Fernley · Gardnerville

Go to the primary sources. The Nevada Department of Education publishes the Nevada Report Card for every public school, and each district (Washoe County for Reno and Sparks, Carson City, Lyon County for Fernley, Douglas County for Gardnerville) publishes its own attendance zone maps, because the zone, not the mailing address, decides the school. Ask the district directly about programs that matter to your family, such as dual-language or special education. As your lender, Art does not rate schools or neighborhoods, and fair housing law is the reason; he will point you to the data and let you decide.

Use public data and your own eyes. Local police departments publish incident maps, the county assessor's site shows what nearby homes sold for and when, and a video walkthrough with your agent at two different times of day tells you more than any score. Look at the practical things too: distance to the freeway you will use, wildfire and flood map status (which can affect insurance cost in the foothills), and whether an HOA governs the street. Art can price a specific address for taxes, insurance and any HOA before you decide to visit it.

Northern Nevada is high desert at about 4,500 feet: four real seasons, dry air, hot summer days that cool off at night, and sunny winters with cold mornings. The Reno valley floor averages roughly 20 to 25 inches of snow a year, and it usually melts within days. Elevation decides your winter, not your city: the foothills above Reno can get two or three times the valley total, and the Tahoe basin measures snow in hundreds of inches. Las Vegas, at the other end of the state, rarely sees it. Choose your neighborhood with the driveway in mind, and budget for good tires if you will drive to Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe is about 30 to 45 minutes from Reno depending on which shore you are heading to, and roughly the same from Carson City to the south shore. Reno-Tahoe International Airport sits inside the city of Reno, a short drive from most neighborhoods and from Sparks, which is part of why remote workers and frequent flyers land here. Some buyers make Tahoe the home and Reno the commute; the winter drive and insurance in the basin are the two things to price before you do.

See: Lake Tahoe · Reno

Five things, all avoidable. Counting a partner's income from a job that ends with the move. A start date that lands outside the offer-letter window, which a phone call before you sign the offer would have caught. Wiring earnest money to an email that looked like the title company; always confirm wire instructions by calling a number you already trust. Opening new credit for furniture or a car before closing, which changes the ratio that approved you. And skipping the county's owner-occupancy claim after closing, which leaves your property tax cap at the higher rate. Art walks every relocating buyer through this list at the first call.

See: Contact Art