Last week, we shared some handy fall home maintenance tips for homeowners throughout Nevada, regardless of climate. Hopefully, you’ve already started checking some of them off your list. Today, we want to share some fall to-dos for Nevadans who live where freezing temperatures are the norm from fall to spring (though our friends in southern Nevada can also benefit from a couple of these fall energy-saving tips as well).

Fall Checklist, Part Two

1.  Put your sprinklers system to bed.

Whether you’re enjoying the color show of changing leaves, or appreciating a welcome change in temperature, one thing’s for sure: Fall is a beautiful time of year in the Silver State. It’s also the time of year when home maintenance moves to the top of the to-do list for reasons of safety and energy efficiency.

You probably already know that Home Is Possible (affectionately known as HIP) is a down payment assistance program for Nevadans who seek decent, affordable housing. But if that’s where your HIP knowledge ends, keep calm and read on.

Top 5 HIP Facts

1. It’s downpayment money – no paybacks!

The old adage, ‘Good fences make good neighbors’ may be true, but what are some other ways to make sure you’re on the good list? In honor of Good Neighbor Day September 28, we’re sharing some helpful tips on how to get along, and then some.

Six Ways To Keep The Peace 

There’s a whole new segment of homebuyers in the housing market these days. They’re called boomerang buyers, and what makes them unique is that they’ve been down this road before. These folks lost their homes due to foreclosure or short sale, and are now ready to re-enter the market and become homeowners again.

The transition from renter to homeowner is a doozy. We’re not saying that to scare you, but rather, to prepare you. To make things go as smoothly as possible as you join the homeownership club, we’ve gathered some handy tips just for you. (Spoiler alert: none of them involve calling your landlord to resolve issues.)

Before Getting The Keys

Back-to-school season is the perfect time to admit that we HIPsters at Nevada Housing Division are geeky number crunchers at heart. After all, we’re the people behind the thousands of dollars that Nevada homebuyers can get through our Home Is Possible (HIP) family of programs.

While you may not inherently love math like we do, we’re certain you’ll come around when you start calculating how much money is available to help you buy a house. (Just wait until you start playing with the Mortgage Credit Certificate calculator!)

It should come as no surprise that we’re huge advocates of homeownership. It strengthens families and communities alike, and we take pride in the role we play in supporting Nevadans in their quest to attain affordable housing.

At Nevada Housing Division, we love sharing stories about Nevada homebuyers who have used the Home Is Possible program to find their way home—with downpayment money in tow. That never gets old! But today, we thought we’d mix things up and look at the program from the point of view of a HIP-qualified lender. 

Officially, summer isn’t over for another few weeks, but the back-to-school season is in full swing—and it’s not just for kids anymore. If you’re a homebuyer, or someone just toying with the idea of homeownership, you, too, should consider heading back to school.

Don’t worry, we’re not talking about tiny desks, 50 pound backpacks and gobs of homework. We’re talking about homebuyer education.

Homebuyer Education 101