They won't use the term 'conveyancing' ..... Closing is the term they use here.
Are you buying new or previously owned?
Will you need a mortgage?
If you do, then generally speaking you will have to pay-
Loan Origination Fee- to the lender, this is usually 1% of the loan.
Title Search/Insurance- to prove to the lender that this property is free of encumbrances or liens.
Recording fee- to record the transfer of deed. This gets filed with county officials.
Credit report on you- around $50.
If you pay less than a 20% down payment then the lender will require you to buy a separate insurance (PMI) is how it is listed, private mortgage insurance, to protect the balance of the loan amount. Once you have made enough payments to equal 20% of the loan, this insurance can be dropped.
At the time of closing you will pay interest on the loan depending on the date, if it is the first of the month, you will pay 30 days interest, if the 20th of the month, you will pay 10 days interest (upfront)
You will have to buy Homeowners Insurance - some states ask for a couple of months ahead, the state I live in requires you buy a year's insurance in advance. After that is purchased you can make monthly insurance payments included in your mortgage payment, to the lender, who then distributes it to the Insurance co.
Property taxes are usually figured into your total mortgage payment, it is sent to the tax officials for your county by the Mortgage company..
They can and do add some odd $ in fees of one kind or another, depending on the state and the various Mortgage companies policies, shop around for who has the least fees as always.
They do not use lawyers in the average closing unless there is something unusual... the broker/real estate agent you bought through will attend, to represent you, and the lender's Mortgage officer will attend and that's all you need. The seller and their agent will also be there of course.
Your agent is liable if any legal problem were to arise....
If you want, you can pay a lawyer independently to review your sales contract and attend the closing, but there will a private fee $$$ several hundred dollars to pay. Most people don't, but you are welcome to do that. Since this is your first purchase of property here,the peace of mind that will give you might be worth the $$
Good luck.

Thanks emdia that sounds helpful. We're buying (hopefully) a foreclosure property, and we won't nned to raise a mortgage, so we're cash buyers. As we can put down the 20% I take it we won't need the PMI you mention nor the loan origination fees or credit reports etc

Sounds like we won't have much in the way of extras top pay!

No, most of what I wrote pertains to a mortgage.
There is a silver lining to the foreclosure problem then! Prices here are probably much lower than the UK anyway...
Are you buying from the bank that foreclosed the property? You should be able to get it at bargain prices as they will be more than anxious to get rid of it. NOTHING is selling.
(My BIL is a full time real estate agent and hasn't sold a property since early May).
If you have a real estate agent working for you they can advise you on what similar properties have sold for ( ask for a comparison list) and what fees you will face. If you are buying direct from the bank,and have no real estate agent acting for you then I would have a real estate attorney represent you throughout this transaction.

Oh, I forgot to include a Home Inspection fee... something else you will need to pay for.. They will examine everything from top to bottom and report on the structure and all the mechanicals..

I was watching TV last night, a show called House Hunters was on, and the town they were in was Henderson, NV. I was thinking of you as I watched it.. A very nice town.

Well, it's nearly here; we fly out to Nevada two weeks today, 8th March, for a week to be spent viewing properties. Our "shortlist" needs a radical pruning - it has 30 properties on it!. We'll whittle that down to about 12 or so, and arrange with our realtor to view them Monday thru Wednesday, and (hopefully) make an offer on one on Thursday. Wish us luck!

Good luck Sancho, be sure to keep us informed.

David

Good luck Sancho. Don't forget to find yourself an attorney whilst you're there for your U.S will. Very important.

Ok, we did it!

We spent the week of 8th - 15th March in Vegas, purely for viewing and (hopefully) buying property. On the Monday, along with our ( very helpful ) realtor, we viewed no less than 16 properties. We liked two of them, and made offers on them, but even now we are still waiting to hear back!

On the Wednesday, therefore we widened our net and viewed 8 more, four of which we made offers on. Our realtor rang us early on Thursday confirming that one of our offers had been accepted.

So......we have a condo, in a small, private, gated community, with a private community pool and jacuzzi. The condo has two huge bedrooms (16' x 17' each) each with massive walk-in wardrobes. the main bedroom has its own private ensuite bathroom. The second bedroom has its own access to the second bathroom (which also has a door into the hallway) - that bathroom has a full standup shower rather than a bathtub).

The living room is 24' x 17', the dining room is 14' x 14', and there is a fully fitted kitchen, complete with all the major appliances - huge double door American-style fridge/freezer, cooker, microwave, dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer. We have a small-ish private balcony, looking out over the mountains.

the whole place is airconditioned throughout, and both bedrooms and the living room have ceiling fans also!

( ....and its on the wonderfully named "Gold Dust Avenue", )

Escrow has been opened, we have had the inspection done (with only 4 very very minor things found!) we have paid over over 'earnest money' deposit, and we are working towards close of escrow on April 14th, when it's ours.

We're going back in mid-May to have new carpets fitted, and to give the wholeplace a coat of fresh paint, and then to spend squillions of $$$$ furnishing the place.

Congratulations!
Post a photo when you get it all prettied up....

Home Depot...watch out. Sancho is coming !!! Well done.

Great time to buy as well. Well done

Home Depot...watch out. Sancho is coming !!

Oh, how very true!

would be interested to hear how you get on with the process of buying. Does it seem straightforward so far?

Does it seem straightforward so far?

Yes, pretty straightforward so far. The "offer" documents we had to complete run to 18 pages; some had to be signed by us both, some had to be initialled, and some needed both initials and signatures.

Once an offer had been accepted, we had 19 pages to sign; we were back in the UK before these appeared. They were e-mailed to us, and we had to print them out, sign and/or initial them, scan them and e-mail them back.

An escrow officer has now taken over, and she is determining that we have a clear title to the property, with no liens or charges against it. We are waiting for the HOA ( Home Owners' Association) rules and regulations which we have to study and agree to, and of course, we are waiting to be asked for the balance of the money!

(Luckily, the £/$ exchange rate is moving in our favour, so we have since we returned saved £800)

We may only get 1 key; as it was a repossession, there is a danger that the previous owner still has the keys, so as soon as we own it completely, we are changing the lock. We also have to get keys to the pool, the garbage enclosure and the main gate (although there is an electronic number pad for that, which we do have the code to)

Escrtow is targetted to close on 14 April, at which point it becomes ours!

that does sound good so far.

Congratulations! Will be interesting to see what you think about Vegas when you actually live there or visit as a property owner rather than staying in a hotel.

luci

We are going back in May; my wife goes a week before me ( she gets more time off work than I do) and we will be cleaning, repainting, and furnishing. We have already arranged new carpets (throughout) and by the time I arrive, she will have been there a week, so after I arrive we start furnishing ( you should see the lists!.......)

Hopefully we'll be fitted out well enough that we can live in it for the last week of our stay. I'll let you know!

Ok, it's happened! Escrow closed yesterday and as of NOW we are owners of property in LV. (now the fun begins.....trying to sort out the electricity and gas....they want our US Social Security Numbers - whuch as non -US citizens we don't have, lol)