The short answer
Before you sign with any cash buyer, get proof of funds in the same name as the contract. Call the title or escrow company yourself, and make sure it holds the earnest money. Look the buyer up with the Nevada Secretary of State, the BBB and Google. Refuse any upfront fee, any pressure, and any request to sign over your deed outside a normal closing.
If a buyer pushes back on any of these, you have learned what you needed to.
We are a cash buyer, so apply every check in this guide to us too.
1. Proof of funds shows the buyer can pay
Ask for proof of funds before you sign, and look at three details:
- The name. The account holder should be the entity named as the buyer on the contract. A statement in one name and a contract in another needs an explanation. It can mean the contract will be assigned to someone else.
- The date and amount. It should be recent and cover the purchase price.
In a real sale, money flows to you through escrow, never from you to the buyer.
2. A title or escrow company you can call holds the money and the deed
In a Nevada sale, a neutral company sits between you and the buyer. The National Association of REALTORS describes escrow as an arrangement in which a third party controls payments between buyer and seller and releases funds only when the contract terms are met.
Verify the escrow company yourself
If the escrow company is fake, or the buyer controls it, that protection is gone.
- Get the company’s name before you sign. It should be on the contract or in writing.
- Look up its phone number yourself, from its own website or a directory, and call to confirm it has your file.
- Check its license. In Nevada, escrow officers employed by title insurers and title agents are licensed under NRS chapter 692A. Independent escrow agencies are licensed under NRS chapter 645A, under the Division of Mortgage Lending.
- Ask whether you can choose or approve the company. Some buyers have a preferred title company. Be wary of a buyer that will not name it or will not let you check it.
Confirm wiring instructions by phone
Wire fraud targets closings. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says to confirm wiring instructions in person or at a phone number you agreed on beforehand, and never to follow instructions that arrive by email. Send your own payout bank details to escrow the same way, through a channel you have verified.
3. Earnest money should sit with escrow, not the buyer
Earnest money is a deposit a buyer puts up to show it intends to close. NAR’s consumer guide says a neutral third party holds it, typically an attorney, settlement agent or title company, and that neither side can touch it during escrow.
Ask the buyer:
- How much, and who holds it? It should go to escrow, not to the buyer’s own account.
- When is it deposited? A deposit promised “later” is not yet a deposit.
- When does it become non-refundable? If the buyer can cancel for any reason during a long inspection period and get it all back, it does little to protect you.
4. Read BBB and Google reviews under the exact legal name
Search the company’s exact legal name and phone number, not only its brand. The BBB recommends checking a business on BBB.org before sharing personal information, confirming its official name, phone number and physical address, and reading customer complaints.
Read how the company answered complaints, not only the star rating. A few careful, specific replies tell you more than a wall of five-star reviews.
The FTC’s final rule on consumer reviews, announced in August 2024, prohibits fake reviews and paying for reviews of a particular sentiment. It also bans undisclosed reviews by company insiders and suppressing negative reviews through threats or intimidation. The FTC can now seek civil penalties against knowing violators.
5. Check the company with the Nevada Secretary of State
Nevada LLCs are formed by filing articles of organization with the Secretary of State (NRS 86.151). Every LLC must keep a registered agent with a street address for legal service (NRS 86.231). You can look up those filings at nvsos.gov.
Check that:
- The entity named on your contract exists and is active.
- The names on its filings match the people you are dealing with.
- The registered agent and address make sense for a company doing business here.
A new entity is not a problem by itself. Ask how long the people behind it have been buying houses.
6. A Real Estate Division lookup has limits
The Nevada Real Estate Division runs a public license lookup. You can check a real estate professional’s status by name or license number, without logging in.
It shows whether a person or company holds an active Nevada real estate license. Anyone who claims to be a licensed agent or broker should be in it.
Why a buyer may have no license
Nevada’s license law covers someone who acts for another and for compensation in selling or buying real estate (NRS 645.030). It expressly excludes an owner dealing with its own property in the course of its investment (NRS 645.0445). A company buying houses for its own account is buying, not brokering.
So a cash buyer may hold no license at all, and a blank lookup is not a red flag by itself. We, for example, are not an agent or brokerage, and we never list homes.
The lookup cannot tell you whether an unlicensed company is acting like a broker, for example by marketing your house to other buyers for a fee before it owns it. NRS 645.230 makes acting as a broker without a license unlawful. If you suspect that, ask the Real Estate Division.
Red flags
Money flowing the wrong way
- Upfront fees. The BBB’s advice is never to give money to an investor before the closing date. Walk away from an “application fee,” “processing fee” or “reservation fee” to sell your own house.
- Large fees in the contract. Read every line that reduces your proceeds, and ask for an estimated closing statement first.
- Payments “off the books.” The BBB warns against pressure to pay outside the closing.
Pressure
The Nevada Attorney General’s list of warning signs includes “Don’t sign a contract under pressure” and “Don’t sign anything with blank lines or spaces.” A real offer will still be there after a day spent reading it, showing it to family, or running it past an attorney.
Deed theft and equity skimming
These schemes go after your title or your equity.
- Signing over the deed outside a sale. The FTC warns that if you transfer the deed, you are not likely to get it back. It lists equity-skimming and rent-to-buy schemes among foreclosure-rescue scams. The Nevada Attorney General’s warning signs include a company telling a homeowner to transfer the deed or title to it, or to make mortgage payments to the company instead of the lender.
- “Rescue” promises. The FTC says a company demanding payment upfront for mortgage relief, before providing any service, is breaking the law. It adds that a legitimate company cannot tell you to stop talking to your lender.
- Forged transfers of homes you still own. In April 2025, the FBI’s Boston field office warned of rising quit claim deed fraud, in which fraudsters forge documents to record a phony transfer of ownership. It reported that 58,141 victims nationwide lost $1.3 billion to real estate fraud from 2019 through 2023.
Nevada protections for homeowners in foreclosure
Nevada law defines a “foreclosure purchaser” as someone who, in the course of business, acquires or tries to acquire title to a residence in foreclosure from its owner (NRS 645F.330). A foreclosure purchaser who defrauds or deceives the homeowner commits a gross misdemeanor (NRS 645F.430). The homeowner may also rescind the transaction within two years of the deed being recorded, unless the property has already passed to a good-faith buyer (NRS 645F.440).
If you think this has happened to you, contact the Nevada Attorney General’s office or a Nevada attorney quickly.
Sign up for recording alerts on your own title
The Clark County Recorder’s Recording Notification Service emails you when a document is recorded against a name or parcel number you register. The Recorder says it cannot guarantee it will catch every document. It is still a simple early warning.
A one-page checklist
- Proof of funds, recent, in the contract entity’s name
- Title or escrow company named in writing, licensed, and confirmed by a call you placed
- Earnest money amount, holder and refund terms in writing
- No “and/or assigns” you did not agree to on purpose
- BBB and Google read under the exact legal name
- Secretary of State entity active, with people you recognize
- Any claimed real estate license confirmed in the Real Estate Division lookup
- No upfront fee, no pressure, no blank lines, no deed transfer outside escrow
- An estimated net figure before you sign
Check us the same way
We are Alex Buys Vegas Houses, a local company based in Henderson and founded in 2017, buying across the Las Vegas Valley and Boulder City. When we buy, we buy as-is, charge no agent fees or commissions, cover standard closing costs, and close on your timeline.
Run every check above on us, including the BBB and Google. Ask us the questions in our guide to the four ways to sell a Las Vegas house for cash, and hold us to the answers.
If a listing would serve you better, we will tell you and name agents we have had good experiences with. We take no referral fee for it. When you are ready, request a free, no-obligation cash offer, or call and ask for advice with no offer at all.