[jasperz]

Hello,
I come from Europe (France) and have been living in Miami for 2 years on an investor visa (i own a web publishing business).

I'm planning to move out from miami for several reasons :

- The terrible work ethic (+ difficulty to find qualified people)
- The weather (i can't stand the humidity anymore)
- The moscitoes
- I don't speak spanish and i have enough on my plate trying to learn english :-)
- Tired of the latino vibe (no offense but it's not for everybody)
- The bureaucracy

I went several times to Las Vegas to attend the CES and i loved it very much, even if i didn't visited all the areas. I don't know yet if it's for me though, hence my questions :

- How hard it is to find a cheap clean office space for lease ? Did the prices of commercial spaces also went down with the crisis ? What area of Vegas would be best ?
- How is the work ethic in general ? (very subjective questions i know). In miami i hired people that didn't showed up the next day without telling me anything...
- I did some search on Zillow for houses to rent / buy (300k budget to buy or 4k max to rent). Could you please tell me if there is an area in Vegas where houses are not 15 feet or so close to each other, and, if possible, with a view ?

Thank your for your help and sorry for my english :-)

[ScoopLV]

I'm from South Florida. I know the area and the workforce very well. I've lived here for five years now. Here are some things to consider:

1) This city is almost as Latin as Miami. Spanish is spoken with almost the same frequency. Half of the people who apply for jobs at your business will be named Carlos, Juan and Jose. That's just how it is. Where Miami has a large Cuban exile population, Las Vegas has a large Mexican population.

2) Workers here are about the same as Miami. People will take a job and then disappear, never to be seen again.

3) I don't think you're prepared for 45 degrees C. At least in Miami you had sea breezes most of the time. Here, a summer breeze is the worst possible weather. It's like sticking your head in a convection oven. Until you've been through one complete Las Vegas summer, don't assume it's better here.

4) We don't have mosquitoes. We have black widow spiders and scorpions instead. We also have just as many roaches as South Florida. And we get invaded some summers by crickets -- in "biblical plague" proportions.

5) A $300K budget will find you a big, modern house with a nice view. No problems there. Office space is inexpensive.

[eventusstultorummagister]

.99 cent shrimp cocktails and free beer... no brainer.

[AA702]

From my experience the only place that I have been that has the highest work ethic is Silicon Valley (San Jose metro area). The area has great weather but it does have a large hispanic population. The area also has a very educated pool of workers to pick from although they will not come cheap.

[jasperz]

Originally Posted by AA702

From my experience the only place that I have been that has the highest work ethic is Silicon Valley (San Jose metro area). The area has great weather but it does have a large hispanic population. The area also has a very educated pool of workers to pick from although they will not come cheap.

Indeed someone also told me salaries are super high in the silicon valley, and that living there is really expensive (real estate, existing taxes and possibly future ones). Not sure i'll make a good deal unfortunately.

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

I'm from South Florida. I know the area and the workforce very well. I've lived here for five years now. Here are some things to consider:

1) This city is almost as Latin as Miami. Spanish is spoken with almost the same frequency. Half of the people who apply for jobs at your business will be named Carlos, Juan and Jose. That's just how it is. Where Miami has a large Cuban exile population, Las Vegas has a large Mexican population.

2) Workers here are about the same as Miami. People will take a job and then disappear, never to be seen again.

3) I don't think you're prepared for 45 degrees C. At least in Miami you had sea breezes most of the time. Here, a summer breeze is the worst possible weather. It's like sticking your head in a convection oven. Until you've been through one complete Las Vegas summer, don't assume it's better here.

4) We don't have mosquitoes. We have black widow spiders and scorpions instead. We also have just as many roaches as South Florida. And we get invaded some summers by crickets -- in "biblical plague" proportions.

5) A $300K budget will find you a big, modern house with a nice view. No problems there. Office space is inexpensive.

Thank you for the infos, i really appreciate the input of a Floridian :-)

1) I'm really surprised to learn that Vegas is almost as Latin as Miami. Just for curiosity, do they all know how to speak english or is it like in Miami where some people don't bother to learn the language ?

2) Bummer. I really don't get that kind of behavior... Sigh...

3) The heat, I probably can take it if there's no humidity. I lived in North Africa, it was basically the same conditions, with also a hot wind coming from the desert.

4) I'd exchange spiders and scorpions for floridian moscitoes anytime :-) At least if they're not coming inside your house ?!

5) Good to know thanks!

[baily23]

Office space has dropped drastically with the housing prices in LV. So the rent is extremely affordable. And with a housing budget of $300k, you can find a nice house with a nice sized yard that is not 10 ft from your neighbor's bathroom window, like some of the houses in this city.

I'm from Atlanta, where it is always 90-100% humidity and the mosqutos kill you in the summer. Personally here in Vegas, I have never even seen a mosquito in the city.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by jasperz

1) I'm really surprised to learn that Vegas is almost as Latin as Miami. Just for curiosity, do they all know how to speak english or is it like in Miami where some people don't bother to learn the language ? Same as Miami. Some learn the language. Others don't.

2) Bummer. I really don't get that kind of behavior... Sigh... Like South Florida, we have a big drug problem. And Las Vegas also has a lot of people with alcohol addiction and also gambling addiction. There are a lot of flakes here.

3) The heat, I probably can take it if there's no humidity. I lived in North Africa, it was basically the same conditions, with also a hot wind coming from the desert. I lived in Cairo for more than a year. I spent a complete summer there. It was NOTHING compared to Las Vegas. But at least the drivers are much better than in Cairo.

4) I'd exchange spiders and scorpions for floridian moscitoes anytime :-) At least if they're not coming inside your house ?! They're coming inside. And there's nothing you can do about. Hide yo' wife, hide yo' kids. The spiders aren't so bad. But the roaches and crickets line up in front of your doors, waiting to rush in as soon as you open the door. I am not joking. During a cricket swarm, there will be HUNDREDS of the little bastards in your kitchen every night. If you don't poison the hell out of them, you'll be living in something akin to "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom." We can't use poison. So I use a shop vacuum on the really bad days.

Laissez les bons temps rouler.

[jasperz]

1) I'm always wondering what the american really think about immigrants not trying to learn english. I don't want to offend anyone asking this, but is it something that, in general, english speaking american are bothered with ? I'm not trying to be a smart a##, i'm just very curious to learn how american people think (mostly because it's not something people tolerate much in my country, even if it happens... It looks like it's not bothering people here, but maybe i'm wrong ?)

2) Ok i guess i'll have to be more thorough then.

3) Now i really have to spend the next summer in Vegas. It must be crazy if it's hotter thant Cairo (me, I was in Tunisia). What did you do in Cairo, if i may ask ?

4) Very good to know! I never heard of it before and I don't know if I could stand having hundreds of crickets in my house to be honest... Are all the Vegas areas potentially concerned by this problem ?

This is the first time i heard the phrase "laissez les bons temps rouler" ! I had to check Wikipedia to know where it come from, lol

Originally Posted by baily23

Office space has dropped drastically with the housing prices in LV. So the rent is extremely affordable. And with a housing budget of $300k, you can find a nice house with a nice sized yard that is not 10 ft from your neighbor's bathroom window, like some of the houses in this city.

I'm from Atlanta, where it is always 90-100% humidity and the mosqutos kill you in the summer. Personally here in Vegas, I have never even seen a mosquito in the city.

Thank you, that's a relief to know that some houses are not too close of each other. I'm a sociable person, but i don't want to live with my neighbours :-)

[HSV2LAS]

I used to live in Broward County (Fort Lauderdale) area. As soon as one travels south passed the Dade County, it is pretty much Spanish speaking county - English is almost second language there. I can't remember but a few years back the Cubans wanted to pass ordinates that makes English as second language. :-)

As far as Miami is concerned, I only go down there for Dolphins games and Miami Heat games / South Beach action. Cubans can keep their Florida Marlins, etc. :-)

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by jasperz

1) I'm always wondering what the american really think about immigrants not trying to learn english. I don't want to offend anyone asking this, but is it something that, in general, english speaking american are bothered with ? I'm not trying to be a smart a##, i'm just very curious to learn how american people think (mostly because it's not something people tolerate much in my country, even if it happens... It looks like it's not bothering people here, but maybe i'm wrong ?)

We're a country of immigrants. So we're generally more easy going about it. In my experience, the tolerance goes down as the generations removed increases.

A first or second generation family knows how hard it is, so they're a little more understanding. They likely have a parent or grandparent who still struggles with the language. I have many in-laws like this.

After a few generations, there is less tolerance. They don't remember the days when certain sections of New York spoke mostly Italian, or when whole swaths of Minnesota spoke Swedish.

After more than four generations, there's this attitude that, "My great great grandparents learned English, so you should, too."


HOWEVER -- Back then, we didn't have television and radio stations that catered to non-English speakers. And we were a one-language country. If someone wanted to take a driving test, that test would be in English. It really annoys some people that many tests are no longer "English only." And that people can live their lives, never being required to speak English. That's recent. And there's a lot of resentment about that.

Fnally, there's the fact that deep in our hearts, we know we stole this country from the native people. It's hard for us to ***** about English conformity considering most of us don't speak Lakota, Algic or Iroquoi.