[Onlyliveonce]

Royal Highlands in Southern Highlands has basements.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

I know a Realtor who has a finished half-basement. (The basement is half the size of the first floor.) I would love to have one, too. It is absolutely great in the basement. I visited in August -- 115f outside, no AC going in the house at all, everyone hanging out in the basement where it's 75f.

You have discovered how many in the Midwest and the East survive hot and humid weather without air conditioning. They live in the basement during the day until sunset. They move back upstairs to sleep.

[ddrhazy]

Originally Posted by modhatter

True and not true. Agreed, it is cheaper to build box rooms and use cheap fixtures, cabinets etc. However,
it would be nice for a few variations and some nice features to be found even in tract housing. Sure you can find a few examples here and there, from either old Las Vegas, or Custom Built, but we are talking I thought more about what the masses have to chose from. Las Vegas is different. Having just sold my house in Phoenix (built in 1987) I can tell you it was loaded with charm. Never have seen a house in Las Vegas market (in the same price range $200,000) that came close to it. I'm not even comparing houses here to houses built on the East Coast, Tenn etc. I'm talking Southwest building. (Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah) Face it guys. Las Vegas has the most unimaginative architecture. Actually it is only through some people's extremely tasteful landscaping, that some of these houses look decent from the outside. But once inside, you know what they look like before you walk in.

So you claim that Vegas and all south west states have no charm yet you give your own house which is in Arizona as an example of one that does have charm. Quite the contradiction.

[demoknite]

Originally Posted by modhatter

True and not true. Agreed, it is cheaper to build box rooms and use cheap fixtures, cabinets etc. However,
it would be nice for a few variations and some nice features to be found even in tract housing. Sure you can find a few examples here and there, from either old Las Vegas, or Custom Built, but we are talking I thought more about what the masses have to chose from. Las Vegas is different. Having just sold my house in Phoenix (built in 1987) I can tell you it was loaded with charm. Never have seen a house in Las Vegas market (in the same price range $200,000) that came close to it. I'm not even comparing houses here to houses built on the East Coast, Tenn etc. I'm talking Southwest building. (Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Utah) Face it guys. Las Vegas has the most unimaginative architecture. Actually it is only through some people's extremely tasteful landscaping, that some of these houses look decent from the outside. But once inside, you know what they look like before you walk in.

Built in 1987? How many owners? If you were the sole owner, how many modifications were made to give it character over the course of 26 years? I will say that there is a lot left to the imagination in LV but there is only so much you can do to make an affordable house in one of the toughest environments on the planet. You can go to a major city like London, Paris or NY and see rows and rows of houses and the only discerning characteristic is the color of the front door and people paying large sums to live there. I dont know why people get so bent out of shape when our whole economy is built on mass production. Homes are just another part of it.

[MAXIALE02]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Simply untrue. If you live in Levittown all the homes look like well Levittown. So don't live in Levittown.

Out our way we can find any flavor that you like. There are 3 or 4 of the 70s geodesic domes, how about 9000SF with a diving pool and a lazy river? Or a 10,000SF MacMansion. Or 1200 SF of homebuilt without a square wall in the place. And all with a 5 mile circle.

Just a matter of where you look.

I would love to see some of the character filled homes you come across, especially in a median price range. It would definitely add to the discussion. Do you happen to have anything that you are able to post?

An aerial view of the valley is a good example of a Levittown - a trade off for the desert landscape and mountainous view I suppose.

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by djslakor

I agree with you fully.

I'm from Texas. Homes there are so much nicer! Just take a look at dallas/ft worth homes on Trulia. The property taxes are a little higher, but you can have a beautiful home for $130,000 with a huge green yard, in a metroplex filled with many more jobs paying higher than Vegas average.

Exhibit A: 13109 Harvest Ridge Road, Fort Worth TX - Trulia

Exhibit B: 2129 Burnside Drive, Fort Worth TX - Trulia

I have no idea why I haven't moved back yet.

Wow! Houses are cheap in TX!

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by MAXIALE02

I would love to see some of the character filled homes you come across, especially in a median price range. It would definitely add to the discussion. Do you happen to have anything that you are able to post?

An aerial view of the valley is a good example of a Levittown - a trade off for the desert landscape and mountainous view I suppose.

You can have all the character you want. Buy a woodshop worth of tools and do everything yourself. That's how we did it. And that's how our ancestors did it -- they built their own houses. That's how we used to roll in America.

I'll grant you that we didn't lay the foundation or frame or drywall. But we did everything else. Floors, stairs, cabinets, crown moulding, trim, paint. What's stopping you? I didn't know anything about trim work or finish carpentry or cabinetry or anything else. I bought books. I watched Norm Abrams on New Yankee Workshop. And then I bought a bunch of tools and wood and did it. It generally ends up costing more -- because contractors buy the cheapest crap they can get away with and cut every corner they can. Sure, it costs less, but the quality really suffers. And it certainly takes more time, blood and sweat. But like Oscar Wilde, I have simple tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.

We will have no problems selling this place when we decide to leave. Great view, lots of space, custom everything, lots of fruit trees in the garden. And I can see the strip from the kitchen as I make dinner. Our house has plenty of character. Even looks nice from the curb.

And I can think of dozens of houses on the east side that are just oozing with character.

[demoknite]

Originally Posted by djslakor

I agree with you fully.

I'm from Texas. Homes there are so much nicer! Just take a look at dallas/ft worth homes on Trulia. The property taxes are a little higher, but you can have a beautiful home for $130,000 with a huge green yard, in a metroplex filled with many more jobs paying higher than Vegas average.

Exhibit A: 13109 Harvest Ridge Road, Fort Worth TX - Trulia

Exhibit B: 2129 Burnside Drive, Fort Worth TX - Trulia

I have no idea why I haven't moved back yet.

Your exhibit B is the exact same thing as Las Vegas, minus the environmental factors. Same model houses on the same street. Its a different architectural style, but your neighbor down the street has the exact same house just like here.

[Tarara Boomdea]

Secret Basement found in old Mob house in Las Vegas - YouTube

Uploaded on May 13, 2009

In a nondescript Las Vegas house, which was foreclosed/sold at auction, behind a secret panel wall in the kitchen, a stairway leads down 1 1/ stories to a full-size bank vault door. Behind the door is a whole secret suite of rooms, with the strangest features. A main room with about 1200 sq ft., a toilet, a passage tunnel to a place outside of the property (which was drywalled off), and the kicker, is two concrete and steel tiny rooms with sound-proofed interiors, and no inside doorknob. Yes, appears to be jail cells! This is really, REALLY creepy. There is a 40-foot ventilation tube from once cell to the other, then a blower which exhausts to the storm sewer. Another weird feature is that the house is wired with single-phase, 1000-amp main panel. This is only a 3-bedroom normal house........ except for whatever went on 1 1/2 stories below. The basement rooms are so far below the house and the water table, that there are 3 huge sump pumps to keep the water out. This is the weirdest, spookiest thing I've seen this side of Auschwitz. I hope it was just somebody's idea of weird architecture, and not some sort of mafia torture chamber. Las Vegas, after all, WAS owned and controlled by organized crime bosses until fairly recently. Please don't ask the address, as I was trusted by the home's new owner to keep details and location quiet.

[ScoopLV]

Do a Google street view of "531 Los Feliz Street, Sunrise Manor, Nevada, United States." Then try "352 Radwick Drive, Sunrise Manor, Nevada, United States"

I tried very hard to buy 352 Radwick when it was for sale during the recession. I couldn't quite come up with the money and someone else got it. But I toured that property many times. Loads of character -- a pool that looks like a Hollywood movie set out of an Indiana Jones movie. It has a freakin' ballroom. If it went for sale again today for what it was going for in 2008, I would buy that house in a heartbeat. But it's already gone up a few hundred thousand since then. Probably more in a realistic "this house is actually for sale" market.

[snip] I'm one of the biggest Las Vegas bashers here. But I won't say that there are no houses with character. We have plenty to offer someone with architectural taste. The entirety of Tomiyasu Ln, for instance.

Hey, lvoc, help me out with a neighborhood. I once worked a private chef gig somewhere near downtown. It had winding streets, incredibly mature landscaping, and very, very nice houses. They weren't big houses. But they were very nice. The whole neighborhood looks like it was lifted straight out of "Leave it to Beaver" and dropped near Fremont. It is one of the old neighborhoods -- 1950s, I'm guessing. That's a great area. And it's within a five-iron shot of the Stratosphere. What's that area called?

That entire area has plenty of character. And I'll bet they cost a lot less than the houses I'm describing here on the east side.