[smalldog]

I would say: Rent first for half a year lease, and start to look around. Don't buy now except you see very good deal, such as -20% off market price. Price will drop more with speculative investor leaving.

October foreclosure filings surge - Nov. 29, 2007

Las Vegas, Detroit, Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Fla., and Cleveland were also among the cities with the highest foreclosure rates.

Originally Posted by windycitygirl

My husband and I were transferred to VA from IL this year. We are very likely going to be transferred to LV soon. Since we bought our house (exhisting), the market continued to nose dive here. We do not like the house or neighborhood and will probably sell this house with some loss (his employer/relo company protects our original purchase price, but we will lose on improvements).

In order to avoid the same mistakes again, any advice? We will probably be there 3-5 years and be will to spend up to $550K. I know it's difficult to predict the market, but would new or existing homes be a better bet financially? I like the idea of a pool--install new or buy an existing home with one?

Neighborhood and schools also matter. I want a safe area that my children can play. I also prefer an area with somewhat young professionals (our neighborhood is a melting pot of grandparents with no young visiting grandchildren, ex-felons, and paranoid schizophrenics off their meds). I heard Summerlin is nice, but is my price consistent with that area?

Any thoughts?

[DessertRat]

Originally Posted by olecapt

. . . I think it a good tactic for first time home buyers. Then renting and getting oriented and building up some more down payment can be a good idea. But I am quite skeptical that a local renter will be much more informed than a new arrival with a good agent . . .

I'm currently in New Jersey, moving to Southern Nevada next year, and I've decided to rent first while looking for a place to buy for a couple reasons:

1. I have a wide variety of possible locations in mind--from Pahrump to Overton to Searchlight to Vegas proper and everywhere in between. I don't mind a commute obviously. But I'm kinda picky about my location--it has to appeal to me aesthetically, among other things. I can't rely on someone else's opinion about that.

2. My wife is just as picky, but in her case, more about particulars of the house and the people, if any, who might be our neighbors. (I'm more picky about the general location in terms of environment and the "feel" of the place.)

3. We both need to find work in the area after we move (unless we get lucky long-distance beforehand), and we have no idea what job we'll end up with or where exactly it will be.

So the strategy at this point is going to be to find a relatively cheap place to rent, preferably with a short-term lease, and go hunting for work and a permanent place to live from there.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by DessertRat

I'm currently in New Jersey, moving to Southern Nevada next year, and I've decided to rent first while looking for a place to buy for a couple reasons:

1. I have a wide variety of possible locations in mind--from Pahrump to Overton to Searchlight to Vegas proper and everywhere in between. I don't mind a commute obviously. But I'm kinda picky about my location--it has to appeal to me aesthetically, among other things. I can't rely on someone else's opinion about that.

2. My wife is just as picky, but in her case, more about particulars of the house and the people, if any, who might be our neighbors. (I'm more picky about the general location in terms of environment and the "feel" of the place.)

3. We both need to find work in the area after we move (unless we get lucky long-distance beforehand), and we have no idea what job we'll end up with or where exactly it will be.

So the strategy at this point is going to be to find a relatively cheap place to rent, preferably with a short-term lease, and go hunting for work and a permanent place to live from there.

Perfectly reasonable approach. With two of you looking for jobs I would suggest you start out in Vegas proper. While the other areas are nice in a rural way they are very unlikely places for two people to find employment.

In fact without specialized skill or insider status I would think the chances of finding employment in the small communities is zilch except perhaps Pahrump.

[brosati]

Originally Posted by olecapt

Now if we had a system where you could rent the house you are going to buy...but that is not how it works.

I have renters in my Sun City MacDonald Ranch home in Henderson. They love the house and have expressed interest in perhaps buying it in the future.

The advantage for them is that I could sell it to them below market. Since I will not have to pay any real estate agent fees, I can pass that savings onto them.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by brosati

I have renters in my Sun City MacDonald Ranch home in Henderson. They love the house and have expressed interest in perhaps buying it in the future.

The advantage for them is that I could sell it to them below market. Since I will not have to pay any real estate agent fees, I can pass that savings onto them.

Perfectly reasonable thing to do. I would split the savings with them...but that is a nit.

This of course presumes you are both in agreement on the price and that you are comfortable handling the paperwork. You can also hire an agent for 1% or so to run the process. That is not needed if one or both of you are comfortable with it.

[Eric Young]

I think the people that suggest you get a six-month lease are giving good advice.

And I would suggest that you rent in Summerlin.

[WOHR]

Everyone keeps saying rent, but has anyone thought that she has kids. There is no bigger pain in the butt than uprooting your kids during school or out of another school. Once you get them started, you want them to have some normalcy. Renting works for couples without kids or kids that are not of school age.
Start by checking out the schools. CCSD.net will give you a lot of the information you need. When we were moving out here, finding the right school with a neighborhood we liked and all of the house features we wanted was very important. I can't tell you how many houses my husband looked at while I researched on the internet. Will your husband be here in Las Vegas before you? If so, he could check out the areas and help you narrow down your search.
We ended up in Summerlin, though we spent the majority of our time looking in Green Valley. With your price range, you'll have no problem finding a nice house with a pool.

[Eric Young]

Alright, WOHR...the kids angle is compelling.

Originally Posted by windycitygirl

In order to avoid the same mistakes again, any advice? We will probably be there 3-5 years and be will to spend up to $550K. I know it's difficult to predict the market, but would new or existing homes be a better bet financially? I like the idea of a pool--install new or buy an existing home with one?

Neighborhood and schools also matter. I want a safe area that my children can play. I also prefer an area with somewhat young professionals (our neighborhood is a melting pot of grandparents with no young visiting grandchildren, ex-felons, and paranoid schizophrenics off their meds). I heard Summerlin is nice, but is my price consistent with that area?

Here ya go, WindyCityGirl...

I live in Summerlin and, given all the choices, wouldn't live anywhere else in town. People are great, stores and restaurants are excellent, schools are great, there's plenty of recreation and events to attend, it's beautiful and it just doesn't feel like the rest of Las Vegas. Quite simply, everything you've described is in Summerlin.

Not knowing your expectations for the house itself, $550 will get you a nice place by our standards (and any of the agents on this board or provided to you by ayour relo company can send you pictures).

On the money side, Summerlin has been the area here least hit by the downturn experienced by most other sections of the region. There are some deals, but not nearly as many as you'll find elsewhere and many sellers in Summerlin can simply ride things out if they don't get the price they want.

If you're able to find a "deal" that you like, you'll probably be in fine shape if you need to sell in five years, even though I expect the general downturn to continue for much of 2008. If the home you find in this part of town doesn't meet my definition of "deal" but it's the one you love, you may enjoy a profit if you sell in five years, but you could just as easily be at breakeven or down if the downturn lasts deep into 2009.

As to the matter of the pool, if you like them then they are absolutely indispensable out here. I would look at homes both with and without, making my purchasing decision on the home itself first and pool, if there is one, second. If it turns out that the perfect home doesn't have a pool, it's easy enough to add one and you might enjoy the luxury of deciding the exact pool you want to have, rather than just taking the one that comes with the home you buy.

I hope this is a somewhat helpful, if at least less wishy-washy, answer.

Go Bears (not really - I'm from NY - but I do love Chicago) and good luck!

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by WOHR

Everyone keeps saying rent, but has anyone thought that she has kids. There is no bigger pain in the butt than uprooting your kids during school or out of another school. Once you get them started, you want them to have some normalcy. Renting works for couples without kids or kids that are not of school age.
Start by checking out the schools. CCSD.net will give you a lot of the information you need. When we were moving out here, finding the right school with a neighborhood we liked and all of the house features we wanted was very important. I can't tell you how many houses my husband looked at while I researched on the internet. Will your husband be here in Las Vegas before you? If so, he could check out the areas and help you narrow down your search.
We ended up in Summerlin, though we spent the majority of our time looking in Green Valley. With your price range, you'll have no problem finding a nice house with a pool.

You hurt my feelings. Read my initial response and the follow ons.

OP has no rational choice but to buy a house.

I have a reasonable rackup of the CCSD school available at...

Las Vegas School Rankings

On balance OP can move to Summerlin or a number of other places around the valley and find what they are looking for in terms of schools, houses, pools and neighborhod.

Given their circumstances as put forth they should buy in a tract developed between say 1998 and 2003 in an area that gives the worker a reasonable commute. Look at pool homes unless you strike out. Then go to non-pool homes. I find it hard to believe they will not find a suitable pool home.

It is actually a reasonably easy find at this point. Get a good Realtor.

[High Desert Nevadan]

Find a bank owned property you want, low ball them and see what they say. I wouldn't buy anything these days except from a bank, you're never going to find a more motivated seller.