[yellowsnow]

Great job market? As long as you don't expect more than $10 per hour, part time with zero benefits. You can have 2 or 3 jobs even. Anyone CAN make it here if they are willing to work hard enough. But Sedona sounds perfect for you.

[SportyandMisty]

Originally Posted by DougAderyn

Not validation exactly. But, I did say in my original post that we are moving to LV and I was just looking for advice on where in the Vegas metro area would be best for my family.
Yes, the decision has basically been made. There are a ton of nuanced and detailed reasons for this decision. So, I don't really need validation. Just advice on where in a 4 million person metro area would I find some folks to relate to.

OK -- details, please: what type of housing are you looking for? Rent? Buy? Size? what size lot? Condo? Price? Paying cash - or getting a mortgage? What's your down payment look like? Attached garage? How big? Swimming pool?

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by yellowsnow

Great job market? As long as you don't expect more than $10 per hour, part time with zero benefits. You can have 2 or 3 jobs even. Anyone CAN make it here if they are willing to work hard enough. But Sedona sounds perfect for you.

I thought of Sedona as well, but she says she has employment opportunities here as an event coordinator. Not much of that in Sedona.

[lvoc]

Yeah Scoop is our local doomer. Nothing is right in LV as far as he is concerned. So discount his input heavily. He does know a lot about food though. But past that discount.

There are innumerable places around town where free spirits are common. The NW Lone Mountain areas is full of unique homes with all sorts of differing styles. Everything from 70s geodesic domes to 9,000SF Mcmansions are available often next to each other. People who like Summerlin would not like it and people in Lone Mountain probably would not like Summerlin. There are similar areas in the SW and parts of Henderson. They are in no way cookie cutter. Scoop also lives in one of these areas though the schools where he lives are very weak. HOAs are rare in such areas though they do exist.

[DougAderyn]

Originally Posted by SportyandMisty

OK -- details, please: what type of housing are you looking for? Rent? Buy? Size? what size lot? Condo? Price? Paying cash - or getting a mortgage? What's your down payment look like? Attached garage? How big? Swimming pool?

Ok, details...
We're looking to rent a 3 or 4 bedroom house for the first year. My mother is planning on moving back west with us and we'll share moving and 1st year expenses with her. After the first year she'll move on and get her own place and we may stay in our rental or we'll be getting ready to buy a house with a mortgage.
So, we have 1 year of "trial" time available. We'll be able to get around LV, learn more about the places and people and get settled in; then we'll be making final decisions about where to buy and what schools, neighborhoods, etc to settle near.
Rent can go as high as $1,800/mo. But looking at zillow and other rent sites I don't think we'll need to go that high to get a basic 3 bedroom house - Here in DC $1,800 would barely get someone a fairly run-down, 2 bedroom, in a safe area on the outskirts of the Beltway. So, to us this is a major bargain!
We prefer a house to an apartment. We haven't lived with our parents for years, since we were each much younger. And now we have a baby too! So, we'd like to have a little space to spread out when grandma needs a baby-break or we need a grandma-break, lol. But other than that the size and lot aren't very important since this is just a 1 year rental before we're just a two-generation household again.
Garage is Great, or at least off-street parking for 2 vehicles!
We'd want to avoid swimming pools. I'm not pool fan, and with a toddler around it's an unnecessary hazard. Plus, a pool takes up valuable yard space for BBQs, kids run, patio time, etc. And normally ups the rent or you have to cover maintenance for it.
And, 3 cats... Which will suck to find a rental that will let us have all 3. And then we'll probably have to pay a pet fee for all 3... But, that's the breaks and we know it. We've each had our kitties since they we're babies and neither of us will give up our fur balls.
That's all I can think of for now. Let me know if there's details I'm missing.
Edit- I also am not too concerned about commute times as long as they're around 30-40 minutes. DC has commuters who drive (or sit on the hwy) for HOURS to go to work everyday. So, 30 minutes each way would be an easy commute to me!

[DougAderyn]

Originally Posted by lvoc

Yeah Scoop is our local doomer. Nothing is right in LV as far as he is concerned. So discount his input heavily. He does know a lot about food though. But past that discount.

There are innumerable places around town where free spirits are common. The NW Lone Mountain areas is full of unique homes with all sorts of differing styles. Everything from 70s geodesic domes to 9,000SF Mcmansions are available often next to each other. People who like Summerlin would not like it and people in Lone Mountain probably would not like Summerlin. There are similar areas in the SW and parts of Henderson. They are in no way cookie cutter. Scoop also lives in one of these areas though the schools where he lives are very weak. HOAs are rare in such areas though they do exist.

Thank you! I hadn't heard anyone talk about the Lone Mountains yet. I'll look into that.
I could definitely get into a 70's geodesic dome! Haha! How cool!

Edited to Add: Wow! I just looked up houses in the Lone Mountain area! Zillow has a ton of 3 or 4 bedroom single family homes for $1,100 or so a month! That's an incredible price from our DC perspective! Way less than we pay now for a small 2 bedroom duplex outside of the city!

[ScoopLV]

Nobody is saying that cost of living isn't low in Las Vegas. That's a given. It's what Las Vegas is good at.


But your statements simply don't make much sense. You have three people who suggest Sedona and two who suggest anywhere but Las Vegas. Why? Because this city is incompatible with your stated objectives.


For instance:

"Hi! I'm a cowboy looking for wide open spaces, a good small town feel, cheap cost of living, decent, God-fearing folk and lots of wildlife and natural beauty. Therefore, I'm thinking of moving the family to mid-town Manhattan."

or

"Hi! I'm looking for a college town with which takes higher education seriously. I need someplace where I can go from undergraduate work, straight through to my PhD. And that's why I'm moving to Dead Horse, Alaska."



Both of those statements make exactly as much sense as: "I'm looking for the crunchy parts of Las Vegas." That's like asking for an egg-free omelet or the Nevada Unicorn Preserve. While we're at it, lets inquire about the best surfing locations in the city, and our free-range leprechauns.

[NDJeff]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

There are plenty of non-HOA neighborhoods here. Most of them look like a bomb went off in between a AutoZone and a Toys-R-Us and the debris was dumped on these non-HOA neighborhoods as a temporary clean-up measure.

I'd rather deal with the nastygrams about weed removal than live next to Fred Sanford.

You nailed the description of the non-HOA neighborhoods here. When I was looking at houses a couple years ago I never even made it inside most of the non-HOA homes. I'm pretty live-and-let-live but I don't want to live across from the guy running a boat repair business on the street in front of my house.

[Golfinnova]

Originally Posted by DougAderyn

Thank you! I hadn't heard anyone talk about the Lone Mountains yet. I'll look into that.
I could definitely get into a 70's geodesic dome! Haha! How cool!

Edited to Add: Wow! I just looked up houses in the Lone Mountain area! Zillow has a ton of 3 or 4 bedroom single family homes for $1,100 or so a month! That's an incredible price from our DC perspective! Way less than we pay now for a small 2 bedroom duplex outside of the city!

That is great plus that is a good area, close enough to 215. Shopping is close enough, there is a YMCA in the area and several good parks especially if you like disc golf.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Nobody is saying that cost of living isn't low in Las Vegas. That's a given. It's what Las Vegas is good at.


But your statements simply don't make much sense. You have three people who suggest Sedona and two who suggest anywhere but Las Vegas. Why? Because this city is incompatible with your stated objectives.


For instance:

"Hi! I'm a cowboy looking for wide open spaces, a good small town feel, cheap cost of living, decent, God-fearing folk and lots of wildlife and natural beauty. Therefore, I'm thinking of moving the family to mid-town Manhattan."

or

"Hi! I'm looking for a college town with which takes higher education seriously. I need someplace where I can go from undergraduate work, straight through to my PhD. And that's why I'm moving to Dead Horse, Alaska."



Both of those statements make exactly as much sense as: "I'm looking for the crunchy parts of Las Vegas." That's like asking for an egg-free omelet or the Nevada Unicorn Preserve. While we're at it, lets inquire about the best surfing locations in the city, and our free-range leprechauns.

I have and continue to point out the cost of living in Las Vegas is not low. It is just about average. It is low in comparison to some big cities...but natlional it is right on the average.

And parts of LV are compatible with the purported life style. He has even found some of the suitable places. Sure he could go to Sedona...or Bisbee or others. All he needs is independent wealth or a remoteable career. And I suspect both of those places are ill suited to the "crunchy". They apeal to an older generation.