[countrykaren]

Just came back from my doctor. I have chronic pain from arthritis and especially fibromyalgia, so I was told the dry desert heat would be good for me.


We were going to go on a road trip to Fla next month but I guess it will now be the Vegas area, but I haven't been there since 1969.


Can anyone tell me about the quality of life?


How about any water issues? What do average water bills run?


How about electric- what do the average bills run with AC on all the time?


Are there things to do? We don't gamble so that wouldn't interest us.


Are some areas more green and treed than others?


What areas should we look at? Our housing budget is around $200K because we don't want a mortgage. I know that's tight but on real estate web sites I've even seen a few houses in Green Valley Ranch in that price range- not many- but a few. We don't want an HOA. We want a safe, well maintained area.


We need to be need shopping, etc.


Any info is welcome, especially if it's bad. Hubbie and I will have pensions and SS. He'll try to get a PT job to "keep busy". Any issues with job market? It doesn't need to be a fancy job.

[braindead0]

Why Las Vegas? There are plenty of desert areas with dry heat, have you already considered and eliminated them? If so having some reasons you DO want to live in Las Vegas might help with better feedback.

You are also asking several subjective questions that cannot have real factual answers, 'quality of life', 'more green and treed' and 'things to do' for example. You are going to get wildly differing answers and no real facts.

For questions about water/electric bills I would recommend searching this forum for "water bill" and "electric bill". And even then it 's going to vary wildly so really not likely to be useful information unless your circumstances and usage match. However that might give you an idea... any 'average' isn't going to tell you much because the usage patterns vary a lot (some people have lawns, some do not, some use A/C some have evaporative cooling) and will depend on what your specific situation is as far as lawns, type of cooling, size of house, windows and how they face, window coverings, insulation.........the list probably goes on and on.

[countrykaren]

I know my questions are subjective, but I'd still like to hear what ppl have to say.


I also picked Las Vegas because Arizona would tax Hubbies pension and the Reno area gest snow and is colder.

[braindead0]

Originally Posted by countrykaren

I know my questions are subjective, but I'd still like to hear what ppl have to say.


I also picked Las Vegas because Arizona would tax Hubbies pension and the Reno area gest snow and is colder.

Fair enough. However I would suggest not drawing any conclusions regarding water/electric bills, sample size is limited and without specific details the numbers are literally meaningless.

[NLVgal]

Originally Posted by countrykaren

I know my questions are subjective, but I'd still like to hear what ppl have to say.


I also picked Las Vegas because Arizona would tax Hubbies pension and the Reno area gest snow and is colder.

You are asking for an area outside of an HOA that is landscaped ( trees ) and well-maintained. I'm not sure I can think of any in your price range. Why no HOA?

Oh, my average electric bill in summer used to range around $300.

[countrykaren]

Originally Posted by NLVgal

You are asking for an area outside of an HOA that is landscaped ( trees ) and well-maintained. I'm not sure I can think of any in your price range. Why no HOA?

Oh, my average electric bill in summer used to range around $300.

$300/ month!!!! I get upset when I hit $80/ month. (of course there is no AC but we have a 2600sf house that's all electric except for heating- that's oil)

No- we don't want an HOA. To many rules, nosy neighbors looking for something to complain about, and just more money. Read some posts about the HOA gestapo citing homeowners about too many weeds, etc. I have a physical disability- can't always be Johnny on the spot about things like that- can't afford anyone else to do it.


Just wondering if there were any naturally treed areas that were not HOAs- sometimes older neighborhoods have more mature landscaping than newer areas- at least here in NY cities.

[ny2lv]

My husband doesn't complain about his achy joins anymore, like he did in NY.

Our monthly water bill is between $30-40.00 for the 4 of us, a pool and several trees, bushes, no lawn.
Electric is between $70 in the winter and $280 in the summer for a 2 story house AC, pool pump and 3 computers, one of which is running 24/7.

Lots of things to do if you like hiking, biking, several National Parks, shows, conventions.......... Trails are all over the valley many of them connecting. From Silverado Ranch I can bike to the M casino or deep into Henderson via trails.

There is a no HOA community west of Bermuda, north of Pebble Rd. 1/2 acre lots, mix of old and new houses. The new ones are pretty pricey! You really need to drive there, look around yourself, it can go great to bad within 2 blocks.

[johninvegas]

As far as I know, all of Green Valley Ranch is HOA. Same with Summerlin. There are nice areas that don't have HOA communities in your price range but nothing new or next to new, that I know of. Bear in mind that "old" housing areas here are anything built before 1994.

Electricity is high here because during the summer your ac will be on most of the time.

Las Vegas is part of the Mojave Desert--the driest desert in the U.S. So finding housing that is "naturally green and treed" is impossible. All trees and lawn are imported. Fortunately, right now, we have enough water to support lawns and trees, but that might not be the case in the future. Of course, you will run up your water bill if you have a large amount of greenery in your yard.

As for things to do, Las Vegas is like most towns in that there are senior citizen centers that produce a great amount of activities. There are a couple of YMCAs around town that have pools and there are several city pools for water activities. You mentioned you have a physical disability so I won't go into biking and hiking possibilities, of which there are many. For culture, there is the Smith Center and UNLV has a symphony. There is the Las Vegas Little Theatre and the Nevada Ballet Theatre. For popular music, there is anything you could desire here from country to hard rock to oldies shows. Of course the hotels have a large amount of entertainment, but this comes at a price.

As Las Vegas has enlarged to an area of near 2 million residents, shopping and dining have become very good. Shopping runs the gamut from dollar stores to the most expensive in the country. Dining can be from fast food to some of the best restaurants in the world.

Medical facilities are a bit on the limited side for a city our size, but there is a new hospital being built in Henderson and that should help down there. Most people would say we need more and better specialists in town. The entire state is seriously lacking in mental health facilities.

As for "quality of life", well, it's pretty much what you make of it. You'll find many people posting here who hate Las Vegas and say it's the worst place to live in the country. You'll also find many people who wouldn't live anywhere else.

As for crime, we have a huge problem with DUI due to our tourist population, that in turn, drives up the cost of car insurance. I believe our crime rate is above the national average, but mostly it's in certain neighborhoods that you wouldn't want to live in anyway.

[SoHoVe]

Neighborhoods without HOAs even far exceeding your price range will be quite spotty appearance wise with well maintained properties mixed in with properties that are being run into the ground. Many people just don't keep up with their properties the way they tend to in middle class neighboods back East. I think part of it is the transient nature of the city people tend not to do as much upkeep/investment appearance wise if they only plan to stay in a house 2-3 years and pretty much will do nothing if its a rental.

Vegas isn't a bad place to live but it will be a definate change from what you are accustomed to. Overall there is plenty of shopping/dining ect.

[countrykaren]

Thanks everyone for your posts. Keep the info coming.