[Sarajane10]

I'm moving to Las Vegas, I'm house hunting.. what are the better parts of town??? Also, what tax do residents of Las Vegas NOT have to pay?? I thought I heard a rumor about that???

Thanks
Sara Jane

[Las Vegan Cajun]

Originally Posted by Sarajane10

Also, what tax do residents of Las Vegas NOT have to pay?? I thought I heard a rumor about that???

Thanks
Sara Jane

Residents of Nevada doesn't pay any state income tax. We still have sales tax, property tax, gas tax etc.

[olecapt]

Stay away from the strip around 3 or 4 miles and it is all pretty good. Outside of the 215 Beltway is also a good first approach. Buzz names are Summerlin and Green Valley both of which are nice but so is the NW and Mountain Edge and Southern Highlands and Anthem and Seven Hills and Aliante and Centennial Hills...and...well you get the idea. The place is loaded with reasonably nice places to live.

And we do pay property tax but they are very light.

[Buzz123]

There is also no inheritance or corporate tax. Olecapt is right about those areas he/she mentioned. Keep in mind that Henderson (Green Valley) is usually at least 5 degrees hotter in summer and colder in winter. That 5 degrees hotter is a huge difference when the official high is 110 -115. It's colder in winter because cold air is heavier and settles in the lower areas. The explanation I had for why that doesn't work the same in summer is so complex I couldn't understand it. The northwest part of town is higher elevation and closer to the mountains so it's usually a little cooler in summer. I don't know if it's ok to say this, but I my home in the northwest part of town is for sale. It's a Pueblo Revival (Santa Fe style) home. We live in a small (31 homes) HOA. It's one of the nicest communities in town and close to Desert Shores with their finger lakes, and Sun City Summerlin. Lots of parks, shopping, schools, and other amenities in the area. Here's a look at my house which will give you an idea of how a lot of new homes in Las Vegas look. http://www.erealtyweb.net/tours/slid...l9=T&still10=T

[gulfer]

Buzz...you have a nice place there. What is the asking price, if you don't me asking?
I too am moving to Las Vegas as I will be retiring from the Military (currently unsure of when), but I feel I will live in one of the following areas; Northwest, north (Centennial Hills area) or even the southwest area. Nice homes that are less then 300K. Only problem I see with new homes in this price range (250K-300K) is you don't get much of a yard.

[Buzz123]

Gulfer, in that price range you don't get much of a house either. The main reason that we are selling is to move to Albuquerque where we can scale down our mortgage payments. The median price for a home in Las Vegas just dropped from $320,000 to about $302,000, but look for prices to start going up again as soon as demand takes up the present inventory. If we could find a decent house in a decent neighborhood in your price range we would stay here, but there aren't any except for shoebox sized homes. We don't have a big back yard because I don't want to take care of one. The city doesn't want you to grow grass anymore due to some imagined future water shortgage that we may or may not have to contend with. New homes are required to go with desert landscaping (basically rocks and cactus). A little patch of grass is allowed. Being in the desert we really shouldn't be planting non-native species anyway. Allergy problems here are the second worst in the country behind Phoenix, thanks to the dry desert air, natural dust, and pollen from trees that were never meant to grow here. The sale and planting of Fruitless Mulberry and European Olive trees has been outlawed. Anyway, to answer your question, our house is 2487 sq. ft. and we are asking $549,900.

[RedWingsFan]

There are always better parts of town. But what people feel is better is subjective. Personally I think Green Valley is the best and then Summerlin is a close second (although the schools are better in Green Valley).

When it comes to taxes, even though you don't pay state income tax you will make it up through other fees. They still get the money, they just don't call it state income tax. You will pay it through things like MUCH higher car registration rates... (which by the way was more than double that of Michigan or Florida - and Florida also has no state income tax).

[olecapt]

The beauty of a neighborhood lies in the eyes of the beholder. However on any objective measure Green Valley is merely one of many nice communities. The schools of GV are, if anything, mildly inferior to those of Summerlin. While GV has the single best school it also has several in the middle of the pack. Summerlin schools are all in the top 10%.

Taxes on balance in Nevada are low. Overall tax burden is 38th among the 50 states.

[dasmits]

WOW Buzz, I'm shocked that your home asking price is so high! not that it's not a beautiful home and all (it certainly is!!) but that sounds close to Cali pricing. I'm new to the forum and my wife and I are debating between northern cali and Vegas. we are up in the air. we saw 2500 sq ft new homes in Vegas online last night from Centex that were in the $350,000 to $420,000 range. similar sized homes in Lincoln Sacramento were in excess of $550,000.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by dasmits

WOW Buzz, I'm shocked that your home asking price is so high! not that it's not a beautiful home and all (it certainly is!!) but that sounds close to Cali pricing. I'm new to the forum and my wife and I are debating between northern cali and Vegas. we are up in the air. we saw 2500 sq ft new homes in Vegas online last night from Centex that were in the $350,000 to $420,000 range. similar sized homes in Lincoln Sacramento were in excess of $550,000.

Buzz house is in a gated specialty neighborhood all heavy southwestern. If you like it you pay for it though I think Buzz ins pretty high on what the market will bear. The big problem is that there are only a few houses in the tract and there are very few recent sales.

Buzz's house would be close to a million dollars in a comparabe So Cal neighborhood.

There are however lots of areas right near Buzz where you can get 2000 SF for $350K or so.