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We are a couple in our 30s relocating to Las Vegas Area from Western Europe this year.
We will rent first and after we are settled, we look to buy.
We will not need a job as we have running businesses back in Europe. Therefore, location just need to be great to live. We look to buy a home around $1M and could rent an apartment up to $5k/months without problem. Money isn`t really a problem.
The issue is - where should we go. We spend some months in Summerlin and loved it.
However, we recently learned about the gang violence of North Vegas, and Summerlin is quite close to it, making us think that Handerson might be the better options?
We plan of having kids, want a nice house with a big yard and large pool, and a very safe and upper scale area. Any recommendations?
Also, I did not realize when I spent my time in Vegas, that it has such a big crime problem. I read it is one of the nationally leading major cities in major crimes. We got a bit scared now. Is it really so bad?
We are a couple in our 30s relocating to Las Vegas Area from Western Europe this year.
We will rent first and after we are settled, we look to buy.
We will not need a job as we have running businesses back in Europe. Therefore, location just need to be great to live. We look to buy a home around $1M and could rent an apartment up to $5k/months without problem. Money isn`t really a problem.
The issue is - where should we go. We spend some months in Summerlin and loved it.
However, we recently learned about the gang violence of North Vegas, and Summerlin is quite close to it, making us think that Handerson might be the better options?
We plan of having kids, want a nice house with a big yard and large pool, and a very safe and upper scale area. Any recommendations?
Also, I did not realize when I spent my time in Vegas, that it has such a big crime problem. I read it is one of the nationally leading major cities in major crimes. We got a bit scared now. Is it really so bad?
Ignore all that. The gang stuff is all toward the city center. In general the makeup of the west side and south side is similar. There are virtually identical tracts in each area.
In fact Henderson butts against worse areas than does Summerlin but it is miles from the nice areas. And Summerlin is no where near the bad part of NLV. At least a 15 minute drive.
There are also large estates in various areas that are in and below the 1 million level if you want some separation from neighbors.
As to overall crime level the valley is in the middle third of US cities of above 100,000. Henderson in fact is in the ten safest big cities of more than 100,000 in the US. Summerlin is similar but hard to get the numbers as it is within the large Las Vegas Metro Police numbers which covers most of the valley. There are about 300 US cities with 100,000 or more population.
So just decide where you would like to be. You will find that the well off in the US virtually always live in pretty safe neighborhoods. Your price range will provide that.
Las Vegas: Violent Crimes: 920/100k, Murder 8/100.000
The violent crimes are more than Chicago which is known as war zone, and the murder rate is almost 3 times that of New York. I checked some 2017 reportage that quotes the Metro Police saying that the gang activity is going out of control and Las Vegas, and that it is spreading all over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07KY8yS3VKA
So my question is, how does it work, that gangs would do robberies in bad neighborhoods but not take a 15 min drive to the good places where they potentially can get more profit from a crime when working on richer parts of the city.
In my mind, as long as those gangs are there, they would come and take action all over the valley or am I am missing something here?
We love the valley so much but got really scared with all that bad statistics.
I don't know about crime stats, but Las Vegas is a very large city and most of the real crime is concentrated in a small part of it.
Can you get burgled anywhere in the city? Yes. Can you be murdered anywhere in the city? Yes. What are the chances of either? Burglaries happen every day, but in your income level, you will most likely be buying in a subdivision that is behind walls with a guard station that records everyone who arrives and leaves. Chance of being murdered? Unless you are involved with illegal drugs is so small, it's not worth worrying about.
Think about it a minute. We here in the U.S. hear about a terrorist event in London. What's the actual chance in being involved? Not much, but if you listen to the news, everyone in London is terrified of leaving their homes. Same in Paris or Rome, what is the chance of being the victim of a pickpocket? According to some forums, you shouldn't leave your hotel room with any cash on you at all. Mexico, can you be kidnapped by drug lords? I've been to Mexico close to a dozen times, I've never even seen a drug lord. Of course, I stay out of the bad areas.
The same goes for Las Vegas. Once you get to the city, you will identify the bad areas that you need to either stay out of or only visit during the day. MOST of the city you will not need to worry about any more than you would anywhere else.
Las Vegas: Violent Crimes: 920/100k, Murder 8/100.000
The violent crimes are more than Chicago which is known as war zone, and the murder rate is almost 3 times that of New York. I checked some 2017 reportage that quotes the Metro Police saying that the gang activity is going out of control and Las Vegas, and that it is spreading all over: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07KY8yS3VKA
So my question is, how does it work, that gangs would do robberies in bad neighborhoods but not take a 15 min drive to the good places where they potentially can get more profit from a crime when working on richer parts of the city.
In my mind, as long as those gangs are there, they would come and take action all over the valley or am I am missing something here?
We love the valley so much but got really scared with all that bad statistics.
Take the wikipedia rack up. Bug the column header for violent crime. Get it least to highest. Notice who is in fourth placed? Henderson NV - Violent crime is 168.5 per 100,000 and the murder rate is 1.4 per 100,000. That is quite good and 15 minutes from the strip..
It is likely that Summerlin is better than that as it does not have the mildly rougher areas of a part of Henderson. However you can't tease Summerliin numbers out of the Metro Las Vegas numbers.
The actual zip code crime rates vary by more than 1000:1. And neighborhood rates vary two or three times more than that. So you can go from virtually no crime to horrific within the valley.
Also note that NYC is a special case. They have a huge police presence and a very high density that discourages crime. The rest of the US is still trying to understand how NYC does it though.
Much of the home invasion and stuff is drug dealers and such. It is rare though not impossible to have a home invasion in good LV but those are almost invariably inside jobs. My favorite is still the Jan Jones burglary. Jones is a Casino big wig and an ex Mayor. Her house got hit and a large safe built into the second floor of the home and loaded with valuable stuff like jewelry and bearer bonds was successfully stolen. Think about that...they actually were equipped and able to move a safe weighing over a ton from a second story and haul it away. And no one has ever been charged. Can you see an inside job here?
Ignore the gang stuff. The gang action is actually promoted by Metro driving for bigger police budgets. That video is pure propaganda. There is some of course but relatively low level compared to say LA or any of the rust belt cities.
So stick to the good areas of LV and avoid friends with bad connections and it will come out fine.
Thanks for the great feedback. We spend already almost half a year in Summerlin (Desert Shores) and we loved it. So we decided to move over. However, the latest news of increasing crime and gang activity scared us off a bit. Nevertheless, being ensured by people actually living in Vegas is very valuable for us as this information is surely more accurate than just statistics. Can someone tell me where the really bad areas to avoid are? The downtown area seems ok recently with the Fremont experience attracting many visitors. I felt that the starting part of Leak Mead Blvd. looked a bit scary when driving there.
What guarantees will landloards want from someone coming new to the US? Obviously, there will be no Credit Score established in the beginning. I could pre-pay the rent for a longer period or provide a bigger deposit, or is there something else landloards may ask?
You can easily see for yourself what crimes are being committed where on crimemapping dot com. Just put in an address, say of a house you like that's listed for sale or rent or even a restaurant in the area you want to check out.
Look for houses for sale and rent in the MLS, not craigslist where all the scams are. MLS stands for Multiple Listing Service and all the real estate professionals use it. You should be browsing the sites anyway to see what's available. The major sites are Trulia (which shows crime in the area of the specific home you're looking at on the listing), Redfin, Zillow, Realtor dot com, and there are others but start with these.
Now, for my personal experience living in Summerlin the past 4 years. Yes, crime is up. There are burglaries, stolen cars, malicious destruction of property all over Summerlin. I have subscribed to crimemapping dot com for the entire 4 years so that i know what's going on in my neighborhood. The criminals are coming in to burglarize and steal cars or steal from cars because they think the pickings are good here and our police force is understaffed and working as hard as they can but it is not enough. Many people are getting security systems, motion detector lights, the Ring doorbell (look it up, it's great) and security film or screens for vulnerable windows. Solicitors of any kind are looked at suspiciously as they can be casing the house disguised as offering a product or service.
Summerlin is still pretty low in violent crime. We are starting to see graffiti spray paint on our neighborhood block walls, electrical boxes etc. But it is covered up or removed very quickly. That is what keeps it down because they're not going to keep going back and painting the same area again. We have an app named Nextdoor, which is where neighbors sign up and post all kinds of things about what's going on, get referrals for handymen, insurance people, house cleaners and so on. It's quite active in my area. Lately, there have been quite a few people who have had eggs thrown at their cars. It damages the paint and then they have to spend money to get it fixed or use their insurance which will probably make their rates go up. It is thought that a lot of this type of crime is done by juveniles who are sorely lacking in decent upbringing.
In my subdivision which is a modest one surrounded by much higher priced properties, we have seen a few burglaries, vandalism, a car stolen out of someone's garage that they forgot and left open overnight, mailboxes broken into and our community is gated, but not guard gated. Packages are stolen from doorsteps if left by the front door and no one's home. The higher priced properties have a live person screening everyone who comes in. But even those have crime, just not as much. Criminals have figured out ways to get in to burglarize, looking for guns, jewelry, cash, iphones, prescription medications that have controlled substances in them, small valuable things they can sell or trade for drugs. One law enforcement person told me they can and do enter and exit through the storm drains in the guard gated communities. Of course, the crimes are a great deal less in the higher end properties that must be accessed creatively. They can also jump the block walls. A word of advice: Never get a house that backs up to a golf course. Those get hit all the time.
I hope this helps with your plan to move here. I love it here and came from southern California, Orange County, one of the wealthiest areas in Ca and the US.
Never take anyone's word for something that you can verify for yourself. Use these tips and be informed.
Thank you very much! Would you recommend people to come and live in Summerlin?
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