Need Advice on potential move to Reno (Sparks: apartments, neighborhood)

[Ten]

Originally Posted by schizrade

So go.

Consider it done. But that doesn't change my opinion, which you're still free to debate on points.

[LuLu G]

Originally Posted by estevanker

If you own a jacked-up, gas guzzling pick-up, drive like an a-hole, chain smoke, throw your empties out your truck window, think that the Olive Garden is fine dining and want to grossly overpay for a cheaply built McMansion in a "Master Planned" neighborhood... come on out, you'll fit right in.

I think s/he's either moving out of town or wants to dissuade anyone else from moving here. Go read "God Hates Reno" on myspace--it's really funny and plays on the idea that this is one of the most maligned cities in the Western U.S.
It's kind of a secret that Reno/Tahoe has some cool places to live and play and nice people. Oh, I see, estevanker is just unhappy in general and is really set on re-locating, soon, I hope! I suggest Orange County--maybe Irvine, you'd really like it there! Or maybe Hayward? Where, exactly, do you think you will be happy?
Bashing Reno is so cliche; it's been done about a million times from The Misfits to Billy Bob Thornton in "Waking Up in Reno"--did you have a bad love affair or is it just your blood sugar?
To those who can recognize a good thing when they see it...Yes, in general, people are really friendly here, and the colleges are good (even with budget cuts). Tahoe "towns" would be Truckee (CA) and Incline Village, South Shore (NV).
It is changing as it grows, however, and is losing some of the overgrown-cowtown charm it once had. (Replaced with better restaurants, yoga studios, spas, and Whole Foods.)
The cost-of-living to wages ratio is not great right now (gas, food, and housing are high) as the CA housing market spread to NV (even Northern NV) and inflated home prices and rents. However, there is no state income tax and no state inheritance tax.
When you vote, your vote actually counts and the ballots aren't too long.
Most people actually like the weather.
There used to be no crime but that is changing as the Bay Area and SoCal gangs are looking for drug business. Oh, and the police are busy giving you speeding tickets for going 5 over--lame.
(As for Albuquerque? My best friend was harassed constantly for being white, not cool.)
(Of course there are also a==holes here like anywhere else. We keep hoping they will leave town, though.)

[LuLu G]

Originally Posted by Ten

I spent a lifetime in Reno one decade...

I'll never be back.

Look, Reno is an outpost town. Reno is that place you go to when other stuff failed......
I was in Tampa recently, poster. I'd take the sea, the maritime life, the food, the greenery and trees, the wildlife, and the sheer gracious tone of the Florida gulf side in a heartbeat over Reno. In my view, Reno is a place to say you're from, not a place you're going to, not if you have another choice.

Wow, it's good you left or you would have been another suicide statistic...
Reading it, I'm so depressed--maybe I'll move to Fresno.
Don't you think a lot of towns (esp. in the west) are that way? Definitely if you like the sea and green, this would be awful.
What Nirvana do you inhabit now, Ten? Is it all you hoped for?

[Ten]

Originally Posted by LuLu G

Wow, it's good you left or you would have been another suicide statistic...
Reading it, I'm so depressed--maybe I'll move to Fresno.
Don't you think a lot of towns (esp. in the west) are that way? Definitely if you like the sea and green, this would be awful.
What Nirvana do you inhabit now, Ten? Is it all you hoped for?

With snark like that, I"m not sure you really expect a open dialog. I simply reported on 12 years of living experience in Reno, and having had that experience, I'm moving. That's objective, that's experienced...and in fact, that's not unlike some of the post you wrote above the one I excerpted, where you, approved to write about the place whereas I am may not, explain how odd and disadvantaged it can be.

But, you know, if you know where to look you can avoid all the characteristic dysfunction that makes Reno, you know, the consistent butt of so many cultural stereotypes, from film to literature, from local anecdote to regional reputation. Well I get that, Lulu, but that goes for every town in the country. The point is that if you could live in any town in the country, why choose here? What are the objective points that pull Reno out from a list of possible destinations? What are its true selling points?

Frankly, I can't enumerate them.

Look, I've met some of the most wonderful folks here I have anywhere. That speaks to the universal human spirit, where even in the midst of a town proudly dedicated to maintaining it's gaudy image as a low-rent Vegas, you can and will find the occasional gem. Of course I have -- that speaks to individual people, not cities.

Are there worse places? Of course there are; check any urban slum or any featureless wasteland. Check any number of destinations you may yourself personally find inferior to the Biggest Little City. I'm just being objective about a trashy little outpost burg with massive problems in education, law, social fabric, cultural charm, costs of living, workplace choices, nature, and most of the major factors folks usually look at when relocating.

So, why you'd choose Reno to add to your list if you can live anywhere is a mystery -- myself, I cannot riddle that question. In those factors, probably it's in the lowest twenty percent of cities of comparable size across the nation. That's not a personal criticism, that's just an objective ranking of such factors as I've experienced them myself, and I've spent time in nearly every major city in the country and 45 of the 50 states.

Nothing personal, just an honest answer to a open question.

[LuLu G]

It was not meant to be snarky (a la Lewis Caroll), I really was getting depressed. Since you've spent time in 45 of the 50 states, which would you choose?
Me? Well, I found a position after university and fell and love--the usual things. I'm ready to go in about two years.
He got a position here (in medicine, there are lots of sick people here) and came out from Michigan. His choices were: New Orleans, Tucson, stay in Michigan, Sacramento.
L.A., where I went to school, is not the greatest place either, for so many reasons. My parents live in way NorCal, and their house and my sister's are literally decomposing from black mold...

I just read Julia Reed's "The House on First Street" about her meeting the guy she finally marries (at 45) and fixing up her "dream" home (with an inept group of "renovators")--then Katrina hits. She's a Southerner, so even humidity, corruption, and bodies in the street don't phase her...as the song goes "Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?" What songs will they write about here?
Oh, there's Jonathan Richman's "Reno, Honey, Reno," again, about what a crap place this is.
On the other hand, I was just in Laguna Beach and a SWARM/HERD of huge cockroaches crawled across my path during a post dinner stroll in the village. That was followed by a huge rat...
And horrid shacks there cost 1.5 million bucks.
Sometimes the only "selling point" of a place is that it's not as bad as someplace else.
And it's so embarassing for most of us that we say "Tahoe," as it has more cachet.
That's it; I'm moving. Send my stuff to my new address--Main Street, Disneyland, USA.

You succinctly write: "...a trashy little outpost burg with massive problems in education, law, social fabric, cultural charm, costs of living, workplace choices, nature, and most of the major factors folks usually look at when relocating"--wow, sounds like what they said about L.A. in the 60s--or maybe an excerpt from Samuel Pepys' diary about London in 1666. Real life just doesn't compare to the dream, does it?

[IcEWoLF]

Greetings everyone,
I feel like I should contribute to this thread since I live in Reno, and I been here for 8+ years now.

First of all, Reno is a great place to raise your kids, the crime is low, there aren't many crazy drive by shootings around here (I heard only 4-5 shooting stories that made it to the news paper in the last 8 years) So It is safe to say this is not a jacked up place, this is a great place to raise your kids.
Montello use to be a bad place, however they took down Pepe's and La Gloria Mini Mart (1 of them was my grandfathers store) they went ahead and destroyed those stores and put a police station.
If you have kids, might want to move to the 89502 - code, Double Diamond, Damonte Ranch is where you want to buy a home, they are brand new, the place was build about 4-5 years ago, I went to Damonte Ranch High School.
An excellent school would be Pine Middle School and for High School, Damonte Ranch.
Damonte Ranch has money, its not a broke **** school, its brand new, barely ever any fights, and very nice community all around. Search on google.com and Search Damonte Ranch High School.

Reno has jobs, but really, you need some kinda experience, otherwise you will have to work at Casino's, their pay suck.

I am a banking CSR, I don't work in a bank, I do customer service, there are many private companies that hire and pay more than average, you just have to have a good background and experience.

Overall Reno can be ranked in my book 8/10 Safe Place to live.
Violence/Gangs = -1/10 (Cops got this place under control)
Overall Look of Reno = Anything in Double Diamond and Damonte Ranch = great looking, since its a new area.

If you are an investor, you should buy a home in DD or DR, prices are low, new buildings too, you won't be disappointed, possibly the most safest place in the WEST COAST. I am sure when the market goes backup the value of the homes will go back up.


I love Reno, I just can't imagine myself living in a big city, I feel safe here, I feel good about myself that if I ever have kids, this is a good place to raise them and they can stay out until 3AM in the morning without us having to worry about them, because here its very safe.

People are friendly here, I don't come across rude people very often.
The community is great, we don't have many run down places around here. (So no Ghetto other than some parts close to downtown)

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions about Reno.

Sorry I suck at making posts, hopefully this helps, and sorry about the huge wall of text.

[Synopsis]

I lived in Reno from 86 to 88 and loved it. Absolutely gorgeous weather, especially in the summer when you get temps in the low 90s (with LOW humidity) during the day and can wear a jacket out at night. I love that kind of weather.

[moonwolf6397]

I have lived here my whole life (minus some college stuff) and my only deal is jobs and our school district. I couldnt wait to get home when I did go to college elsewhere.

[Alicia64]

I was lucky enough to live in Reno as a child -- from 8 to 11 and have wonderful memories. I'll never forget my mom crying as we drove down our street for the last time. My dad had been transferred to the Bay Area and we had to go.

Tahoe is only 40 mins. away. I wasn't wild about skiing, but if you love the lake in the summer -- and I did -- you can spend every weekend playing. Check out Sand Harbor, my favorite.

The people were nice and homey -- snobs didn't seem to exist. I didn't really know what a snob was until I moved to the Bay Area. Ugh.

Anyway, a nice place. And clean air. I visited a cousin last Winter and the smell of new snow is so beautiful.

[MtnBikeNV]

We moved here a couple of months ago. We love it. My boyfriend grew up here, and he'd take me here on a lot of little trips. We are active cyclists, mtn bikers and I run, so it's perfect.. we canoe a lot over at Boca and Stampede, and the winter up in tahoe is great for winter sports.. we love to snowshoe.

We live about a mile from downtown. The people have been friendly. Every single city WILL have crime.. I see the whining in posts on here sometimes, but oh please, it's everywhere.

We've had no issue finding jobs. I turned down a couple before I settled on what I wanted.

So far, that's been our experience with Reno.