Definetely Moving to Reno, NV (Sparks, Fernley: sales, real estate, apartment)

[saywhuut]

I thank everyone who contributed to my previous post a while back inquiring about living in Nevada. I'm going to be an ATCer at Reno Airport. I'm wondering if someone in the Sparks/Fernley area can give the clear cut reality of what to expect. I'm moving and bring my wife and 1 yr old child. Its cheaper out in Fernley, but after doing some research the cost of gas at Reno is generally EXPENSIVE! I'm in the Washington DC area on the outskirts and its about
$2.04/gallon for regular. Anyways everywhere I'm reading its saying Reno/Sparks/Fernley is cheaper than where I'm at in the DC area. I want to ask, is this really true, or does it not get cheaper until I'm looking to buy a house? Basically where I'm at in my financial career is the very beginning as I've just graduated from college in May 2006. I'll be starting out around 35K/year at Reno, and it will go up pretty fast as i get more training. What can i expect in terms or costs other than housing..it seems rent is pretty much the same there as what i'm paying now, instead i can get a rental house for around 1K a month rather than a 2 bedroom apartment for 1k a month as what i'm paying here in the DC area. What about groceries/utilities/other expenses? I know there aren't any taxes in NV but will i even notice the "cheapness" of NV or does everything equal itself out with other costs?

Thanks!!

[mikki]

My husband, son, and I are in the process of relocating to Reno from Wisconsin. My husband started work out there on Jan. 8 and from what he says, gas, oil changes, groceries, car insurance etc. are all more expensive than here. Sales tax is very high....7.4% approximately. Here it is about 5%, but our property taxes are obnoxious. Property taxes will be much lower and we will not have state tax deducted from our pay checks, but like everything else in life, it all comes out in the wash. Life is expensive and states will get their money one way or the other! Good luck!

[CHEWY12]

Saywhuut & Mikki
Before you buy a home do plenty of research. A lot of people bought homes out there in the real estate boom and now can't make the payments. Some are already upsidedown on them. Check out any home you think you want to make an offer on through the county tax assessors web site. check out the price per square foot a lot of the smaller homes are very high in square foot price and they are very basic. I have been watching this market for the last 6
months and it is still going through a price correction. I am also moving out there latter this year and am going to rent untill this market settles down.
I have seen homes go from the $180's per square to the low $120's and lower. I my own research of homes that are listed most that were purchased in "04","05" & "06" (Lyon county) were bought at the top of the bubble and these are the sellers that have very little room for price negotiating. For example in Fernley there is a home that is listed for $2000.00 over what the seller paid for it. Not much room there. Just about any thing purchased in
"03" and earlier has plenty of room to negotiate a good deal.
Just don't get stung for someone elses mistake.

Good luck to the both of you.

Chewy12

[saywhuut]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be renting as well. Do you have any reccomendations for searching for rental houses other than the usual webistes like rent.com, etc?


Thanks

[CHEWY12]

Check out rgj.com that is the local paper online from there you can get a good feel of the area.

[saywhuut]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be renting as well. Do you have any reccomendations for searching for rental houses other than the usual webistes like rent.com, etc?


Thanks

[CHEWY12]

Do you know the area you want to live in yet?

[Tressa]

Originally Posted by saywhuut

I thank everyone who contributed to my previous post a while back inquiring about living in Nevada. I'm going to be an ATCer at Reno Airport. I'm wondering if someone in the Sparks/Fernley area can give the clear cut reality of what to expect. I'm moving and bring my wife and 1 yr old child. Its cheaper out in Fernley, but after doing some research the cost of gas at Reno is generally EXPENSIVE! I'm in the Washington DC area on the outskirts and its about
$2.04/gallon for regular. Anyways everywhere I'm reading its saying Reno/Sparks/Fernley is cheaper than where I'm at in the DC area. I want to ask, is this really true, or does it not get cheaper until I'm looking to buy a house? Basically where I'm at in my financial career is the very beginning as I've just graduated from college in May 2006. I'll be starting out around 35K/year at Reno, and it will go up pretty fast as i get more training. What can i expect in terms or costs other than housing..it seems rent is pretty much the same there as what i'm paying now, instead i can get a rental house for around 1K a month rather than a 2 bedroom apartment for 1k a month as what i'm paying here in the DC area. What about groceries/utilities/other expenses? I know there aren't any taxes in NV but will i even notice the "cheapness" of NV or does everything equal itself out with other costs?

Thanks!!

As of this weekend Reno's unlead was at 2.49 a gallon, my husband and are are driving down this spring with our first load and was hoping that gas would be down but guess not, here in Alaska the gas in Anchorage is at 2.11 per gallon. Gasoline out west is much more expensive than where you are located at right now.

[beanblossom]

To be honest, Fernley sucks. There is nothing to do there! The drive can get tediously boring in the best of weather and in the worst of weather, you'll have to stop to put on chains (and later taken them off). If you want your wife and kids to have to deal with daddy coming home all worn out directing air traffic all day AND then dealing with a boring crappy drive, you'll be happy there!

There are soo many deals in the area right now because of all the investor wannabes who are now screwed. Check out craigslist and rentclicks.com

We just moved from the area, so I know.....

[CHEWY12]

Beanblossom

I have a question for you. When you say that Fernley sucks what do you mean by that. Is it because it's a small town with out any big city amenities. Did you feel unsafe living there. Did you have bars on your windows to keep the criminals out. Was "Meth" being sold at the school bus stop. Is the City government corrupt. I'm not being sarcastic I really want to know especially from someone that has lived there. I have not heard from anyone that has lived in Fernley. Please post some more of your experiences of living out there.

Thx
Chewy12