[lacrosse]

Summerlin might be out of my price range. Remember I will be living on a teachers annuity check each month. I can live with a 30 minute drive to McCarran if I should decide to live in NW area

[UTES]

Sounds to me like the OP has a good plan and is rational in the way he's pursuing it.

Bill

[lacrosse]

I would just ignored the negative people

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by lacrosse

ScoopLV- In November I will be flying out to Vegas, staying at Sunset Station and renting a car. Each day I will be driving around to the surrounding neighborhoods to get a feel for them. I eventually will be renting a house for a year until I know Vegas like the back of my hand in order to make long term decisions. Right now I'm just going on line to see what's available price wise while getting my current house ready to put on the market.

I disagree with this strategy. Get someplace with a kitchen. Go grocery shopping and make some meals at home while watching the local news.

(Unless you plan on eating out three meals a day, every day, it's important to try to make your scouting trip as "real-life" as possible. In which case you may as well just move to someplace directly next door to a casino -- like the area around Green Valley Ranch.)

As for which neighborhood -- who cares? They're all the same. You can drive around all month if you want, and the only thing you'll learn is that most Las Vegas residential areas look like they were whacked with a clone stick.

Unless you go high end or low end, all the houses look like some variation of this:



A palo verde tree, some shrubs, a concrete driveway, and a homogeneous house on a tiny plot of land. This describes the vast majority of Las Vegas houses.

The surrounding area will have a nearby local's casino so you can throw your money away. It will have strip malls with chain stores. And there will be fast food, gas stations and drug stores at nearly every major intersection. So what does it matter what carbon-copy neighborhood you choose?

If Las Vegas appeals to you, all the neighborhoods are going to be uniformly great. And if Las Vegas doesn't, they'll all uniformly suck. Because they are all uniform. There are little pockets of "different" scattered throughout the city. But they're the exception, not the rule.

[vtvette]

Sounds like you have all your ducks in a row! Wife and I moved here from New England 4 years ago and absolutely love it here.

Although Summerlin may be out of your reach be sure to look into The Lakes and Peccole Ranch areas just south of Summerlin. We live in The Lakes and absolutely love it. Housing and association dues in both areas are (many times much) lower than Summerlin. Housing is less expensive. The neighborhoods have mature growth with many trees and grass common areas, walking trails - both very nice neighborhoods. Ideally located close to both Suncoast and Red Rock for your sports bets, and there are many nice dining options, shopping and theaters right in the area.

[vtvette]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Unless you go high end or low end, all the houses look like some variation of this:

This rings true of anywhere in the country, especially anyplace other than very rural areas. Tracts of houses are constructed by builders "tract houses" which makes them affordable to the average person. Everyone can't afford a custom house with custom architecture, or even much of any architecture.

Here's the "average" house where I'm from back east:




Colchester, Vermont
1280 sq ft for sale at $290,000.
Property Tax: $7,000/year

Another right down the street from where I grew up:


780 sq ft built 1954
$220,000
Property Tax: $4,500/year

I'll take the house you posted as the "median average" Vegas home over either of these any day of the week.

[Caltovegas]

Sports Books during football season are great places to watch football. Feel free to stop by Sam's Town on boulder for Monday night football. It's a mature crowd so try to tame it down a bit. For the real football experience it's the Westgate.

[ddrhazy]

Wow, that property tax is ridiculous. And I thought property tax in Cali was bad.

[lacrosse]

I prefer the Westgate especially with the rennovations that they are making. Also, another reason for moving to Vegas is because I enjoy eating with all of the varieties that Vegas offers.

[vtvette]

Originally Posted by ddrhazy

Wow, that property tax is ridiculous. And I thought property tax in Cali was bad.

And it goes up every year. We own a 1100sq ft condo we rent out in Colchester, Vermont. Property tax is $4200/year.