[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by JonathanLB

I left Portland for Henderson, I love it here. 30+ years of rain was enough for me. We looked at both Summerlin and Henderson, Summerlin was the leader before I ever visited both and we thought for sure we’d end up there. I hated most of what I saw, we chose Henderson... so you never know, definitely look at both. People love them both it’s just personal preference, what fits for you, what feels right for you. There are amazing areas of Summerlin and Henderson, a lot is first impressions (mine was amazing in Henderson, awful in Summerlin, even though my wife says she’s explored much more and knows we just saw the worst of it).

You can live a good quality of life with that income. I run my company remotely (it’s based in LA) and live so well here compared to how it was in LA.

Originally Posted by homerboy

Nice to know you are still enjoying LV. I admit I'm a little envious that you left the PNW for LV.

What is it about Henderson that you like? What is it about Summerlin that you didn't like? We checked out Summerlin before Covid hit; wife and I really like downtown Summerlin and its shops/eateries.

In fact Summerlin and south Henderson are pretty much interchangeable. They span about the same range of costs. And both have out of sight priced homes. We regularly sell homes in both and often have buyers that look at both.

So one looks and picks the house they like regardless of west or south east.

Personally I think lots of people ignore the RNPs (Rural Neighborhood Preserves) which are half acres minimum with no sidewalks or street lights. They are present in the NW, SW and Henderson. Lack the classy boulevards of S. Henderson and Summerlin but have much nicer lots. The wide variation in the homes often turn off people who are in to the two famous areas.

[movin1]

FWIW: I live in Providence for a while (89149, the northwest corner of Vegas) and spent a lot of time in the Summerlin area and liked it a lot. I had to move out of Vegas for a while, when I came back I had to chose between Summerlin and Henderson. I found a house I liked in 89052 (Seven Hills) so I bought it. It's a very nice area, but I miss some things about Summerlin; Boca Park, Tivoli Village, Desert Shores etc. I suggest you look at the Northwest area and Aliante in addition to Summerlin and Henderson.

Sun City Anthem is very nice, the amenities are great. Bottom line for me was the house I bought worked the best for my taste (newer and more modern) and the floor plan worked the best for my needs and furniture. Here is a list I made before house shopping:

1. Modern design, clean lines, good floor plan, no wasted space, fairly new or recently
remodeled, single story.

2. Living room with open wall for 75" TV, home theater, surround audio system-
no fireplace in the middle of the wall!

3. Nice kitchen, stainless appliances, vent hood (not microwave) above cook top that vents to outside

4. Nice master bedroom and master bathroom. King bed with 2 night stands = 14' wide
minimum (my master bedroom furniture is big).

5. Second bedroom for guests

6. Den or 3rd bedroom for home office/guitar room

7. Ballpark 2,000 sq ft. Looking for the nicest house/finish work. Do not want

or need a lot of sq ft to clean and maintain.

8. Small yard, desert landscaping, low maintenance

9. Low or no HOA ($150/month max would be best but can go higher if necessary)

10. $450-500K purchase price

11. Higher elevation if possible, cooler summer temps!

12. Good location anywhere in LasVegas/Henderson area. Close to grocery stores and affordable
restaurants. Don't care about distance to The Strip.

13. 55+ may not be a bad idea but limits options

14. Wall for large modern piece of furniture I own (90" wide)

15. Wall or closet space for wine storage.

16. New construction without long build time, builder closeouts with incentives, added
extras, financing deals etc.

17. Nice mountain views would be great but house and location are priority

18. Access to a pool for the hot summer months would be nice.

19. Henderson zip codes 89012, 89052, 89044.

20. Open to Summerlin, the Northwest or Aliante

[Merrily Gather]

Originally Posted by ADI-AVENTADOR

Is $120,000 salary enough per year in Las Vegas?

More than enough. Welcome to Las Vegas. We moved from Oregon twice to Las Vegas for work just going back and forth over the years since 2014.

[ChrisKLAS]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

Personally I think lots of people ignore the RNPs (Rural Neighborhood Preserves) which are half acres minimum with no sidewalks or street lights. They are present in the NW, SW and Henderson. Lack the classy boulevards of S. Henderson and Summerlin but have much nicer lots. The wide variation in the homes often turn off people who are in to the two famous areas.

I think the RNP, at least in 89149, is finally starting to get its due. Our neighbor who bought exactly two years ago for 650k and is into the house for a total of about 850 including RV garage and pool just went under contract for $1,315,000 (3018sqft, 0.41 acres, ungated). All cash, waived inspection, 30 day close. It blows my mind but I’m not complaining.

[movin1]

House I owned in 89149 sold when new for $439,900 in 2015. I bought it for $599,900 in March 2018. Had to sell it six months later, but got $667,000. Zillow says it's now worth $789K - $880K. 89149 is a very nice area, I liked it a lot for the brief time I lived up there.

[RationalExpectations]

Originally Posted by movin1

15. Wall or closet space for wine storage.

A friend has an interesting 2-story cooled wine storage room that is glass on 3 sides. The scale is a bit difficult to judge, but if you look closely, you'll see him inside the wine room retrieving another bottle (he's over 6'):

[movin1]

Too hard to reach the bottles at the top, lots of wasted space....

[JonathanLB]

Originally Posted by homerboy

Nice to know you are still enjoying LV. I admit I'm a little envious that you left the PNW for LV.

What is it about Henderson that you like? What is it about Summerlin that you didn't like? We checked out Summerlin before Covid hit; wife and I really like downtown Summerlin and its shops/eateries.

It’s entirely a limited sample size, I’m sure of that. First, it didn’t start well because our agent drove us past IKEA and Wal-Mart - there are much nicer ways to enter Summerlin! So I’m passing places I associate with poor income to middle class at best locations, I’ve never seen a Wal-Mart anywhere near the nice area of any city I’ve ever been in. It’s always by the solidly lower middle class area, which is fine... except that then we were shown a million dollar house. The house was SO much worse than it looked in pictures, even though it was brand new, it just seemed like every room was smaller than I had imagined. The pool was about the size of my current hot tub, which was depressing, but I realized it’s because the lot was so small. Then the agent tells us how it’s a great place to raise a family and we’re a childfree couple. The drive itself was insanely long, Summerlin was way further out than I wanted to be. I already changed a lot from when I was single and 27, wanting to live on the Strip, but being 22 miles out or whatever... that was too much for me. The traffic (I still think this) seems way worse on that side of town, whereas we virtually never have traffic here. I’ve driven to the airport at 5:15 pm on a Friday and it took me 14 minutes! Unreal.

Then, it was probably total coincidence, I hated Downtown Summerlin. It seemed completely dead to me, nobody was there that day. I thought it seemed like it had amazing potential but like it was completely lifeless. Versus when we went to The District, it had exactly the vibe I wanted and loved, felt like something out of Southern California. When we drove into Henderson, we drove past Green Valley Ranch and all of the palm trees, everything just looked upscale. See, she could have driven us down Eastern and Eastern doesn’t look that nice even though I love it for all of the restaurants it offers. So that was purely coincidence we enter Summerlin like that and enter Henderson the good way, one exit down. I also really dislike Spring Valley a lot, I think the entire thing I’ve seen looks like garbage, one strip mall after another all looking run down and old, lots of random dirt roads even, the best you could maybe say is it all looks “fine.” It doesn’t look as bad as maybe I pretend, but it sure doesn’t look at all upscale or nice. Since we were seeing a house in “South Summerlin,” it just made me think there is no such thing as South Summerlin it’s more like North Spring Valley. The “view” from that housing lot was of a bunch of sad little boxes with zero yards at all on any of them.

Part of it was just a general vibe, I felt the whole area felt desolate. It just didn’t seem like home. My friend lives in Summerlin and his entire neighborhood is beautiful and green and looks SO nice! But the area we looked at was nothing but brown everywhere, brown hillside, no landscaping, roads, yuck. Our area, you look out the balcony and all you see is green - it truly does make me think Green Valley is well named.

As for Henderson I love how many restaurants we have close, really love our neighborhood and neighbors, the traffic is light, love having my relatives within about 10 minutes of me or less, it’s so close to the airport which is nice too, of course I love the weather, and our house has been awesome but still more improvements to make. It’s a great lifestyle here, I love waking up and seeing the sun, enjoying the outdoors, and it seems like overall the Vegas metro area is pretty calm funny enough. I mean we have the Strip, but we had peaceful protests here last year, not crazy rioting, so that was nice. Nobody I’ve met is overly radical politically which is awesome, people just kind of want to live their lives.

[longviewJoe]

@JonathanLB - Great post. I appreciate your love of Henderson and Vegas in general. We came in so Summerlin focused that we didn't give Henderson a good chance. However, I know several people that live there and absolutely love it... like you. The one caveat to your post is I think your view of Summerlin and relation to the airport or the strip is a bit off. It's really not that far. I just checked on Google maps. Granted, it's Sunday morning so the time is obviously quicker than a weekday, but Downtown Summerlin to McCarran is 16.8 miles and 16 minutes. I also checked DTS to Bellagio (just as a random spot on the strip) and at this hour it is 18.3 miles and 18 minutes. I also checked the Ridges to McCarran - 15.7 miles and 16 minutes. That is right now on Google maps. Not hypothetical. Henderson is definitely closer to the strip and McCarran than Summerlin for sure but I don't think Summerlin is as far out as you think it is. It is really "far" from Henderson to Summerlin (and vice versa) but not so far to the major places people go.

[Mr B Kind]

@JonathanLB..like the poster of above this said to you ..Great post !

I've always had a bit of an interest in Las Vegas and surrounding areas but I never have been there to visit ...nor have I ever been in Nevada...so with that said, thank you for your informative and interesting post.