[leothelion]

My wife and I are planning to leave the foggy bay area and purchase a home in Summerlin. Are there villages in Summerlin that are better than the other? Are there some houses with strip/city views or mountain views? Any advice would be great. Thanks in advance!

Leo

[olecapt]

Generally the various villages are heterogeneous. You see a mix from perhaps 300k to Million plus. In general the views are better in the western villagesof the northern half...they are higher. The Canyons and Red Rock Country Club are rich in golf course lots and views. In general the great views go with big prices. Places like the Vineyard or Country Rose have great views.

Some of the better views around are in Sun City if you happen to be past 55.

Much of the current new build is on the flats along Charleston...Pretty tight and views will likely be of mountain not strip.

[BobKovacs]

If you want a decent size lot, you may want to stick with some of the older villages. The lot sizes have been shrinking over time as land has gotten more expensive. I built homes in Palisades for Christopher Homes and Aventura for Avante Homes- both very nice subdivisions. Aventura also has a clubhouse and a community pool, which are rarities in the Summerlin single-family communities.

Some of the homes in both of those subdivisions had some really nice views, but like Olecapt said, the furhter west you are the better you're chances of getting a view.

Bob

[dude66]

Originally Posted by BobKovacs

If you want a decent size lot, you may want to stick with some of the older villages. The lot sizes have been shrinking over time as land has gotten more expensive.

It's sad, I've noticed this happening everywhere. There was a time when a new house came with a backyard, now you're lucky if you get a porch that smacks up against your neighbor. I'm certain that when I do finally buy a home, it's going to be pre-1985 or so. Gotta have a *real* yard for my dog!

I also think older homes were just built better, not so flimsy, and had more character. Everything is one giant monolithic tract these days that looks like every other tract.

[lvkewlkid]

Older homes were built better, you can't hear freeway noise in them, like you can in newer homes.

[olecapt]

Pass the grain of salt. There has been little change in home construction since the 70s...2x4, styrofoam, stucco. Premium builders go to 2x6s and thicker stucco. Batts or blown insulation.

Newer homes have better windows and better roof/attic treatments. For the same square footage a current home will run half the cooling/heating cost of a pre-1985 home.

Lots are clearly smaller though that trend started a long time ago. Desert Shores has lots of very nice homes on minimal lots. Early Summerlin was a little more spacious but not a lot. Later Summerlin is very tight. Some of the 70s and earlier tracts have quite large lots. But it tightened by the mid 80s.

[BobKovacs]

As Olecapt said, the newer homes are far more energy efficient, and the better glass and insulation that create that efficiency also help with sound. I don't know where you'd get the idea that freeway noise is harder to hear in an older home- that just defies logic.

And while new construction has it's share of issues with construction defects (though Vegas seems to have tightened up somewhat since all the lawyers came to town from CA in the late 90's), older homes had their own problems, trust me. My MIL lives in a 70's ranch near Eastern and Trop, and some of the construction in there is abominable- no vapor barrier, single-pane windows, no attic insulation, particleboard siding that is swelled and failing, and a host of other problems.

The say "they don't build 'em like they used to". I say "Thank God for that".....

Bob

[leothelion]

Wow. Thanks for all the insightful advice. I was on the Summerlin site and checked out the area using Google maps with the satellite. I noticed that only about 1/4 of the houses have private pools. I think a pool would be a definite thing we would want.

Is there a website where I can find Vegas divided by neighborhoods? I've been reading the forums and people always talk about neighborhoods but I cant seem to find a map or website that shows it all. I'm definitely interested in the NW W area. Thanks everyone for their help!

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by leothelion

Wow. Thanks for all the insightful advice. I was on the Summerlin site and checked out the area using Google maps with the satellite. I noticed that only about 1/4 of the houses have private pools. I think a pool would be a definite thing we would want.

Pools were a lot more common in some of the older Summerlin subdivisions, especially in the higher price ranges. I managed Sylvan Pools builder program prior to building homes, and in one 63-lot subdivision (Taos Estates) we built 61 pools. You can find it on Google Earth by looking for Taos Paseo Drive, and you'll see a pool in every yard.

Over time, the yards have gotten smaller, and as the houses have gotten farther west (higher up the mountain), the ground has gotten incredibly hard. It's not uncommon to pay an extra $4-5,000 to have caliche or even granite hammered out of the pool excavation.

If you're buying a resale home, you can usually get the pool for around 1/2 of what it's worth if you were putting it in yourself (tell the agent you view the pool as a liability, and will likely have it filled in once you move in.....lol). You'll also avoid having your side yard (for access) and rear yard torn to shreds for a few months, and avoid having to restore your landscaping, repair the block side wall, etc. A lot of the homes have such narrow side yards that it costs a fortune to dig a pool after the walls are up because you have to bring in a very small Bobcat to do the digging. This only makes the hard soil issue worse, because the small machines can't break it out as easily.

Bob

[olecapt]

Depends on price point. Above 450K pools predominate. Above 600K probably 80% However below 300K they are rare...though not non-exostant. Showed somebody a 200K fixer upper about a year ago. The only thing that was nice was the pool.

www.donohueteam.com has an our neighborhood section that shows a lot of what you ask. It is a work in process though so it ain't perfect. Let's you see some of the NW.

I personally would not live in Las Vegas without a pool. I use it every day from May through October. In our part of the world everything is a half acre or more. But prices start around 500K and go to 3 times that. Focus google world on Lone Mountain and Fort Apache.