Phoenix vs Vegas: Looking to move and looking for insight (Scottsdale: HOA fees, crime)
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Hello everyone. I am going to be posting this in both the Phoenix and Las Vegas sections, to get perspective from both.
As the title says, my wife and myself are looking to move, and we are trying to figure out where we want to go. We have narrowed it down to Las Vegas and Phoenix, and I would love some perspective from folks who live(d) in either (or both) cities.
First, a little about us. We are a married couple in (42 and 36), and we are currently living in Tampa, FL. We have an 18 yo daughter who might be moving with us, or might be doing her own thing (travel, college, visiting family for a few years, etc). Before Tampa we lived in Manhattan for almost 10 years, but moved to Tampa to get more space, and a better environment for our daughter. Now we are on the verge of empty nesting, and looking to spend a little more money on a nicer place for my wife and me. Main reasons we are moving are we want to escape the humidity and mosquitos. We really like mountains, and Florida is very flat. And lastly, we want some modern architecture options, and there really aren't many modern homes in Tampa.
Likes: The city (we miss Manhattan), lot's of food options, walkability, mountains, trails and hiking, shopping, younger crowd (by younger I mean 25-35, we tend to gravitate towards young couples for friends, as opposed to couples older than us), being close to the airport, a fun date night, mountain views, and modern architecture.
Dislikes: Unsafe, sketchy, or "up and coming" neighborhoods, no eating options after 9pm because everything is closed, partying hard (grew out of that), political rhetoric (this seems like a weird one, but the constant barrage of rhetoric that we endured in NYC was exhausting).
While I say that we miss Manhattan, we also really like the idea of owning our own home, having a backyard, pool, etc. So what we really want is to be relatively close to some nice walkable areas or town centers where we can take a stroll, grab a coffee, etc. We don't need to (or even want to) live in downtown, but we want to have some options a short drive away. Hope that makes sense.
Income: $325k
House Budget: $600k - $1.1M
Preferred House Design: Modern
I would of course love to be on the lower end of that budget.
On paper, Las Vegas seems to check a lot of the boxes, and I am definitely more familiar with LV than I am Phoenix. The good things that I know about LV are that it has a vibrant night life, there are lots of food options, and it has some nice neighborhoods out in Summerlin. The bad things are that it has it's share of crime and safety issues (I am assuming this means that it also has it's share of bad neighborhoods), and it appears to be getting expensive. We can get a nice house in our budget, but I wonder if we can get a nicer house in Phoenix for the money?
Since I am less familiar with Phoenix I am hoping someone can offer some insight and counter-points.
Hello everyone. I am going to be posting this in both the Phoenix and Las Vegas sections, to get perspective from both.
As the title says, my wife and myself are looking to move, and we are trying to figure out where we want to go. We have narrowed it down to Las Vegas and Phoenix, and I would love some perspective from folks who live(d) in either (or both) cities.
First, a little about us. We are a married couple in (42 and 36), and we are currently living in Tampa, FL. We have an 18 yo daughter who might be moving with us, or might be doing her own thing (travel, college, visiting family for a few years, etc). Before Tampa we lived in Manhattan for almost 10 years, but moved to Tampa to get more space, and a better environment for our daughter. Now we are on the verge of empty nesting, and looking to spend a little more money on a nicer place for my wife and me. Main reasons we are moving are we want to escape the humidity and mosquitos. We really like mountains, and Florida is very flat. And lastly, we want some modern architecture options, and there really aren't many modern homes in Tampa.
Likes: The city (we miss Manhattan), lot's of food options, walkability, mountains, trails and hiking, shopping, younger crowd (by younger I mean 25-35, we tend to gravitate towards young couples for friends, as opposed to couples older than us), being close to the airport, a fun date night, mountain views, and modern architecture.
Dislikes: Unsafe, sketchy, or "up and coming" neighborhoods, no eating options after 9pm because everything is closed, partying hard (grew out of that), political rhetoric (this seems like a weird one, but the constant barrage of rhetoric that we endured in NYC was exhausting).
While I say that we miss Manhattan, we also really like the idea of owning our own home, having a backyard, pool, etc. So what we really want is to be relatively close to some nice walkable areas or town centers where we can take a stroll, grab a coffee, etc. We don't need to (or even want to) live in downtown, but we want to have some options a short drive away. Hope that makes sense.
Income: $325k
House Budget: $600k - $1.1M
Preferred House Design: Modern
I would of course love to be on the lower end of that budget.
On paper, Las Vegas seems to check a lot of the boxes, and I am definitely more familiar with LV than I am Phoenix. The good things that I know about LV are that it has a vibrant night life, there are lots of food options, and it has some nice neighborhoods out in Summerlin. The bad things are that it has it's share of crime and safety issues (I am assuming this means that it also has it's share of bad neighborhoods), and it appears to be getting expensive. We can get a nice house in our budget, but I wonder if we can get a nicer house in Phoenix for the money?
Since I am less familiar with Phoenix I am hoping someone can offer some insight and counter-points.
Thanks in advance!
Phoenix is bigger and greener and has a more varied econemy.
Phoenix is like Vegas with softer edges, also for your budget and income I think the nicer parts of Phoenix blow Vegas out of the water in amenities and quality
I have lived in both cities. Las Vegas for 1 year, and Phoenix area for 8.
Personally, I prefer Phoenix to Las Vegas. The Phoenix metro area feels like a MUCH better planned area, in all aspects, than Vegas. In Las Vegas, communities and commercial areas seem like they were thrown together without any real planning (exception in Vegas would be the strip and Summerlin.). Phoenix feels like a much more complete city. Your income is good, and maybe Summerlin would be a good fit for you, but you'd definitely be getting more bang for your buck in the Phoenix area.
Vegas Pros:
1. The strip. Even when I lived there, my wife and I would go to the strip once a week for dinner/lunch or a show, or to take visitors.
2. Mount Charleston. This mountain is twice as big as the mountains in the Phoenix area. Cool camping sites and snow capped in the winter, so added scenery as well. Also skiing opportunity. This area is only a 30 minute drive from the northwest Las Vegas area.
3. No state income taxes. More money = good.
4. Awesome hockey team and great hockey following if you're into hockey.
Vegas Cons:
1. More transient than Phoenix. People move there and away all the time.
2. More crime. Crazy **** goes down in Vegas. Real crazy.
3. Very poor healthcare. Most hospitals are terrible here. The only hospital I would ever go to here is in Henderson (Dignity Health).
4. Housing costs are climbing at record pace. Blame Californians buying houses for cash after fleeing their state. If you live in Summerlin, you could be paying over $400/mo just in HOA fees, FYI.
Phoenix Pros:
1. More amenities. Zoo, aquarium, more professional sports, spring training baseball.
2. Much more relaxing drive to the Pacific Ocean. Driving to California and back from Vegas can be very frustration. There is a never ending stream of cars and slowdowns a LOT of the time.
3. Cleaner, better freeways, more variety in places to live. Much more nice places to live in Phoenix metro.
4. Warmer winter, by 10 degrees on average.
Phoenix Cons:
1. Not as many nightlife / 24 hour entertainment options.
2. A longer summer and slightly hotter.
3. State income tax.
I live in Phoenix, and am biased to Phoenix, however, as an investment which your home would be I believe Phoenix is the safer investment.
Over the past few years we have had an influx of higher paying jobs enter our market.
We aren't just tourism based like Las Vegas is.
I am guessing overall our schools are better (even though they are ranked lower in the country).
Crime is common in many areas but there are some areas in Phoenix in any part of your budget that I believe what you are looking for can be obtained. Vegas is Vegas and has a lot of nightlife but parts of Phoenix have some very hip/modern spots with very trendy restaurants and good walkability.
I was planning to move to Las Vegas before I moved to Phoenix. What made the final decision for me was the job market (not great in Las Vegas) and the fact that LV is colder in the winter. I visit LV as often as I can consider it a second home. It's a quick 45 minute flight or 4-5 hour drive away.
LV is definitely a 24 hour town. I've had issues finding dinner after 9pm in Phoenix! But both cities have a lot of great dining options.
As far as mountain views, I'd say in Phoenix check out North Scottsdale or the Cave Creek area. You won't find mountain views in the southeast suburbs like Chandler as someone suggested.
LV does have My Charleston which is about 40 miles outside the city, the closest higher elevation to Phoenix is Flagstaff.
I love Las Vegas and may still move there one day but I'd say for your list of wants I'd settle on Phoenix and visit Las Vegas often.
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PHX is better for jobs, etc, but Vegas for entertainment and weather. Be warned about PHX, it does get super humid here, and many areas have really bad mosquito problems, so do your research before you pick a neighborhood. PHX is also getting more expensive, too. Laughably so in certain areas.
Thank you everyone for the insight. Some folks over on the LV post also had some good perspective.
@Yukon, when I say Modern, I mean the house architecture. I personally love mid-century modern homes, or really any kind of modern home. Here in Tampa we have a lot of Mediterranean style homes, with tile roofs, rounded lines, etc. I prefer straight lines. As far as I can tell, LV has a lot of similar Mediterranean architecture, whereas Phoenix has more of the contemporary architecture.
We narrowed it down to these two cities because we really like the geography and climate there. We like the desert climate and the mountains. I know, sounds weird, but after dealing with the humidity in Florida, and the snow in New York, we want hot and dry. That said, we are also considering other areas...such as Miami, since it is a larger city then Tampa, as well as Palm Springs, since it shares some things in common (like climate) with LV and Phoenix. That said those two cities are further down on our list. Palm Springs could be nice, but the added tax burden from CA drops it down a few notches for me.
I should clarify what I mean when I say that we are looking for a "city feel", and "walkable". I don't want to walk everywhere...I did that for years in NYC, and I missed driving. I want to be able to hop in my car and take my wife out for dinner, and then go for a stroll afterwards. I work from home, and sometimes I want to jump in my car and go work from a cafe or a park somewhere for an hour. I want to have options...outdoor malls, town centers, etc. I don't mind driving there, but I don't want to have to drive 30 minutes to get there. Right now in Tampa I have a few decent options, but most of them are 20-30 minutes away. I know in Summerlin there is a nice outdoor mall that we like. If I lived in Summerlin I would use that mall like crazy. That said I imagine it might get old, and so I would be interested in branching out. LV has the strip, which we would use a lot. I can drive there and we can spend an evening getting dinner, walking around, see a show, etc. I consider that to be walkable.
I should also clarify two other things. First, my employment. I work from home, so finding work in either of these cities is not important for me. Second, when we say that we like the mountains, what I am really say is that we dislike flat. Remember, I live in Florida, the foothills in both LV and Phoenix are "mountains" to us lol.
PHX is better for jobs, etc, but Vegas for entertainment and weather. Be warned about PHX, it does get super humid here, and many areas have really bad mosquito problems, so do your research before you pick a neighborhood. PHX is also getting more expensive, too. Laughably so in certain areas.
This is interesting, I was under the impression that humidity wasn't an issue there, nor where mosquitos! I have been looking in the Fountain Hills area, but I am absolutely open to other areas. Do you have any recommendations on where I should NOT look, specifically because of mosquitos?
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