Thinking about moving to Las Vegas

Not a good place to run.

You must be single + in your 20's + no kids to enjoy this.

Vegas attracts a certain type of person. If you you are that type of person you will like it, if not it is a craphole.

I would offer slc, phoenix, and tuscon as alternatives,

That is not necessarily true. I enjoyed running at Red Rock Canyon where there is a nice hilly paved loop of about 15 miles and plenty of trails. Plus I also liked running at the Valley of Fire.http://www.vegas.com/attractions/outside_lasvegas/redrock.htmlhttp://parks.nv.gov/vf.htm

vegboy wrote:

Not a good place to run.

Though admittedly I ran both of those parks in the winter. Summer highs of 100+ could make it unbearable.

jeez hector wrote:

My job allows me to live anywhere I want. I can handle the weather in the summer and it's nice in the winter. World class restaurants, always something to do and I like playing cards. I love riding motorcycles and camping in the desert. Housing prices are super cheap. I saw a house that sold in 2006 for 450K now on foreclosure market for 199K. These aren't the crappy 60K pieces of shite flagpole wants to retire to, these are houses with 3 car garages, 3000sf, swimming pools on golf courses. Property taxes are low and there is no state income tax. The only negative is leaving my family and friends in Texas. What are the other negatives I'm overlooking?

I was going to say Las Vegas is a shit hole, but since you are moving from Texas, I say go for it.

jeez hector wrote:

What are the other negatives I'm overlooking?

No water?

Since you enjoy gambling (as I do) and running, I advise you to consider Reno, my hometown. The housing market here is also in the crapper and you can find a nice house for about 150-200k.

Weather is a lot cooler up here and the altitude is high, about 4500 in the valley and about 5000 in Golden Valley (about 10km north of Reno) where my parents live. Great skiing at Tahoe.

We have decent nightlife, good restaurants and a decent football and basketball team at the University. We also have a AAA baseball team and a D-league NBA team. Come out and check it out.

Jason

jeez hector wrote:

My job allows me to live anywhere I want. I can handle the weather in the summer and it's nice in the winter. World class restaurants, always something to do and I like playing cards. I love riding motorcycles and camping in the desert. Housing prices are super cheap. I saw a house that sold in 2006 for 450K now on foreclosure market for 199K. These aren't the crappy 60K pieces of shite flagpole wants to retire to, these are houses with 3 car garages, 3000sf, swimming pools on golf courses. Property taxes are low and there is no state income tax. The only negative is leaving my family and friends in Texas. What are the other negatives I'm overlooking?

Dude, go do it. By the way though, the $60,000 "pieces of shite" really are NOT that at all. Not as nice as a $200,000 house for sure, but that's not necessary.

To your question, it sounds like Las Vegas might be your kind of place. Do more research. Put yourself in a good school district because the people there will care more about their homes and their neighborhoods.

Are you a single guy? I would question you wanting to pay $200,000 for a three-car garage and 3,000 square feet though. Why do that? Do you need that much room? Why not get a $100,000 house that sold in 2006 for $260,000 instead? I know nothing of the location though, so check that out.

Check these out:

$100,000 -

$100,000 with 5 bedrooms -

$100,000 4, bed, 3 bath -

On that realtor.com site in Las Vegas there are currently over 7,000 homes between $100,000 and $175,000 with 4+ bedrooms and 2+ bathrooms.

Why pay double your mortgage? I would think it would be more fun to pay on a $100,000 house and then buy some motorcycles and 4 wheelers to go play in the desert with. It you make $300,000+ a year or something, then sure, go ahead and get the $200,000 house, but if that just the top you could get a loan for, then man, I wouldn't do it. To determine what you CAN spend on a house, make sure the mortgage is 25% or less of your take home pay. With the low rates, maybe you really can easily get a $200,000 house. Even so, you really should think in terms of what you need and want (though I care less about wants; but I still do care) rather than what you COULD get.

legally blonde wrote:

jeez hector wrote:

My job allows me to live anywhere I want. I can handle the weather in the summer and it's nice in the winter. World class restaurants, always something to do and I like playing cards. I love riding motorcycles and camping in the desert. Housing prices are super cheap. I saw a house that sold in 2006 for 450K now on foreclosure market for 199K. These aren't the crappy 60K pieces of shite flagpole wants to retire to, these are houses with 3 car garages, 3000sf, swimming pools on golf courses. Property taxes are low and there is no state income tax. The only negative is leaving my family and friends in Texas. What are the other negatives I'm overlooking?

I was going to say Las Vegas is a shit hole, but since you are moving from Texas, I say go for it.

Again, evidence why we should secede. Nothing but pitful longhorn envy.

Here's a northerner that appreciates Texas. Most of your political landscape and some of the religious stuff doesn't suit me too well, but there are great places to live in Texas. I would live in and around Austin in a heartbeat. It's on my top 5 places to retire to.

puking from the lack of brains wrote:

legally blonde wrote:

I was going to say Las Vegas is a shit hole, but since you are moving from Texas, I say go for it.

Again, evidence why we should secede. Nothing but pitful longhorn envy.

Flagpole, there are a lot more things to consider than just the price of a house. A cheaper house is built cheaper using cheaper material and fixtures. Look at the lumber on a track home vs a higher end semi-custom home. The wiring, the sheathing, everything is cheaper. I don't want cultured marble or thin solid surface counter tops. I want a larger master bedroom and bath. I want a 3 car garage. I don't need 3000 sf but you can't get what I want in a 100k 1500 sf home.

The cheaper the home, the cheaper the neighbor. This sounds elitist but I'm far from it. I'm basically blue collar with a decent income. The neighborhoods start filling up with extended families. They have so many people living in the home that they store crap in the garage and then have to park in the driveway and the street. Go to a higher end neighborhood vs 100k track home neighborhood. I don't want to see the streets lined with '92 Celicas or mini vans leaking oil. I'm not a fan of HOA's but at least the make sure you don't enclose your garage to let your cousins family move in or paint your house purple. The photos of the houses you show are nice but a 100k home attracts a different breed. When I travel I don't stay at the Four Seasons but I don't stay at Motel 6 either.

I "could" afford much much more than 300k so I feel I'm being reasonable. I have a 340K home in Texas with over 140K in equity. Although Texas has no state income tax our property taxes are killer. Mine are $8500 a year so after my house is paid off It's going to cost over $1000 a month to live here.

I go to Vegas once or twice a year for several weeks at a time. I am going back the day after Thanksgiving and was planning on buying investment property that has morphed into actually moving there. Things are so bad that you can buy up to 5 HOA homes for 10% down. The heat in Texas gets brutal but it's worse in Vegas, that would be my biggest concern moving there. I like the desert but too much desert may get old. Thank God I play golf otherwise I'd never see green grass. Jason recommended Reno and I do like it there but my draw is Vegas. There are a lot of places to move that are cheaper but that's not my only draw. I like visiting PHX but I don't want to move there. The draw is Las Vegas otherwise I'm happy where I'm at.

legally blonde wrote:

I was going to say Las Vegas is a shit hole, but since you are moving from Texas, I say go for it.

Original poster - The above comment came from someone who lives in the meth lab ridden backwoods of south east Ohio. Seriously, she does. Too funny.

1) With your $140,000 in equity, you for sure could easily afford a $200,000 home if you sold it, so if that's your want, go do it.2) "Tract" home.3) I will give you the fact that fixtures are typically cheaper in tract homes (though not necessarily; there are decent neighborhoods with tract homes that are built with high quality everything). You could of course easily replace any fixtures you don't like if in fact you liked the home...not too expensive to do that.4) I do not agree that everything from wiring to lumber is less superior. That may be true sometimes. It is not true all the time, and currently in homes in Las Vegas that originally sold for over a quarter of a million dollars that are now at $100,000...that is surely NOT the case most of the time.5) Expensive homes have their issues too, so don't fool yourself there.6) Not sure why tract homes get such a bad rap. The idea behind them is that in a neighborhood with only a few different styles, and because they are built all at the same time, it saves on labor costs, ultimately meaning a less expensive product for the buyer. Lack of value doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with a tract home. I live in what you would call a tract home, and it's very nice; had some things that needed updating, so we did. Dude next door to me is a retired CEO. Lady on the other side is a high-powered hospital administrator. Lady across the street is a nurse anesthetist...all professional people. No cars up on blocks...none of that.7) I'm actually FOR HOAs. Especially when I retire to an area with a year-long growing season, I want someone who will come and prune the trees regularly, and I also don't want my neighbor to paint his house purple.Now, after all that though, I'm really not trying to talk you out of getting a $100,000 home (that originally was $260,000); I just think you're selling yourself short if you ONLY consider homes that are much more than that. You should do your research...you may find that the more expensive neighborhood has MORE foreclosures and short sales than the cheaper neighborhoods, and you'd still be getting the riff raff you don't want.If I were in your shoes, I WOULD buy a $200,000 home, but only after you sell your current home. I'll guess that the $140,000 you plan to walk away with ends up being closer to $115,000 (just because basically home owners aren't realistic about what they can sell their homes for, and then you have other costs associated with that too), so if you put all of that on a $200,000 home you'll have a mortgage of $85,000. With today's low rates, that should be super easy to handle...maybe even in a 15-year loan. Also, I agree that it sounds like you're more of a Vegas person than a Reno person, so you should go to Vegas. Enjoy your 3,000 SF house with the 3-car garage. Do note of course that it will be a lot to cool.Here's one with a three-car garage for $209,000 (sold in 2007 for $407,500) that you might be able to get for $200,000 or even a little less - http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/3762-Violet-Rose-Court_Las-Vegas_NV_89147_M25772-29724In 2009 and 2010, the tax bill (per year) was $2,556. Much better than what you pay in Texas.Here's one right on $200,000 - http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/9736-Montclair-Heights-Court_Las-Vegas_NV_89178_M22854-82181That second one had taxes of $2,953 in both 2009 and 2010.Personally to me, those two just look bigger with more garage space and not necessarily nicer than smaller ones for half as much, but the heart wants what the heart wants.

Not trying to talk you INTO getting a $100,000 home.

I live in Vegas, and you get about 2-3 months of pretty awesome running weather, but the rest of the year sucks. My afternoon run today will be graced with 30 mph winds with the temp somewhere between 45-50. I know there is much worse out there, but you would think that right now is an ideal time to run in Vegas, but the strong winds are very indicative of how the weather is here when the temps should be nice.

As for the house, I bought a 1600 sq house for 117k and it is in a great area with a lot of running opportunities around if you like hills and dirt trails in the desert. There is only 1 school district in Vegas, and it sucks, so...if that is of interest to you, good luck.

If you are "fast", sub 15:30 5k on the roads, you would be able to win 99% of the road races in the Las Vegas valley.

Thats about it...

Flagpole, you need to read the book "The Big Orange Splot." Everyone is different, and i can accept your opinions, but damn you are boring.

For the record, my house cost $625 thousand and it was built in 1921. It would demolish your house in a fight.

There have been some good advie in these posts, some not so good advice and some out and out bad advice.

Vegas is a matter of what you are looking for...it is not good for running or raising a family, etc., if things along those lines are important...look else where. Vegas has a great night life, some good real estate investment opportunities, etc.; if things along those line are important to you...Vegas is your place.

...especially the Beligio buffet.

Suprisised you didn't mention the Varneeshun.

After all, it's good too.