Possibly moving to Las Vegas

Oh, and the library on Sahara between The Lakes and Peccole Ranch is awesome! Very nice library to kick back in a comfy chair and check out a couple of books on a hot summer day!
 
Katsmeow, I meant that Lake Las Vegas homes are priced a little higher than your budget. Close to Lake Las Vegas is Tuscany (89011 zip code - Not Tuscany Ct). Nice and newer homes like Lake Las Vegas and a little more affordable. Please do check out Henderson and in particular the Green Valley area. It is very convenient with a ton of restaurants, shopping and medical offices within 15-min drive.
 
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RetiredHappy said:
Katsmeow, I meant that Lake Las Vegas homes are priced a little higher than your budget. Close to Lake Las Vegas is Tuscany (89011 zip code - Not Tuscany Ct). Nice and newer homes like Lake Las Vegas and a little more affordable. Please do check out Henderson and in particular the Green Valley area. It is very convenient with a ton of restaurants, shopping and medical offices within 15-min drive.
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Yes, Green Valley is another great location.
 
mojavesue said:
Another area to look at that is near Summerlin is 89117. The Lakes area has some nice homes on small lots. Homes are generally older, built in the late 80s. We used to own a home near Boca Park in 89117 near Charleston and Durango. It was 1800 sq ft single story 3 car garage with RV parking. Those types of homes are in very high demand though. But 550k is definitely doable. Also in the same zipcode is Peccole Ranch. Homes built in late 80s to early 90s but a very nice location near Summerlin with some smaller homes. The HOA there is a little high. But those are 2 more neighborhoods that I really like and think are what you might like too.
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Thanks for the zip code. That is helpful. I don't want to spend $550k. Prefer $450k or less. I don't want anything built before the 90s. And, honestly, most of houses built in the 90s don't have the open floor plan I am looking for.

I know it sounds picky, but I know what I am OK compromising on (overall square footage) for example and what I won't.

RetiredHappy said:
Katsmeow, I meant that Lake Las Vegas homes are priced a little higher than your budget. Close to Lake Las Vegas is Tuscany (89011 zip code - Not Tuscany Ct). Nice and newer homes like Lake Las Vegas and a little more affordable. Please do check out Henderson and in particular the Green Valley area. It is very convenient with a ton of restaurants, shopping and medical offices within 15-min drive.
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Ah, yes, I knew Lake Las Vegas was more than I wanted to spend. I looked at that Zip code and had a question. I've seen stuff indicating that the area between 505 and Boulder Highway is undesirable as is anything close to Boulder Highway. Is that right?

I found this listing which actually looks pretty nice. How is that area?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...l-Tramonto-St_Henderson_NV_89011_M24207-20652

Just a general comment about pricing. When I was looking to buy my current house I saw people on City Data saying you needed to spend somthing like over $100k more than our budget to live in the little town we bought in. So I didn't really think we would end up here. But, there were some older houses built in the mid-80s in this area that were smaller than the newer behemoths and were much less expensive. By being patient I was able to buy one of those houses which was a less expensive house in an extremely desirable neighborhood.
 
https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...l-Tramonto-St_Henderson_NV_89011_M24207-20652

I'm not familiar with that neighborhood. It is close to Wetlands park which is very nice. But, being near Boulder Highway in that area can be a little sketchy. Basically all of Boulder Highway from Fremont Street down is questionable. Its not too bad in Henderson the further south you go. I'm sure the neighborhood is fine but I personally wouldnt want to be east of Boulder Highway unless you are in Lake Las Vegas.
 
I do know that price point is extremely competitive. Probably be in a multiple bidder situation. Green Valley is a nice area in Henderson. And for shopping and restaurants you have The District which is Hendersons answer to Summerlin Center. Green Valley Ranch casino is a nice place owned by Station Casinos.
 
Katsmeow said:
I've seen stuff indicating that the area between 505 and Boulder Highway is undesirable as is anything close to Boulder Highway. Is that right?

I found this listing which actually looks pretty nice. How is that area?

https://www.realtor.com/realestatea...l-Tramonto-St_Henderson_NV_89011_M24207-20652
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This home is in Tuscany, as I have mentioned in my post above. It is a fairly large and nice development. I think you may be able to get a larger home for this price in this community. If we did not buy at Lake Las Vegas, we would probably have looked for something in Tuscany. This is along Galleria, not Boulder Highway.

But for convenience, you should also look at Green Valley area. It is super convenient. For us, we don't mind driving a little further.

I wouldn't get something near Boulder Highway. Lots of rental apartments and older neighborhood = crime. Don't know what is 505?!
 
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I live in Reno but property taxes are incredibly low and having no state income tax is great. When I owned a house I put in high quality Astro turf because of the water shortage. The restaurants and entertainment in Vegas are great. I am not a fan of heat hence why I live in Reno. Housing prices have appeared to stabilize instead of constantly increasing and I know that Vegas real estate is cheaper than northern Nevada.
 
RetiredHappy said:
This home is in Tuscany, as I have mentioned in my post above. It is a fairly large and nice development. I think you may be able to get a larger home for this price in this community. If we did not buy at Lake Las Vegas, we would probably have looked for something in Tuscany. This is along Galleria, not Boulder Highway.

But for convenience, you should also look at Green Valley area. It is super convenient. For us, we don't mind driving a little further.

I wouldn't get something near Boulder Highway. Lots of rental apartments and older neighborhood = crime. Don't know what is 505?!
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I do plan to look at what is available in Green Valley. Obviously it will just be what is available when we start looking.

505 is typo. Map is 515. Basically that zip code you mentioned had a part that was between 515 and Boulder Highway which my understanding that that is a bad area.

But the Tuscany area looks nice so we will keep that in the mix as another potential.

Of course at this point everything is subject to change based upon what our house sells for. This is a hot market and most houses go over listing price although not usually by more than 5%. I did see that one of the comps the agent used for my house sold for more than 10% over asking. But that house seemed really underlisted. I think people are more aware now of market value so are listing closer to what people will pay. But, obviously we don't know if we will above listing, at listing, below it, or not at all.

Teacher Terry said:
I live in Reno but property taxes are incredibly low and having no state income tax is great. When I owned a house I put in high quality Astro turf because of the water shortage. The restaurants and entertainment in Vegas are great. I am not a fan of heat hence why I live in Reno. Housing prices have appeared to stabilize instead of constantly increasing and I know that Vegas real estate is cheaper than northern Nevada.
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We looked briefly at Reno but the housing was too expensive. Well, too expensive to cause us to look at some place that is cold in winter.... Of course for summer Reno is a bit more appealing.
 
Kat, that’s funny because summer is my least favorite season:)). Luckily I moved here 25 years ago and bought a condo so have always been in the housing market. I actually turned down a promotion with the state because it was based in Vegas when I was still working. One great thing about Vegas is even the lounge shows are really good. You can’t beat the entertainment.
 
I think Summerlin (Summerlin south really, west of Fort Apache/Rampart and a couple of miles north and south of Charleston) is nicer overall than Henderson. Less than 30 mins to the airport. Little traffic. Red Rock Casino and Downtown Summerlin mall are nice. There is new(er) housing west, which is called Summerlin West on GMaps.

Crime has not been an issue for me.

I've not found heat to be a problem. Before 11AM and after 7PM are comfortable times to run errands. Once the sun goes down, Vegas is heaven in the summer.

No state tax, no tax on groceries, I think.

Negatives:
House prices are up 70+% in the last 3 years or so. (your $450k and newer than 90's might be limiting)
Vegas is kind of an island geographically
Winter is colder than I like. Many days we have lows in the low 40s and high 30s.
Politically it is more like CA and less like AZ than I prefer.
 
daylatedollarshort said:
I haven't been to Las Vegas in years, but the last time I was there it was 117 degrees. It was so hot they closed the water parks. It is one of the fastest warming cities in the U.S.

The hellish future of Las Vegas in the climate crisis: 'A place where we never go outside' | Las Vegas | The Guardian

I'm more of an outside, hike in the forest kind of person, so this may not be an issue for you, but the increasing heat is likely to continue. But every area has its drawbacks. We live with a good chance of a big earthquake and fire danger because of all the wooded areas and global warming, so you have to pick what is best for you. If it was me from your list I would move to Vancouver because of the mountains, scenery and parks.
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Not much different then living in the north. We stay inside in the winter, Las vegans stay inside in the summer. Personally I prefer the heat. I can hang out in the pool.
 
Golden Mean said:
Negatives:
House prices are up 70+% in the last 3 years or so. (your $450k and newer than 90's might be limiting)
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For sure it will be limiting. And DH doesn't want to spend $450k. We might compromise on $425k. I've looked at a lot of houses and things that seem to really affect this overall price range are:

Location in terms of amenities
Location in terms of crime
Size of house
One story or two story
Layout of house
Interior finish of house
How dated/tired/worn the house looks
Age of house

We can compromise on some of these. While I insist on being within 30 minutes of a hospital and 10 minutes of a grocery store, I'm willing to drive a bit for major shopping.

Location in terms of crime is extremely important

Age of house - Not before 1990 is my absolute line and I would much prefer something less than 20 years old.

The rest of it we are willing to compromise on.

We would prefer 1 story. DH especially. But he is even willing to compromise on this.

I would prefer a very open layout like new houses but I am willing to compromise on this.

Size of house. DH and I talked about this today. He is willing to compromise to as low as 1300 SF. We want to have 3 bedrooms plus something that could be used as office. Our room, guest room, office for one of us will take of bedrooms. Larger houses usually have a 4th bedroom or a nook somewhere that could be the other office. 1300 SF houses don't. DH says he is entirely willing to convert the dining room to an office (we use that room a couple of times a year and we usually eat at our desks).

On the worn/dated part -- well that depends. If it is not a problem, just dated I am OK with it if it can be cleaned up to presentable fairly easily. New
carpet or paint is fine. Gutting the kitchen is not.

With these compromises I think we could find something in a safe area. We probably are 3 months away from buying. Have to sell our house here. We are in a very hot market as well and the house we are selling is quite a bit more expensive than what we would buy in LV. So if prices goes up it probably is net positive for us. (I think it unlikely they would go up in LV and go down here). I am hoping that by the time we are ready to buy it will be past the summer rush and things may not be quite as competitive. Not so much helping with price but helping with getting an offer accepted.
Vegas is kind of an island geographically
Winter is colder than I like. Many days we have lows in the low 40s and high 30s.
Politically it is more like CA and less like AZ than I prefer.[/QUOTE]

Vegas is kind of an island geographically
Click to expand...

To me one of the advantages of LV is that is so close to other places I might like to go. Albuquerque seemed like much more of an island geographically.

Winter is colder than I like. Many days we have lows in the low 40s and high 30s.
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It gets a little colder here so LV is a bit better.

Politically it is more like CA and less like AZ than I prefer.
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This is the primary reason we rejected AZ. Different strokes....
 
Katsmeow said:
Age of house - Not before 1990 is my absolute line and I would much prefer something less than 20 years old.
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Why is the age of the house a deal breaker? There are 50-60 year old homes in far better shape than 20 year old homes.

When I look at all the factors in buying a house...location, cost, layout, sq ft, etc., the age of the house doesn't matter as much as those other factors.
 
I actually prefer older homes for the quality if they are well maintained. The condo I bought a year ago is 43 years old.
 
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Kat, FYI, one of my best friends is a successful real estate broker here in The Woodlands. He had a great year last 12 months but the last two homes he closed on went at "market appraisal" with no bidding going on. His new listings are drying up as mortgage rates are over 5% and heading higher this week he said.

In my Woodlands neighborhood, there are several homes that went on the market in the last 3 months and are now just getting offers. One was originally listed for $499,000 and reduced $50,000 before it sold. I don't know the final sales price but homes had been selling here for about $175.00/SF.

Not saying that this is all over Texas, but with mortgage interest rates rising, I'm convinced that soon homes will not be the "hot ticket" they have been for the last two years.

Also, as the FED raises the fed Funds Rate each month as planned to try to kill inflation, the stock market is in melt down mode. That will make home buyers feel less confident that they should be moving and buying.

Just throwing this out for something for you to think about in your planning.

Good luck!:)
 
Katsmeow said:
I don't like mountains except looking at them from a distance (which is nice). I have no desire to be on one. I have a hard time with greenery and parks because my allergies kick in. I don't want to hike, but don't mind walking IF it isn't more than about 80 degrees. Honestly, I don't really like being outdoors. I enjoy looking at pretty views but not so much going to the outdoors. Let me put it this way. There was a period of Covid where I literally didn't go outside my house for about 3 months. And, I was fine with it. I missed the stores, but not the outside....
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I can somewhat relate. While I am not against outdoor activities, I do like being inside. We have a wonderful back yard and we get to spend a lot of time being "out there" dealing with it, but generally speaking...I am pretty happy looking at it from the comfort of my recliner through our large plate glass windows. :D I also enjoy sitting on our expansive covered patio enjoying coffee...but only when the weather is agreeable to me.

As to LV, I have told the DW (usually after spending two days straight working in the yard) that I would like to have a Tucson, AZ yard. Rocks and dirt. No maintenance required. ;)
 
aja8888 said:
Kat, FYI, one of my best friends is a successful real estate broker here in The Woodlands. He had a great year last 12 months but the last two homes he closed on went at "market appraisal" with no bidding going on. His new listings are drying up as mortgage rates are over 5% and heading higher this week he said.

In my Woodlands neighborhood, there are several homes that went on the market in the last 3 months and are now just getting offers. One was originally listed for $499,000 and reduced $50,000 before it sold. I don't know the final sales price but homes had been selling here for about $175.00/SF.

Not saying that this is all over Texas, but with mortgage interest rates rising, I'm convinced that soon homes will not be the "hot ticket" they have been for the last two years.

Also, as the FED raises the fed Funds Rate each month as planned to try to kill inflation, the stock market is in melt down mode. That will make home buyers feel less confident that they should be moving and buying.

Just throwing this out for something for you to think about in your planning.

Good luck!:)
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This is a very good caveat. My DW is in the rental RE market (over several states) and she has seen a marked increase in private owners listing their homes as rentals since they aren't getting the sales price they want. Also, a few of the insitiutional buyers that use her company have been reducing their acquisitions. Very choppy waters right now in the RE market.
 
Katsmeow said:
.....

Age of house - Not before 1990 is my absolute line and I would much prefer something less than 20 years old.

...
Click to expand...

Maybe you could have an exception to your rule, as long as the style of the house is appealing.

A 35 yr old house with new roof, new furnace, new A/C, upgraded insulation, new windows will have far fewer issues and be less costly than a 20 yr old house with original equipment & roof.

Furnace & A/C & roof , I generally view as having a 20 yr life span, sometimes you get lucky and they last longer, other times they die early.
 
Music Lover said:
Why is the age of the house a deal breaker? There are 50-60 year old homes in far better shape than 20 year old homes.

When I look at all the factors in buying a house...location, cost, layout, sq ft, etc., the age of the house doesn't matter as much as those other factors.
Click to expand...

We all have our preferences. I like newer homes with modern layouts, modern materials, modern conveniences.

aja8888 said:
In my Woodlands neighborhood, there are several homes that went on the market in the last 3 months and are now just getting offers. One was originally listed for $499,000 and reduced $50,000 before it sold. I don't know the final sales price but homes had been selling here for about $175.00/SF.

Not saying that this is all over Texas, but with mortgage interest rates rising, I'm convinced that soon homes will not be the "hot ticket" they have been for the last two years.
Click to expand...

Well, this may end up helping us when we go to buy. Here home prices are not getting lower at all. It remains a very extreme seller's market. Houses are still going under contract typically in less than 2 weeks. Redfin says that average homes sell for about 6% above list price and only 9% of homes have price drops. Note that where I live there are many houses that sell for well over a million, some for multi-millions and those houses sell more slowly and drag down stats a bit. There are 65 homes currently listed where I live. However about 2 thirds of them are pending/contingent. Of the 24 homes that are active listings (for single family homes) only 4 of them are under $750k (which is the niche we fit in). There is one listing just under a million. The other 19 homes are listed above a million (some of them several million).

But, you made me curious. I looked at the active listings to see how long they've been listed. I excluded the houses over 2 million. That left 14 houses (half listed in the last week). Here is price and length of listing:

1495k- 49 days
1350k - 49 days
995k - 20 days

There were 3 houses listed 14 or 15 days ago.

There was one house listed 8 days ago.

7 houses listed 7 days ago or less. That's it for active listings.


Of all those houses listed in the last 14 days, only 4 are under a million.

So at least right now, houses are just going under contract very quickly. And, 80% of houses sell above list price.

FWIW, I do think things have to slow down. By the time we list our house (probably in a month or so) maybe things will not be as hot. I do expect inventory to increase between now and June so I may have more competition when we list.

I think the market would have to crater by a LOT to make it uneconomical for us to sell this house. We don't have to sell now so if it took a "normal" amount of time to sell that would be fine. There is a certain amount of money we want out of the house and if we couldn't get it we just wouldn't sell now since us selling is totally optional. But, let me say this. Back when we bought this house I thought the market was insane and we had to beat out multiple bids to buy it and we paid over listing price. And, right now, today the market here is way more insane than it was then.

But, I do think the interest rates will cool things down a bit. And I don't think the high increases in prices will continue. I will just have to wait and see.

Of course, if the market cools down a bit here I think it could cool down a bit in Las Vegas so that may work to my benefit....
 
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aja8888 said:
Kat, FYI, one of my best friends is a successful real estate broker here in The Woodlands. He had a great year last 12 months but the last two homes he closed on went at "market appraisal" with no bidding going on. His new listings are drying up as mortgage rates are over 5% and heading higher this week he said.

In my Woodlands neighborhood, there are several homes that went on the market in the last 3 months and are now just getting offers. One was originally listed for $499,000 and reduced $50,000 before it sold. I don't know the final sales price but homes had been selling here for about $175.00/SF.

Not saying that this is all over Texas, but with mortgage interest rates rising, I'm convinced that soon homes will not be the "hot ticket" they have been for the last two years.

Also, as the FED raises the fed Funds Rate each month as planned to try to kill inflation, the stock market is in melt down mode. That will make home buyers feel less confident that they should be moving and buying.

Just throwing this out for something for you to think about in your planning.

Good luck!:)
Click to expand...


Two weeks ago, I was visiting Houston, and stayed in a hotel in the area about 5 mi. west of downtown. It was a nice area, and out of curiosity I just looked at home prices there. There are many homes of $2M to $3M, but there are also decent homes of $500K.

I told my wife that with the humidity there, it would be easy to grow a lot of plants, compared to our bone dry air. Oh well, we would not be moving anywhere away from our children, siblings, and nieces.

PS. Too many shade trees there. Not good for a solar system. :)

PPS. Average 30-year mortgage rate is now 5.5%. Real estate will not be so hot anymore.
 
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Where we live, any good condition home that are listed for under $1.8M are getting sold quickly. One of the homes in my neck of the woods, was sold about a year ago for $685K (old/not updated) then went about to remodel the kitchen, updated floorings and the master bathroom, and cleaned up the backyard. Listed for $1.3M a month ago and went under contract in 3 days and closed in 14 days at asking price.
 
Those with longer memories of the 2008 - 09 market and RE crash....it took 2 years after 2008 for real estate houses to really get sold off and repriced. I bought a 2,000 sq ft three year old brick ranch house just a mile south of The Woodlands in a really nice area for $62/sq.ft in mid 2010. My daughter and her husband now live in it and Zillow shows it at ~$300,000. (I paid $124,000).

We are just now seeing mortgage rates rising to near 6%. I will make a guess that the real estate cooling off period will take a good year or so, but if rates and inflation keep rising, RE will get repriced.
 
aja8888 said:
Those with longer memories of the 2008 - 09 market and RE crash....it took 2 years after 2008 for real estate houses to really get sold off and repriced. I bought a 2,000 sq ft three year old brick ranch house just a mile south of The Woodlands in a really nice area for $62/sq.ft in mid 2010. My daughter and her husband now live in it and Zillow shows it at ~$300,000. (I paid $124,000).

We are just now seeing mortgage rates rising to near 6%. I will make a guess that the real estate cooling off period will take a good year or so, but if rates and inflation keep rising, RE will get repriced.
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I'm not sure how much REPRICING RE will get. A large percentage 25 or 30 percent, of homes are bought in cash, or with big down payments. Inventory is still less than a months supply here in Las Vegas. Most everyone has tons of equity right now. Maybe if you HAD to move, but I really dont see inventory climbing to above 4 or 5 months supply to have a REPRICE take effect. A cooling off sure. But who would list their home if you had a 3 or 4 percent mortgage to buy something else on a 5 or 6 percent mortgage? I dont see many people moving around unless they absolutely had to at this point. I could be way off.
And also, investors, small guys and corporate are buying up a third of the market. The big corporate owners dont just dump their RE portfolio on the market to sell. They sell them in a big package deal to another corporate investor.
I dont know, the interest rates moving up will have some effect on demand, but until I see rents going down, RE values are not going to drop much.
 
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