I’m debating whether or not to move to Vegas, for various reasons. I’ve heard that the city itself is a pretty decent place to live, but haven’t met anyone who has lived there.
Can you get a decent place in the $700/month range for apartments?
What’s the non-strip life like?
Any suggestions as to what part of town to look at moving to?
Anything that springs to mind as a pro or con would be appreciated.
It’s really, really easy to develop a gambling problem when you live so close to casinos. Sounds obvious, sure, and yes, you might be one that it doesn’t effect, but it’s more seductive than you’d think. Otherwise, my friend Brian, who lives there, says it’s quite nice.
And yes, he does have a gambling problem.
–Cliffy
My friend and her husband moved there 20-odd years ago and they love it. He’s an electrician and makes enough money that they take fabulous vacations twice a year and she only has to work part time. It’s still very much a boom town, from what I hear. And I think compulsive gambling isn’t something you develop so much as it is something you either are or aren’t, i.e., if you don’t like gambling, you’re not going to turn into a problem gambler just because it’s right there. You may, however, become addicted to giant white tigers or something.
My boyfriend lives there and I visit him quite often (I live in L.A.).
Housing: he pays a 1000 for a 1 bed/2bath townhome in an extremely exclusive part of town, so I’m thinking probably. I pay the same as him for a studio in a dodgey part of Pasadena.
Non-Strip Life: we amuse ourselves in plenty of ways. Red Rock Canyon, movie theatres, restaurants (not as strong on ethnic food as we’d like but very decent), concerts, libraries etc. etc… Pretty much standard stuff you’d have to do in a big city. Lake Mead is close by for outdoorsy stuff. We just went out to see Hoover Dam actually but the police started hassling us for our PASSPORTS so we came back without seeing it because we usually don’t tend to carry those on our person seeing as we’re both citizens. Is there anything really specific you’re looking to do? The shopping is great.
Both my bf and my good friend from law school live in Summerlin. I’ve been told that Henderson is also pretty nice to live in. I will say that almost everyone I know out there is in the process of purchasing or owns their own home, though. Real estate seems to be big.
Big Pros I’ve Noticed:
No state income tax
Less traffic
Inexpensive to carry a nice lifestyle
Big Cons I’ve Noticed:
Has this trashy surreal feel to it and everything seems to be gambling related
and my biggest complaint…
NO TREES
Barely any grass
No open bodies of water
am I being a baby about that? Yes. My bf and friend don’t mind b/c he grew up in the Middle East and she grew up in Nevada so it’s not a big deal…but I spent my childhood in Quebec and then MA so the lack of trees really hits me hard.
Ultimately I would say that the opportunity to live in beautiful houses which are worth less than say…a garage on the East or West coats…beats the negatives. My bf and I both agree that we would never send our kids to school in the area though…I would probably pack them off to prep school out East.
Uh, you are familiar with the fact that it’s the desert, right? There’s a reason there’s no grass and no trees…there’s no water.
Hence the lack of lakes and waterfalls and various oasis-feeling places. Just thought I’d add.
-foxy
There’s no need to be sarcastic although I realise that the Dope necessitates such a comment. I’m perfectly aware of the fact that it’s a desert. If you noticed I stated that I grew up in Quebec and Massachusetts which is why the scenery hit me so hard…the fact that I intellectually knew that it was a desert city didn’t really prepare me for the lack of any plant life whatsoever. It can be really jarring if you’re coming from a different part of the country with no knowledge of the city beyond the Strip.
Hell, even CA looks a bit barren to me and I live in a fairly tree-heavy part of it.
I’m assuming that one of the reasons SenorBeef is contemplating the move is because he plays poker for a living, so the problem gambling issue may not be that big a deal.
Apropos of, I dunno, not that much in particular, it seems like a lot of pro players live in Henderson rather than las Vegas. I know very little about either city and even less about any other reasons you have for wanting to move to nevada but hey, thought I’d throw it out there anyway.
I live here in Las Vegas and I love it!
At one point, they claimed 7,000 people move here every month, but also 3,000 people move away every month. Still a major net gain in population, but obviously this city is not for everyone.
Before you sign a lease for an apartment, check into renting a house for the same amount of money. There are quite a few home for rent (people bought, then moved or spouse died or divorced, etc) and you can get some great rent deals on an entire house for the price of an apartment.
I only go to The Strip when I have out-of-town visitors. Not that I don’t like The Strip, but there are plenty of great local casinos with better odds, better buffets and most of them have large multiplex movie theaters. Do not try to get a place to live near The Strip - trust me on this.
Las Vegas was recently ranked as one of the better places to get work - and no, not just in the casino/resort branch. Lots of high tech industries and other businesses moving here - it helps that there are no personal state taxes.
As far as what part of town? Well, maybe a wise idea would be to rent a place at one of the many budget suite type of places for awhile - they have mini-kitchens and are priced right for longer stays. That way you can see what the job market is like and then, once you see where you might be working, you can decide then what part of town to live in. Traffic is nothing like LA, but you still do not want to be working on the far Northwest and living in the far Southeast of the city.
I like living in a 24 hour town, I love the heat in the summer (but it gets colder in the winter than what I was expecting), and there really isn’t a lot that you cannot do in Las Vegas…you have Mt. Charleston 45 minutes away for skiing and mountain air and forests, you have Lake Mead for boating and fishing, you have lots of park areas for hiking and you also have a major airport in the middle of the city that has some great offers to most places in the world for when you want to get away.
Another thing - once you move here, be prepared to see family and friends you haven’t seen in decades. It doesn’t take a lot of arm twisting to get most people to come to Las Vegas, and once they know you are here - well, buy a couple of air mattresses for the living room floor.
That’s certainly true in tourist-oriented areas. Not that I would know, of course 
Hey HubZilla, good buddy, pal, friend of friends, greatest thing since sliced bread, cool dude…my SO and I are going to Hawaii in February and uh, well…
(BTW…I also read that Las Vegas is the number 1 destination for Hawaiians moving to the mainland! I would tend to believe it as I have met quite a few Hawaiians living here, and there is no shortage of Hawaiian restaurants either!)
Some of my family have thought about moving to Las Vegas. Here is a discussion site on Las Vegas relocation which has some useful information and opinions.
Ahh – I knew we had a pro gambler on the Dope, but I thought it was someone else.
–Cliffy
There are probably several. Sam Stone probably being the most well known, although I don’t think he derives his primary income from it anymore.
Only 5 compliments? You may have to sleep on the lanai.
We call Vegas the 8th island. They say if you stay at the California Hotel, you WILL run into someone you know.
I lived there for six year. Only set foot on the strip 3 or 4 times. Spent most of my time out in the desert.
Went to visit a couple years ago. There is no more desert. Where I used to ride motorcycles is now gated subdivisions, malls and golf courses. 
Its not so bad, really. But eventually, the negative aspects of 24-hour gaming creep into everyday life. All the single people you meet either have gambling/smoking/drinking/drug problems. Your neighbor changes weekly (sometimes not for the better), constant construction over the virgin landscape, ever more traffic and people, increasing population of scam artists and homeless, etc. etc. etc…
But the worst thing about it is the shitty architecture! All the same shit stucco tilt-up one-story crap for as far as the eye can see. Ugly, ugly place. Every corner has a “Bonzo’s Sports Pub” (where crusty old hags of 28 years of age pound gin and tonics while incessantly cramming quarter after quarter into a bar-top slot poker machines) anchoring a strip mall with a nail emporium, dollar store and video rental joint. Every major intersection has a Marshall’s, Target and Savers.
Yuck.
Shit! Makes my crap box on the dry-lake bed not sound too bad! 
Hi,
I’ve lived in Southern Nevada all of my life, and in Las Vegas for the last 6 years.
I can’t wait to leave but more because I want something new and I hate the summers than actual complaints about the city.
Traffic is becoming problematic, so I would look at where you are likely to work and try to move as close as possible to your work. We aren’t as bad as LA yet but it gets progressively worse every day.
Henderson has come a long, long way. The Green Valley area is very nice with lots of good restaurants and parks. Also the Black Mountain area has some nice condos/apts. but I don’t know about the $700 range. I think more $800 and up for small studios. I agree with the person who said you might find a better deal on a house rental.
I pay $500/rent but live in a trailer in a very poor part of town. Not because I am poor but because I have 8 dogs and understanding landlords are not easy to find. Part of my feelings about the traffic come from being about 30 min from work (job that I love) and having to deal with both I-15 and I-95 to get there.
For things to do- lots of GREAT restuarants, Red Rock is cool, Mt. Charleston for skiing. If you like water activities like jet skiing, water skiing- Lake Mead is great for that. There are also many cool vacations within half a day drive. Zion National Park, Great Basin National Park (which is awesome just driving there!), Disneyland, San Diego, etc- all within 6-7 hours drive.
And yes, I have a gambling problem…
It’s only a problem if you lose.
At any rate, as you can see from the other posts in this thread, Las Vegas really isn’t for everybody.
If you can afford it, don’t burn any bridges back home and come out and give it a try for a month or two or six.
Like I say - I love it here, but I also still love Chicago, NYC, Berlin and LA…so maybe I just adapt easier.
I’m in Vegas at least once a year. I’ve driven around the residential areas and they look really nice. And the locals that I meet just love it there.
I think I’d move there if I could.