So you want to move to Las Vegas?
A lot of people want to move here and a lot of people do move here. The first question people like to ask online is always “Where should I live?”. Yes, that is the entire question.
The problem is that the question is just that. Where Should I live? As if Las Vegas is a one size fits all everywhere kind of a town. It’s Not! Las Vegas is a big town with a lot of moving variables and to help, we need just a little more information than that.
When we answer that question, it’s more of a personal point of reference, not an informative type of answer. Because we don’t know YOU! Are you married? Have a job? Have kids? Want kids? Want to travel? Be near people? Need land for the horse, the RV? Want to be far from people? It’s here. Las Vegas has something for just about everyone.
I live in Henderson. Homes in my neighborhood are older, for families, and are middle-income. Five miles away we have brand new multimillion-dollar homes hidden behind big iron gates. It’s in the same town with different settings. Some people like Summerlin. Summerlin, ten years ago was strictly for wealthy Snowbirds. It isn’t like that anymore. The same goes for just about any of the other nine communities or suburbs in the valley of 2.1 million people. It’s always changing here.
Be Here, Be Local
The best way to get that question answered is to be here and be a local for a week or two. To do that, you need to get off the Strip. Rent a Sienna Suites or a Budget Suites (or similar). They are fully furnished apartments, with all the modern amenities. They have locations all over the valley.
The nice thing about places like this is that you pay by the week or by the month. No long-term commitments or contracts. Find one in an area where you think you may be working or near a school you want to check out.
Then while living off the Strip, in the real Las Vegas, drive around the entire valley. Experience it all and see what fits your needs, your pocketbook, and your lifestyle. Meet up with some of the people you have chatted with online, talk to them here, and see what they are recommending.
A little Something For Everyone
Las Vegas is NOT a one sizes fits all kind of town. Yet we do have almost everything here people want to have in order to live an active, full life. Some people live here for a few months and move out.
People come here with an RV and live in camper villages for months, even years. We have people who like to live in small clustered units and those who like to live in large, gated communities. You may have animals, horses, things like that. We have homes, apartments, and estates for those people as well.
That’s why it’s so hard to answer such a simple question. Where should you live? We don’t know because the short question never gave us any of those important details!
And for someone to blindly say “you need to live here and not there” is silly and not really helpful. Like I said earlier. I live in Henderson. I would love to live in Boulder City, but my family dynamics won’t allow for that to happen yet. You may want to be there or maybe because of your family dynamics, you need to be in Summerlin. That’s what You need to decide!
Friends and Agents
When people first move here, they find it’s not easy to make friends. You may wonder why and you may even feel it’s undeserved. It’s often not you, it’s the Vegas culture. We are a very transient society. People are always moving in and moving out. So making and keeping friends here is not often easy.
It’s been that way for decades. It actually dates back to the 1930’s when we had divorce ranches. People would “move here” to live to get a no-fault divorce. One of you needs to be a Nevada resident for six weeks to be divorced.
Today, it’s more about the summertime heat. We want to make sure you survive the two or three months of our blast furnace-like summer heat before we want to know you.
Although summers here are unbearable. But they can be worth the sacrifice in order to enjoy the 9-10 months of beautiful desert weather. My mantra during the summer is “I’m Not Shoveling snow, I’m not shoveling snow!”
Vegas summers here are really unbearable. You don’t really get used to them, you just get to the point of tolerating them! So we like to wait to see if you survive the summer before we may want to make the effort and be your friendly neighbor or not.
Real Estate Agents? I have a few of them as friends and they hate when I say not to use them at the beginning. But it’s my opinion after years of experience. They have something to sell and want to sell it to an uninformed buyer. Or a buyer they are influencing.
So I say not to include one into your moving agenda until you have been here yourself and have experienced the valley on your own. When you have more of an informed idea of where you want to live and what you need to have in order to survive here, then call in a professional!
Conclusion
Las Vegas is one of those towns where you can not easily answer the simple question of “where should I live?”. You really need to be here and experience the real Las Vegas to know where you really want to live. I hope this helps.
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