Las Vegas Thoughts

Most people who visit Las Vegas only see the strip and the casinos. Once you leave this area, its just like any other major city except that its cleaner and newer. Below are my thoughts on relocating to Las Vegas from someone who has lived in other cities and countries.

• The casinos and gambling has little or no impact on daily lives, except to pay so much tax that there is no state tax. The "sin city" image is far from reality. Once you leave the strip, its just like any other major city except its cleaner and newer and better organized.
• There are a lot of fun things to do in the area without stepping inside a casino. See Things To Do In And Around Las Vegas for some of the fun things to do around Las Vegas.
• Nevada is a business friendly state with no personal income taxes. Corporate laws adopted in 1996 closely resemble Delaware's in which most US companies are incorporated. This business friendly environment, next door to an anti-business state, makes Nevada and especially Las Vegas a great place for companies to relocate.
• Is Las Vegas a safe place to live; is there crime in Las Vegas? Like any place in the world there is crime. The types and frequency are location dependant like every other city. Are there areas in Las vegas where crime is less frequent? Yes. I live in the southwest and, while there are occasional crimes, they occur less often than other areas of Las Vegas. Have I ever experienced any sort of crime? No. However, if you are particularly concerned about crime you can get detailed information from the Las Vegas Metro police department at: http://www.lvmpd.com/crimeviewcommunity/. In summary, I've lived in multiple cities in the US and Asia and spent a good bit of time in Europe, Africa and the middle east. As I have found everywhere else, using common sense will greatly reduce the odds of you ever personally experiencing crime.
• Despite the fact that there are vast open tracts of land surrounding Las Vegas, Las Vegas has an acute land shortage. Almost all of the land surrounding Las Vegas is either federal or state owned and not open for development. Additionally, Las Vegas is surrounded by mountains. So, with the continued migration of people to Las Vegas, prices of homes will continue to rise making Las Vegas an excellent investment.
• About 79% of Nevada's land is owned by the federal government.
• Las Vegas is mostly a new city with most of it built after 1960. In fact, an "older" home here is anything built before 1985.
• Las Vegas is very "organized". For the most part, Las Vegas is a city of subdivisions. Most subdivisions were built by a single developer based on 4 to 8 plans so every home in the subdivision tends to be similar.
• Due to the temperatures, roofs are typically tile (and have very long lives), almost all homes have stucco exteriors with light desert tones and "fences" are made from concrete blocks.
• Lots tend to be small and flat compared to most cities.
• The city is laid out on a true north-south, east-west grid making it easy to get around.
• Traffic is mild compared to most cities. This is largely due to the overall well planned infrastructure and controlled development. That said, Las Vegas is continually growing and that means road work. When road work starts, traffic jams occur. Nothing like LA's I-5 or NYC's LIE, but we do have traffic.
• What is the average temperature and rainfall in Las Vegas? See the table below. Note that while the temperature is high in certain months, the dryness makes it very livable. Also, the city is set up for such temperatures. For examples, most of the sports parts have lights since games are plaid at night.
  

  Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
  High	57	63	69	78	88	100	106	103	95	82	67	58
  Low	34	34	44	51	60	69	76	74	66	54	43	34
  Rain (in)	0.5	0.5	0.4	0.2	0.3	0.1	0.4	0.5	0.3	0.2	0.4	0.4

• Las Vegas averages about 310 days a year of sunshine.
• The nearest ski area to Las Vegas is about 45 min north west.

Contact me if you are considering buying or selling Las Vegas real estate. You will be glad you did.

...Eric

Eric Fernwood
RE/MAX CENTRAL
8400 W. Sahara Ave
Las Vegas NV 89117
Email: EricFernwood@gmail.com
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