Buy a home in Las Vegas?

Several years ago (2005?) the Wizard mentioned he lived in Peccole Ranch. Is this still a nice place to live? I've been casually watching home values for the last few years and I'm ready to buy now. I will try to rent the home for the next 6 years, then live in it with my wife and retire. I'm considering Summerlin, Henderson (any others I should consider?). How concerned should I be about crime? I remember the Wizard saying his home was broken into a few years ago. I currently live in the Midwest. Would love any suggestions or advice. Thank you.

Peccole Ranch is a nice and well-located area. Yes, my home there was robbed several years ago, but they didn't get much. Property crime is high all over Vegas and I think Peccole Ranch is average for a semi-affluent area in Vegas.

Beware of a history of a defaulted mortgage ... some of those foreclosure sales are in legal limbo due to fraudulent lack of notice and those properties are in a sort of legal limbo right now.

I'm actively looking for a home in Vegas too. I have a real estate agent and Zillow to guide me. I've found some good stuff and some trashed houses. It's amazing how spiteful some people can be, houses destroyed on the inside. Walls wrecked, copper stripped, rugs cut up, mold from faucets left on and overflowing. It's important to inspect! For example, I was interested in 3457 Red Rock Lane, it has some nice outdoor photos but I didn't see any indoor photos so I sent in my agent. He said the place is a disaster on the inside, will need $150,000 in repairs.

I've crossed that one off my list.

Quote: MakingBook

Several years ago (2005?) the Wizard mentioned he lived in Peccole Ranch. Is this still a nice place to live? I've been casually watching home values for the last few years and I'm ready to buy now. I will try to rent the home for the next 6 years, then live in it with my wife and retire.

In your casual watching what made you determine that bottom has been reached? I assume that is why you want to purchase the property as a rental property for six years then retire there.


Just in general, you hear many stories about people that bought a house or land in a plan for retirement, than something major happens and they regret the decision. You could end up fighting with unruly tenants for years who damage your house, just of ind in 5 years that the house price has dropped even lower. You could also find that life changes have made you no longer want to move to Vegas. Are you sure you don't want to bank your money until you retire and then buy the house you want when you are ready to move in?

Home ownership before WWII was impractical, houses
didn't appreciate in value enough. We're back to that
again. You're better off renting.

I, of course, could be wrong, but I think we're near the bottom. In my opinion you would lose more by renting, waiting for the bottom to be confirmed, than you will by buying now and possibly losing a little before things pick up again. You can see from Paco's graph prices in 89117 have dropped about 15% in the last three years, which is not that bad. You would pay more than 15% of the value of a house renting it for three years.

There is no shortage of such trashed houses in Vegas. One I looked at didn't even discount the price for hundreds of thousands in damages.

Quote: Wizard

I, of course, could be wrong, but I think we're near the bottom.

If you bought a house in 1910 and sold it in
1940, you generally got your money back plus
whatever inflation was. You made nothing on
your investment. Many think thats what we're
going back to, a house will not go up enough
fast enough to make it a good investment.

In the 30's and 40's people like Bob Hope and
Bing Crosby invested heavily in So/Cal real
estate because they saw what was coming. In
the 50's and 60's they made huge profits on
their property, when the housing boom swung
into high gear. I moved to Calif in '76 and the
craziness was just starting there, people were
buying a house and selling it 2 years later for
twice what they paid. We'll never see that again.

Quote: Wizard

In my opinion you would lose more by renting, waiting for the bottom to be confirmed, than you will by buying now and possibly losing a little before things pick up again.

There are two different questions. One is would it be wise to move to Vegas and rent for three years waiting for the absolute bottom. I would agree that probably is not a good idea.

But the OP was talking about purchasing a house in Vegas, and living the in the Midwest for 6 years while renting the house as an absentee landlord. He would then move to Vegas to take over the rental as his retirement home. That only seems like a good decision if you think house prices will zoom out of control in the next few years.

Quote: pacomartin

That only seems like a good decision if you think house prices will zoom out of control in the next few years.

For that to happen, Vegas will have to boom again. And
for that to happen, most of the casinos that are in other states
will have to close. Not only are they not closing, more are
opening all the time. When has a boom ever happened
twice in the same place?