Buying a house
Easy to sign up, but not as easy to leave.
Quote: 100xOddsQuote: SOOPOOSo driving down in a few days to move into recently bought Florida house! Will be there around 4 months. So went into local Spectrum store to find out what to do so I’m not paying the $277 a month my internet/cable bill has ballooned to.
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Yeah, $275 is apparently the max pain point customers are willing to bend over for before they call to cancel.
My mom's verizon cable/internet/home phone quickly shot up to $275/month but only like $290 now after a few years after.
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$275 for cable and internet?? I’m guessing $200 of that is the cable?
Quote: AZDuffman$275 for cable and internet?? I’m guessing $200 of that is the cable?
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Mine just jumped from $240/month to $300 after the "contract discount" expired (and apparently it's going up to $325 next month for some reason). It's $128 for cable (plus $12 for Paramount+ with Showtime), $95 for Gigabit internet with unlimited downloads, and $15 for VOIP phone, plus $25 for the WiFi, and about $35 in fees (not including the $18 "regional sports fee", which I included in the cable cost).
I pay around $150 a year for full access to MLB.tv
Step 1 - retire from my job - check
Step 2 - start getting serious about finding somewhere in Vegas, or at least the "Vegas area," to live.
Right now, I am looking at Peccole Ranch, out in Summerlin (bordered by Charleston, Fort Apache, Sahara, and Hualapai). Any thoughts on that, or nearby, areas? I should be able to pay up to $600,000.
Quote: ThatDonGuyTime to check my checklist:
Step 1 - retire from my job - check
Step 2 - start getting serious about finding somewhere in Vegas, or at least the "Vegas area," to live.
Right now, I am looking at Peccole Ranch, out in Summerlin (bordered by Charleston, Fort Apache, Sahara, and Hualapai). Any thoughts on that, or nearby, areas? I should be able to pay up to $600,000.
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Check the Vegas crime map. Just kidding. I think.
https://opendata-lvmpd.hub.arcgis.com/
Quote: ThatDonGuyTime to check my checklist:
Step 1 - retire from my job - check
Step 2 - start getting serious about finding somewhere in Vegas, or at least the "Vegas area," to live.
Right now, I am looking at Peccole Ranch, out in Summerlin (bordered by Charleston, Fort Apache, Sahara, and Hualapai). Any thoughts on that, or nearby, areas? I should be able to pay up to $600,000.
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Most areas of Summerlin are nice. My biggest factor would be ease of freeway access from my home.
Quote: ThatDonGuyTime to check my checklist:
Step 1 - retire from my job - check
Step 2 - start getting serious about finding somewhere in Vegas, or at least the "Vegas area," to live.
Right now, I am looking at Peccole Ranch, out in Summerlin (bordered by Charleston, Fort Apache, Sahara, and Hualapai). Any thoughts on that, or nearby, areas? I should be able to pay up to $600,000.
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Congrats. House or condo? HOA or no HOA? Near the strip or nothing to do with the strip?
My Buffalo friends moved mostly to Henderson. All are happy with their choice. Houses ranging from below your price range to some multiple. They tell me they go to the strip maybe a few times a year. Usually when visitors (like me!) are in town.
Your choice of Summerlin is also nice. I think it’s a bit more expensive than Henderson. So maybe a little less bang for your buck.
Good luck!
General advice. CUL DE SAC. Both my houses are on Cul De Sacs and I’m not sure how you can put a value on NO TRAFFIC ever in front of your house.
Quote: ThatDonGuyTime to check my checklist:
Step 1 - retire from my job - check
Step 2 - start getting serious about finding somewhere in Vegas, or at least the "Vegas area," to live.
Right now, I am looking at Peccole Ranch, out in Summerlin (bordered by Charleston, Fort Apache, Sahara, and Hualapai). Any thoughts on that, or nearby, areas? I should be able to pay up to $600,000.
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My friends bought just west of Fort Apache, and south of Twain. It's a non-HOA neighborhood, but it has limited access so it is quiet. They love the neighborhood, for it's convenience. He works on the strip and it's a short commute. I think it is a bit cheaper than Summerlin proper but isn't as desireable.
One thing I don't like in his house is the stairs. You walk into a hall. To the left you take five steps down to his great room. Proceeding straight, brings you to six steps up to the kitchen or four steps down to the dining room/living room, guest suite. Not the ideal layout for retirement.
Quote: SOOPOO
Congrats. House or condo? HOA or no HOA? Near the strip or nothing to do with the strip?
If he says near the strip he will lose all the credibility he has built with me. When I first moved to Vegas in 1990 I looked at an apartment about a block from the strip. I am so happy I didn't follow through, most places near the strip are very sketchy.
Quote: billryanQuote: ThatDonGuyTime to check my checklist:
Step 1 - retire from my job - check
Step 2 - start getting serious about finding somewhere in Vegas, or at least the "Vegas area," to live.
Right now, I am looking at Peccole Ranch, out in Summerlin (bordered by Charleston, Fort Apache, Sahara, and Hualapai). Any thoughts on that, or nearby, areas? I should be able to pay up to $600,000.
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My friends bought just west of Fort Apache, and south of Twain. It's a non-HOA neighborhood, but it has limited access so it is quiet. They love the neighborhood, for it's convenience. He works on the strip and it's a short commute. I think it is a bit cheaper than Summerlin proper but isn't as desireable.
One thing I don't like in his house is the stairs. You walk into a hall. To the left you take five steps down to his great room. Proceeding straight, brings you to six steps up to the kitchen or four steps down to the dining room/living room, guest suite. Not the ideal layout for retirement.
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My last house in Vegas had many levels. Steps from the formal living room into the dining room and kitchen. Steps down to the family room and bar. Steps into the game room. They were all just two or three steps but I came to hate it.
Quote: SOOPOOCongrats. House or condo? HOA or no HOA? Near the strip or nothing to do with the strip?
My Buffalo friends moved mostly to Henderson. All are happy with their choice. Houses ranging from below your price range to some multiple. They tell me they go to the strip maybe a few times a year. Usually when visitors (like me!) are in town.
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I wouldn't say "no" to Henderson, but what parts of it are good, and what parts are sketchy? I thought the consensus was, stay west of the Strip.
You should know me well enough by now to know that, with me, "getting to the strip" would probably just be a matter of finding the nearest bus stop. Besides, I would have a car, and as long as Caesar's maintains its "free parking for Platinum card holders," parking near the Strip shouldn't be a problem.
Going to the Strip regularly is not a necessity, especially with what they charge for things there; I have lived in the San Francisco area my entire life, but I think I've been to San Francisco itself two or three times in the past 25 years.
Quote: DRichQuote: SOOPOO
Congrats. House or condo? HOA or no HOA? Near the strip or nothing to do with the strip?
If he says near the strip he will lose all the credibility he has built with me. When I first moved to Vegas in 1990 I looked at an apartment about a block from the strip. I am so happy I didn't follow through, most places near the strip are very sketchy.
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It's all a matter of one's needs, preferences, and sensitivities. I happen to live in the most violent part of the city that doesn't share a name with a national holiday, according to the cops. Been here 6 months now. And it only bothers me a little. The way I see it- I'm here for the money, and a penny saved is a penny earned. I'd be a sorry excuse for an AP if I wasn't willing to do risky things in nasty places. I understand that the guys with wives and families have to do everything differently than I do. Toilet seat down, no dirty socks and underwear on the floor, and no living in neighborhoods where the bums inject and perform deviate acts a few dozen feet from the door.
Also I have a market prediction: that in the next couple of years housing prices will be going down, especially on the lower half of the market which is where I belong. This is due to people leaving the United States, not of their own volition, and a resulting surplus of lowest-end housing trickling up to the kind of place I would buy. For the same reason, there will be some changes in which neighborhoods are good and which are not good. So I'll call and wait for the flop(house).
Quote: ThatDonGuyQuote: SOOPOOCongrats. House or condo? HOA or no HOA? Near the strip or nothing to do with the strip?
My Buffalo friends moved mostly to Henderson. All are happy with their choice. Houses ranging from below your price range to some multiple. They tell me they go to the strip maybe a few times a year. Usually when visitors (like me!) are in town.
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I wouldn't say "no" to Henderson, but what parts of it are good, and what parts are sketchy? I thought the consensus was, stay west of the Strip.
You should know me well enough by now to know that, with me, "getting to the strip" would probably just be a matter of finding the nearest bus stop. Besides, I would have a car, and as long as Caesar's maintains its "free parking for Platinum card holders," parking near the Strip shouldn't be a problem.
Going to the Strip regularly is not a necessity, especially with what they charge for things there; I have lived in the San Francisco area my entire life, but I think I've been to San Francisco itself two or three times in the past 25 years.
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There are some nice areas of "Henderson". When I say Henderson I do not mean in the city of Henderson. The "Green Valley" area of Henderson was what Summerlin is. About 30 years ago it was the up and coming new neighborhood. I spent almost my whole 30 years in Vegas in the "Green Valley" area. I don't recall any part of Green Valley as being bad, but part of it is getting dated. If you decide Green Valley is a possibility for you I can probably help guide you. I believe Wizard still lives in the Summerlin area and may be able to guide you there.
My last house was on the border of Green Valley and Las Vegas in the Wigwam/Pecos area.
The Dam but I think it is too far. Horizon Drive has the best view in the Valley.
Quote: billryanOne thing I don't like in his house is the stairs. You walk into a hall. To the left you take five steps down to his great room. Proceeding straight, brings you to six steps up to the kitchen or four steps down to the dining room/living room, guest suite. Not the ideal layout for retirement.
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Stairs are good for old people that dont have mobility problems.
stairs keep people from having mobility problems for longer.
if you already have mobility problems, why the heck did you buy a house with so many stairs?
Quote: 100xOddsQuote: billryanOne thing I don't like in his house is the stairs. You walk into a hall. To the left you take five steps down to his great room. Proceeding straight, brings you to six steps up to the kitchen or four steps down to the dining room/living room, guest suite. Not the ideal layout for retirement.
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Stairs are good for old people that dont have mobility problems.
stairs keep people from having mobility problems for longer.
if you already have mobility problems, why the heck did you buy a house with so many stairs?
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I didn't .I live in a one-level two-bedroom/two-bathroom home that is more than enough for my wants. My friends live on a multi-floor house, where you need to go up and down stairs all day., and where they use their phones to call the kids to dinner.
I think it is a point worth mentioning for someone considering buying a retirement house. What we can do at 65 may not be possible at 80.
If the seller was thirty, I wouldn't mention it, as the design lets you get more house for the money.
Worth thinking about if your idea of independence includes doing your own laundry.
If you intend to be the kind of old guy who spends days puttering in the workshop, having a basement to put the workshop in can help keep the peace. If your puttering involves boats or furniture, having a reasonably large ground level basement door that lets you get the raw materials in and the finished stuff out can aid in your sanity.
Quote: DieterHaving watched a number of people build their retirement homes, the big idea that stuck with me was putting laundry equipment on the same floor as the bedrooms. Laundry chutes were great back in the olden days, because you didn't have to carry the stuff downstairs. Modern laundry equipment is generally unobtrusive enough to not require relegation to the basement, so you can also spare the effort of having to haul all the linens back upstairs.
Also consider some demographic and economic changes from when large old houses were built. Anything involving laundry, cleaning, or cooking was intended to be used not by the owners, but by servants. Once a house reached a certain size it was with the understanding that there would be servants.
Large houses also housed large families and multiple generations and to have 3-4 generations under the same roof was not unheard of. I had neighbors with 4 gens in a somewhat large, 3 story house. So there were always kids to whom the servant tasks can be assigned.
Quote: AutomaticMonkeyQuote: DieterHaving watched a number of people build their retirement homes, the big idea that stuck with me was putting laundry equipment on the same floor as the bedrooms. Laundry chutes were great back in the olden days, because you didn't have to carry the stuff downstairs. Modern laundry equipment is generally unobtrusive enough to not require relegation to the basement, so you can also spare the effort of having to haul all the linens back upstairs.
Also consider some demographic and economic changes from when large old houses were built. Anything involving laundry, cleaning, or cooking was intended to be used not by the owners, but by servants. Once a house reached a certain size it was with the understanding that there would be servants.
Large houses also housed large families and multiple generations and to have 3-4 generations under the same roof was not unheard of. I had neighbors with 4 gens in a somewhat large, 3 story house. So there were always kids to whom the servant tasks can be assigned.
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I'm all for using the younglings as conscripted labor.
I have, as yet, been unable to successfully inspire the daughters to pitch in.
This does raise a great point - if you'll want the grandkids to come stay on an extended basis ("for the summer"), make sure there are enough rooms, and that you're not in a strict 55+ community.
Quote: DieterQuote: AutomaticMonkeyQuote: DieterHaving watched a number of people build their retirement homes, the big idea that stuck with me was putting laundry equipment on the same floor as the bedrooms. Laundry chutes were great back in the olden days, because you didn't have to carry the stuff downstairs. Modern laundry equipment is generally unobtrusive enough to not require relegation to the basement, so you can also spare the effort of having to haul all the linens back upstairs.
Also consider some demographic and economic changes from when large old houses were built. Anything involving laundry, cleaning, or cooking was intended to be used not by the owners, but by servants. Once a house reached a certain size it was with the understanding that there would be servants.
Large houses also housed large families and multiple generations and to have 3-4 generations under the same roof was not unheard of. I had neighbors with 4 gens in a somewhat large, 3 story house. So there were always kids to whom the servant tasks can be assigned.
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I'm all for using the younglings as conscripted labor.
I have, as yet, been unable to successfully inspire the daughters to pitch in.
This does raise a great point - if you'll want the grandkids to come stay on an extended basis ("for the summer"), make sure there are enough rooms, and that you're not in a strict 55+ community.... aside from a few "OK Boomer" moments.
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The best thing about my 55 and over community is my relatives stays are limited.
Quote: billryanThe best thing about my 55 and over community is my relatives stays are limited.
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A perfectly valid counterpoint.
