How is Vegas to live in?

First, I know the recession has hit LV very, very hard. So please consider how you would answer this question in "normal times" vs. 2009. Life will get back to normal, whatever that means in Vegas :-)

OK, here's the deal. I've visited a few times. I like casinos and may try to get into a gaming career. Otherwise my background is mortgage processing and underwriting, which I'm sure has a place out there. So economically I am confident I can make a go of it when normalcy returns. No plans to move for 2-3 years anyways.

So, has anyone out there relocated to Las Vegas? Why did you do it? Did you stay? I lived in Phoenix a few years and liked the weather but the grocery stores and restaurants kind of sucked. How does Vegas compare here?

Also, Phoenix had the weird thing that a good neighborhood could be pretty close to a bad one. How are the neighborhoods in LV?

Finally, how hard is it to meet people and make friends there? As a tansient city I hear it is hard, is that true?

I don't think I could live in Las Vegas. I'd be broke for sure.
Some locals never go near a casino, other locals just never go near The Strip.
There are certainly cheap entertainment offerings all over the place.

Meeting people? I've heard that in some areas they are very sociable and will not hesitate to come up to you on the street: men, women, In-Betweeners, muggers, beggars. And then there are the poorer neighborhoods too!

Atleast you know what Phoenix temperatures are like so for Vegas add strong winds.

I have lived in Las Vegas, I have been going to Vegas for 30 plus years and I have very dear friends in Vegas. Would I move there yes.

The economy will come back
Great weather (if you like the heat)
Excellent food and places to eat (somewhat reasonable)
Great entertainment (everyone gets to Vegas)
Skiing in the Winter, Boating in the Summer
Excellent Airport
Excellent Golf
And all pretty much in a 6 mile square radius.
That said choose your place to live wisely
Henderson, Summerlin, South Highlands to name a few. If your of retirement age, pick a
retirement community with a golf course. good friends and very cheap golf.

I've lived in Vegas for 6 years, and over all, I really like it. I moved here because I wanted to be near mountains -- relocated from Florida. I love to hike, climb and camp, and I really wanted to be close to some national parks. There are 6 national parks within a 5 hour drive of Vegas.

As for the weather, I hate the summers (once it gets over 100, I'm annoyed). It's a better climate than Florida, though, as I'd rather deal with 110 with 5% humidity than 92 with 98% humidity. I like that there is a change of seasons. It gets cold in Vegas during the winter, but it rarely snows since we don't get much precipitation (just 4.5 inches a year). As a previous poster said, it is windy here, especially in the spring.

Gambling has never been a big thing for me, but I love having the big casinos and the action of the strip nearby. Even after 6 years, I feel like I'm on vacation everytime I go down to the strip for an afternoon. The entertainment is unparalleled.

I think the restaurants are very good, on and off the strip. Plenty of variety, and you can find some affordable spots. It's not all chain restaurants, which is nice.

Good grocery shopping, too. Smiths, Vons and Albertsons are the biggies. We have a few Whole Foods Markets, and there are also some Fresh and Easys and Trader Joes around, too. If you're not familiar with them, both sell primarily their own line, with Fresh and Easy focusing on organics/naturals and Trader Joes focusing on specialty foods.

As for the neighborhoods and the people, this is where I give Las Vegas low marks. I'm not sure if it's because of the transient population, but my experience is your neighbors stay to themselves. I've lived in my house for almost 6 years, and I have had conversations with probably only 2 or 3 of them. Now I haven't really made an effort, so it could very well be my own fault. What's ironic, is we are practically living on top of one another (small lots). You'd think we'd be closer.

Crime is high in Vegas, too. And if you have school-age kids, I hear the schools are among some of the worst in the nation.

The thing I most dislike about Las Vegas are the extraordinarly long traffic signals.

LV has the highest pedestrian fatality rate per capita in the U.S. I know a cop who had a strip beat for 7 years -- he was so happy to get a transfer to Henderson. He was tired of shovelling up tourists.

--Dorothy

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I'm going to write an article about this eventually. Briefly, I moved to Vegas in 2001. Like any place, it has its pros and cons. Here is a brief list:

Pros:

1. No state income tax.
2. Low cost of housing (especially now).
3. Great food/entertainment. You have all of Vegas right in your backyard.
4. Scenery. Vegas doesn't get enough credit for being close to the mountains and lots of state and National parks.

Cons:

1. Crime is rather high, especially property crime. My house was robbed a few years ago.
2. Bad education system. Nevada is a vehemently anti-tax state. However, you get what you pay for when it comes to funding public schools. Also note that a city of almost two million people has only one major university (UNLV). Baltimore, where I moved from, had about the same population, but lots of outstanding colleges.
3. Apathy. Vegas is a transient city. People live here for a while and move on. Thus it is hard to make friends, because if you don't leave town, the other person probably will.
4. One industry city. Somehow a city that revolves around gambling can get suffocating. Just about everybody here work directly in gambling, or providing a service to those who do. Somehow, the texture of life is just richer in cities like San Francisco or Seattle. It is hard to put into words.

One of my mother-in-law's friends moved to Vegas a few years ago. Got a job as a cashier in a casino cage in an off-strip casino. She moved back to NY after about 4 years. I don't really know why.


When I was in Vegas in September, I stayed at Sahara. My first night, at about 9pm, I walked 1.2 miles to Albertsons to get a styrofoam cooler and some groceries. (Sahara doesn't have refeigerators but DOES provide free ice. The ice in my cooler kept the perishables in good shape.)

Anyway, I felt very safe walking to the store on that deserted street at night. It was a main road, cars were passing relatively frequently, etc.

After shopping, I took the bus back. While waiting for the bus, a local about my age, approached and sat to wait. Because I had placed my stuff on the bench, and was basically just standing near it, he told me I was taking a big risk like that. Crime is high. Leaving my stuff unattended (Unattended? I was less than 10 feet away!) is an invitation for someone to snatch it.

So I sat, and put the stuff between my legs, and continued the conversation. He started telling me stroies of all the crime in town. I told him it wasn't a big deal. I grew up in New York City. But I started to feel that walking to Albertsons might have been a mistake. Maybe the safe feeling was just an illusion. Or I was lucky. Whatever.

I also had a feeling that, if I wanted to, I could have made friends with that guy.

So there's both sides of that coin.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

I started to feel that walking to Albertsons might have been a mistake.

Perhaps not. Walking might have been such a foolish thing that the predators think you must be crazy and therefore not one they want to tangle with. Waiting at a bus stop you are stationary, acting normal, encumbered and distracted. That might have been less safe!

I agree with that local. I looked it up, and you went eastbound to the Albertsons on Sahara and Maryland Pkwy.. I would not care to take that walk at night. Sahara is a busy street, so you have that in your favor, but it borders one of the seediest areas of Las Vegas. You were not far from Luv-It Frozen Custard, which the actress who plays Kelly on the Office recently ranted about on the Late' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>http://blogs.lasvegascitylife.com/cityblog/2009/09/15/luv-it-or-leave-it/]Late Late Show. Some in Vegas took offense at her commentary of her experience there, but I agree with her. I went there just last Sunday to check it out, and it was teeming with homeless people. However, the custard was good.

A few years ago when I was playing (great single deck) blackjack downtown and doing a lot of walking between casinos, the police were giving escorts to pedestrians who were walking from the Lady Luck hotel to the Las Vegas Club on E. Ogden Ave. I took a cab from the Golden Spike to the Las Vegas Club.

--Dorothy

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