We live on S. Las Vegas Boulevard, 10 min or so from the Strip. I'm not too familiar with Summerlin yet, but we've been all over in Vegas and Henderson. I can find my way around pretty good.

I understand how busy you must be, but I'd love to meet up sometime! I have kind of a crazy schedule too, mostly between work and friends/family coming out to visit in June/July. I'm sure I can figure something out. Let me know when things settle down for you too.

I sent you a PM with my Skype ID. Let's chat and figure something out soon.

Do you live in Loft5? I just signed a lease there and I'm moving in June. If so, how do you like it? I'm used to living in the SW/Summerlin area and making the move to just south of the Strip really shouldn't be all that different.

And to OP, I'm a guy, but yeah - stay away from North Las Vegas or being East of Eastern on the East side.

Does that include anything North (and east or west) of 95?
I'm looking in NW and SW quadrants of Vegas for houses right now...

You can find decent pockets in the NW....especially around 95 and the 215, but the problem is, you're about as far from everywhere else as you can be.

If you're looking for a house to buy, I'd stick with the SW - you can find some great deals these days, obviously...and if you like older homes with character like a previous poster mentioned, Spring Valley is in a perfect location - you're close enough to the Strip and close enough to Summerlin and Red Rock. And you can find some cool 70s and 80s homes for a lot less than what I paid for one 6 years ago! Just do your due diligence on the state of the house, etc.

South is good too for drive time. There are some neighborhoods right off 15 on blue diamond, and the door-to-door travel to bellagio is 10 minutes. (bellagio has valet entrance right off 15 and flamingo).

The houses are old, but as far as being close and in a safe area, Spring Valley is best choice.

Ok, so please help me tweak this. Based on everyone's input, the area in blue seems to be the area that is the most desirable, safest, least traffic and good distance to the Strip (sanity purposes).

Do I need to shrink or enlarge the area? I plan on giving this to my Realtor. The 'A' inside the blue box is Red Rock.

I live just south of the blue box. Pretty much around the area where 215 starts going N/S instead of E/W (outside of the beltway). You could easily extend the blue box south and pick up some nice areas.

However, IMO, the blue boxed area is definitely nicer overall than other parts of town.

One thing that most people don't know . . . the Scotch 80s are fantastic. Gorgeous mostly ranch-style homes. VERY close to the Strip. The only bad part is that the stuff around the Scotch 80s isn't all that fantastic.

Yea, I have looked at some of those types of homes.....I am tempted but I'm just so afraid to buy a home that is 10+ years old. I built my house that I have now, and so am pretty spoiled as far as this type of design (vaulted ceilings and crown molding in every room and wide open floor plan. Plus I am really unaware of how to fix anything or do any normal type of household "fixing" and so newer is just a safer bet for me.

I made the blue box cut.

How about you narrow it to 5 minutes from my house...hehehe. Selfishness aside though, I agree with CKBWOP about extending the box south a bit.

I just want to make the blue box cut!!!

I'm also south of the box and preposterously offended by my exclusion

I've lived here all my life. You cannot go wrong in your blue box. Excellent area. Avoid HOA's if you can.

GL

Wow, I'm shocked, shocked I tell you, that the neighborhood of my former Vegas residence didn't make the cut.

International Apartments
2500 Lynnwood Street, Las Vegas, NV 89109

Of course, even when I lived there in the 80's I think a bunch of the rooms were rented by the hour, and the neighborhood doesn't seem to have gotten any better. It was/is cheap however.

I'm appreciative of folks for their input; we're looking at a vacation home in the area and this is very helpful info.

Kudos,

Shauna

Katie,

I'd move the top of the blue box south some to about Charleston - i lived out that way and it's too far from everything. And you can move the bottom of the box south as well to about Warm Springs. I'd also move your box east to Decatur.

I know this will probably get read by you and others like you, thinking about moving to Vegas. I came up with this years ago as a way to kind of get a feel about a neighborhood you're checking out.

What I recommend is that you visit a few convenience stores in the area that you're checking out. Visit them during the day and at night (if that's possible). Look at the people in and around the store. These are a lot of the people who live in the area. How do they look? What kind of cars are they driving? Do you see any pan handlers/beggers? Is there a ton of foot traffic? These are some of the things you should try and observe at and around the convenience stores. I know it sounds judgmental, rude, superficial.. whatever.. but it works.

I'm just suggesting that you get a good view of the area before it becomes your view. Grocery stores are another good place to look (especially a Wal-Mart). Give yourself time and do your due diligence. Vegas is a good place to live, but like everywhere else, there are the good parts and then there are the not-so-good parts. Both are easy to find (if you know where to look).

Again, good luck with the move and with the house hunting. I hope you find what you're looking for.

As someone who moved to Vegas for poker, I'd actually suggest that you don't completely rule out staying on the Strip the first few weeks or couple of months. Even though you seem to have been to Vegas before, you don't know what it's like as a live poker pro and Vegas off-strip is different to the Strip. Now there are indeed nice areas like Summerlin and in fact I would include Summerlin South which imho is nicer than Summerlin, more convenient to the strip/airport and also easier to get out of town esp. if you play some events in LA from time to time. However, purchasing a condo/house in a declining housing market or even just renting = longterm commitments. Staying on the Strip isn't much more expensive, in fact you can easily get it done at around $1K a month. But you dont pay bills, there are no commitments, and you walk to work in this great weather as opposed to needing a car and paying some of the highest insurance rates in the country. LV is also always in the top 5 most car theft per capita in America. And as you would know as a poker pro, time=money and being in walking distance to poker rooms = time and therefore money saved.

And once you've lived on the Strip for a couple of months you can easily then move off Strip.

Anyway just a suggestion, and it's worked out for me, if you need any other advice on moving or poker in vegas etc just send me a message.. good luck.

I'm not moving to Vegas but I would like to start going there for several months each year. Where are you suggesting for this price? Would this be possible for month to month as opposed to an annual lease?

I would not want to live north of the Summerlin Parkway. My blue box would be the southern half of the blue box posted. I would also be willing to live in several places in Green Valley. If you're open to living in a condo a lot more places become viable.

+1, I'd really like to hear more about this, since I'm there every year and not sure if we're ready to buy until the market improves. Can you give some specifics on locations?

thanks,

Shauna

Well if you go to Caesars.com or Totalrewards.com you can find plenty of properties belonging to Caesars that offer cheap rates if you book in advance, eg. Imperial Palace, Harrah's, Bally's, etc kind of in ascending order in price. MGM properties have higher nightly rates so unless you want to pay $100+ midweek then forget those. If you don't mind Motel 6 or Rodeway Inn there's a couple of them at the bottom and top ends of Strip that offer on avg. $30-50 a night if you book ahead. Also there's timeshare options and apartment shortterm rentals like Polo Towers near Planet Hollywood. The drawback is you won't have your own kitchen to cook in most cases (except timeshare), but the way I've done it, it works out to be around $1-1.2K a month for a decent, but not great room. Sometimes you can't book a month at a time because casinos won't let you but you book around 10 nights in a row and then just extend or re-check in. And the hours you put in at the cash tables will get you comps which should take care of a significant part of your food spending. The thing about living on the Strip for a few months is, you don't need to worry about having a car, high insurance premiums, no bills to pay, etc etc. And if you learn to trust the bus system here(a little daunting at first but they are mostly safe) then once a couple of weeks I just get a Day Pass($5) and head out to Walmart to get supplies like shampoo etc(cheaper than from Strip pharmacies) or get some clothes and have a couple of meals out there in the suburbs eg. In N Out Burger which you don't find on the Strip. Or you can always rent a car for a few days every few weeks which is also like taking a "break" away from the tables.

Now it's WSOP time and previously I've looked at doing the "poker house" thing but quite frankly I wouldn't have it any other way... I'm within a short walk(5min) to Venetian, Caesars Palace, Bellagio, and free shuttle to Rio. And since online poker is now banned, the incentive there is to grind online which would be easier to do with broadband connection in a poker house, is no longer there. So hotel wi-fi once or twice a week to check email etc is all that I need.

The housing market in Vegas is still somewhat declining and won't start recovering for another year or two so there's really no need to rush to buy... it's OK to buy now, but you aren't going to start seeing prices go up anytime soon.

I suggest searching for an answer in the Las Vegas Lifestyle forum. Based on experience elsewhere, you'll need to find something cheap, then call the hotel directly. If you're willing to commit to a month, many hotels will give you a considerable discount on the nightly rate, especially if you are willing to only have maid service once a week. Unless you're changing your sheets and towels more frequently at home, that should be enough.

Thanks for the info. I stayed at Polo Towers in May just to see what it was like. I wanted to have a kitchen on that trip. I was in the lock out section I think it's called with just small fridge and microwave but it was enough for the week. It was about $45 per night. The one bedroom units have a full kitchen. Last year I got a great deal at Summer Bay Resort on Koval behind the Flamingo. It was $80 average per night but was a 2bed/2bath (my daughter was with me) with full kitchen, washer & dryer, dishwasher and fireplace, great shuttle service. They even take you to the grocery store. I think there was a queen size sofabed too. Too much for one person but nice to share. I think for long term it's important to have a kichen of some sort.

As to the bus service, I've found that if I'm there for at least 2 weeks, it's worth buying a monthly pass. I qualify for the senior rate so it's about $30. In two weeks I know I'll be on the bus more than 5 days so I save money and it's very convenient to have the pass. I've even jumped on the bus to go along the strip at some very late hours and have always felt safe. There's just so many people around all the time.

My packing progress so far.
Anyone in Vegas know of a good way to find/hire a few strong guys I can pay to unload the truck(s) I am driving to Vegas in a few months? I have decided against paying the ~$8k I am being quoted for commercial moving companies and opting for the $684 Budget Truck Rental

Win the ladies event and FT the ME and I'll fly out and help...