So I'm headed to vegas for the Kobalt 400 (any nascar fans here? ) and my wife and I have wanted to buy a second home in vegas for a while now. We've sort of just been waiting to save up money, and let the market drop a little more, but long story short, we're ready now.

I wanted to post on 2+2 and see if anyone could maybe help point me in the right direction.

Our max price is $140K, with HOA fees of $300 per month. (this is how much I have saved up, so we could go over if need be, but I prefer to not have a loan on a second home, rather just wait and save up for it)

We'd like to get a 2/1, 2/2, 3/1, or 3/2 (3 bed 2 bathroom).

The top 3 things we'd like are (in order):

1.) security (will be having a child in the next 3-4 years)

2.) garage/parking spot (having a garage isn't necessary, but I would like to leave a car down there 24/7/365)

3.) Closeness to strip. (being anywhere within 30 minutes drive of any strip casino is close enough, I'm from Idaho and driving 30 minutes to get somewhere is normal/standard)

I've bought and sold several pieces of real estate, so that side I'm not worried/concerned about. I'm more looking to see if anyone has input on neighborhoods etc. I've been to vegas half a dozen times, but I certainly don't know "that" much about it. I basically want a place where I can stay for the 6 weeks during the WSOP, and also for other random donkaments (like venetian deep stacked) and not have to stay in hotels...because I hate hotels.

I'm not saying this is a bad decision as I'm mostly just curious with no real idea, but have you considered renting a house when you visit instead? I've never quite understood how these vacation homes are a good decision financially, but I'm open to being wrong?

I'd love to see some mathematics on this that show buying is better than renting for a vacation home in your case.

How may days a year are you going to be there?
What would the cost of renting a comparable place be?
What would the opportunity cost be for the money that you are going to have stuck in this home given it could be in the stock market or somewhere else? Include the cost of furniture.
What are you maintenance/taxes/HOA fees going to be per year?

Stuff like that I'd be interested in.

I get that having your own place is a lot better than renting for many people for a variety of reasons and I don't expect purchasing to be cheaper, but I'm mostly curious how much extra you are paying for the luxury.

Edit: And to answer your question, Summerlin and Henderson (especially around Green Valley Ranch) are going to be the obvious answers although I haven't priced homes in that area recently.

I know you are a BFI guy, so I'm not sure if you knew of the las vegas lifestyle forum. You may find more info there.

Unfortunately, I do not have much neighborhood info for you. I do know someone that moved out to Vegas and got, I believe a 3 bed/2 bath for under 100k. It isn't super nice or newly updated, but it is in a gated community. My guess is 140k will get you something very nice.

in this scenario owner is usually renting out the place when not using it to offset costs you are thinking of. Course, OP might just be rollin in greenbacks and not care too.

In that case, has he researched any of that aspect? Who is going to manage the property, what is the approximate cost, expected occupancy rate and rental income, etc?

I'd also imagine it is harder to rent a unit farther from the strip when you aren't occupying it, but maybe that also means it is cheaper to purchase vs the higher cost of renting and it might make sense for OP.

Like I said, I don't claim to know any of these answers, just asking questions and hoping to learn.

I've also always wondered how much renting out a vacation home while I'm not there would make it not as special to me while I am there. Like part of the appeal to me is having things tailored to me that might make it harder to rent / not make me want to have my personal stuff and expensive toys lying around for others to get their hands in.

I didn't know las vegas lifestyle existed, I'll head over there now Thanks

I understand that I could rent it out while away, and I understand it's the more +EV route. But for me, this home is 100% purely a luxury, and I won't even consider making it a rental. (my wife and I have both discussed this aspect, and we're 100% on the same page)

As far as my personal finances go, my real estate business is doing pretty well nowadays. I'd prefer to not get into specifics on net worth etc. But buying a $140K condo is certainly reasonable. I'm a pretty conservative guy overall, so I think 95% of BFI, if they knew the numbers wouldn't think it was ridiculous.


Henderson seems like a name I hear over and over again. I'll start googling and do some more looking into it.


p.s. If a mod moves this thread to las vegas lifestyle that'd be nice of them

Yeah go to vegas lifestyle, you'll get the answers you need there.

You can get a new build in the SW for under $140k that meets your specifications.

there's a lot of decent places to live actually. i've lived in 3 very different areas, summerlin, near south point, and on the east side of LV.

from what i know, the north part is the crappiest part, generally speaking. i would avoid that assuming i am not mistaken.

the great part about vegas is that even if you are near the outskirts of the developed parts you are only 20-30 minutes away from the strip. LV lifestyle should help you and i would also recommend just driving around a bit this summer. don't rush things, as you know there is an unbelievable supply out there, prices aren't going to move drastically in either direction between now and when the WSOP starts.

Now is a really good time.

I live 2.5 miles from strip and 2 miles from the airport. The house next door to me was on the Market for $600k a couple of years ago, had a $500k mortgage and just sold for $160k and the mortgage holder ate the difference.

I'm thinking of buying one of the strip condos like Panorama. Anyone have any thoughts on whether now is a good time for those as well? I know there are a lot of vacancies and competition right now... I assume there are good deals right now but also some higher than average risk?

I live near the M casino in a house I bought for $150,000 around 1.5 years ago. New, it was $350,000. I like the area and it takes around 20 minutes to get to the strip on an average day. I like it a lot.

I live in summerlin its nice a fairly quiet.

The street I live on has 3 houses for sale from 120-135k. They are all about 1400 sqft with a 1 car garage. The higher end priced one has a pool. The lower end priced one has a smaller lot.

These were built in 96. Just go to realtor.com and type in your search. If you want a pool and hottub you are gonna have about a dozen to choose from (but get smaller and maybe less desirable areas for the budget)

If you don't care about a pool, you could probably snag a place up to 2500 sqft.

as far as neighborhoods. Summerlin, 7hills, henderson which includes places like anthem and 7hills and green valley, but there are some very so-so areas in the areas not listed previously. Mountains Edge is nice and might remind you of idaho lol.

The rule of thumb is stay on the edge of the map and always west and south. Never north or east. The closer you get to the strip the more crime and BS you will deal with. Summerlin is about 20 minutes out. 7hills is about 15 etc.

But just stick to the edges and you will be in lower crime areas.

Only downside to summerlin for us is the scorpions. We have all almost stepped on one since living here (1 in the house the rest on the back patio). So we worry a little about that which is annoying. I have heard they aren't outside of summerlin very much.

I live in So. Cal and every so often I'll look at one of the real estate listing website like realtor.com just for fun to see what housing is doing outside of my area.

From my prospective I think it's a fine idea to buy over there for the basic reason that the prices are ridiculously low and it's Las Vegas. Can if go any lower? The prices are so low it might be worth it to buy for the cachet of saying you own in Vegas alone.

My friend has four (good seats) season tickets to a MLB team here. He goes to about 10 games a year and the playoffs. All the rest of the tickets go to friends, family, business associates and potential clients. I'd bet you could buy a decent condo for what he pays yearly for his tickets and probably get a similar return on your money.

My two cents