We were able to find a house without any extra fees for being in a "planned
community" like Summerlin and many other places in Vegas. We are in Spring
Valley, close in. But if you are looking for a condo, you are going to pay
some extra fees anyway. It is important to check on fees and to see if they
make sense -- are you paying for parks that you won't be using or are far from
you? are you paying for parks nearby? are you paying for swimming pools and
common areas? are you paying for street lights and sidewalks (which
normally is why you pay real estate taxes - in effect, are you paying for them
twice?). For "guarded communities" - is there really a guard there, and how
often? Do a lot of people get in without being checked (is security really worth
what you are paying for it or not?).
I have some points about moving to Las Vegas in an article "Moving to Las
Vegas" on my website: _http://members.aol.com/GamblingE_
(http://members.aol.com/GamblingE) .
Take some common sense precautions when looking for a house or condo: what
are the monthly fees you must pay and what do you get? How much are real
estate taxes? If there is a home-owner's association, what are the rules? Talk
to people who live in the complex - how do they like it? Are there
problems? Visit both during the day and at night to see if it is noisy, are there a
lot of kids playing, do people sit out on their patios, etc. Look at the
general upkeep of the neighborhood - are there cars up on cement blocks, trucks,
unkempt gardens, etc.
Also, remember that although Vegas is in a desert, we can and do have flash
floods when thunderstorms dump a lot of rain. Don't purchase a house in a
wash for goodness sake! Ask and check your house for flooding. Some areas of
Green Valley and the NW have had flood damage. Is your house uphill or
downhill? Are you near the mountains?
If you are thinking of buying near the beautiful mountains, make sure you
aren't going to be in for water runoffs from the hills and houses behind you.
If you are buying a view - make sure your view can't "go away" if someone
builds a hi-rise condo in front of it.
If purchasing a condo or renting an apartment, be very careful about
insurance. What does the homeowner's association insurance actually cover? What
insurance do you need? A friend of ours had a problem with a water heater on
an adjacent condo burst, sending water into their garage and causing mold and
damage. Some was covered by homeowner association, some by their own
insurance; meanwhile the owners of the water heater were absentee landlords, making
it hard to track down their insurance. 6 months have passed and everyone is
passing the buck and repairs haven't been made and mold is growing. Do you
need flood insurance? Earthquake insurance (there are some faults under Las
Vegas)?
If you are buying near the mountains, do you care about possible wild
animals coming for a visit? We have friends in Aliente who report hearing coyote
calls. They also had wild ducks landing in their huge swimming pool. Some
people in Summerlin saw foxes. If you are too close to the mountains there are
possibilities for mountain lions and sheep and burros. To me, visits from
wild animals might be nice - to you, maybe not.
Speaking of animals - listen for neighborhood dogs! When we first moved
here we learned our next door neighbor had 3 noisy barkers. Thankfully they
have moved away and our block only has a bunch of tiny white dogs with shrill
barks that don't carry far (so we don't hear them). In Vegas the houses are
quite close together -- so think about noise when you look around. Do
neighbors bring in landscapers to do watering and cut grass, and do these people
think it is okay to leave radios blaring in front yards while they work?
Speaking of noise - is your condo over or under another condo? How much
soundproofing/insulation is in your condo or house? One advantage of building a
home from scratch is you can specify how much insulation to put in. We put
in the maximum amount, and as a result, we have less noise from outdoors and
also from indoors (we put the insulation into interior walls as well!). One
mistake - the air conditioning units are on the side with the bedrooms!
(Insulation also keeps down our heating bills by quite a bit! You can also add
insulation to attics and sometimes walls once you move into an older home.
This is an idea that can save you a lot of money. You can also insulate your
garage doors.)
Insects can be a problem in Vegas - maybe an upstairs condo is better than
downstairs. Still, will you want to walk those steps as you get older? Do
you want a single story house or not? (I love single story house - my bad,
middle-aged and aging knees love it!).
Another thought - water consumption. We pay only about $13 a month for
water bills because we have a small lawn and desert landscaping. A friend
complained about her $70 a month bills. Then another friend told me he paid over
$200 a month and was switching to desert landscaping. Vegas is running out of
water and eventually all lawns could be outlawed. So perhaps you should get
desert landscaping to begin with. But if your new home has a lawn, don't
worry -- you can convert to desert and get credit from the water company to do
so!
Back to insulation - there are also energy-efficient windows which can
prevent heat loss (and lower power bills). If you buy a new home you can add this
as an option. Some older homes may already have this, as well as "solar
screens" which reduce light coming in, and screens. These add-ons can save you
money, and if the house comes with them already, you won't need to buy them.
Another add-on that is useful is a water softener. Water is very hard in
Vegas. If you get a water softener, you probably will also want a "reverse
osmosis" unit for the kitchen, so that your kitchen water (sink and refrigerator)
will not be salty. (The water softener works by adding salt to the water).
In the long run you'll save money by having these, and your water will taste
better. Yearly upkeep after they are installed is not very expensive.
If you are thinking of purchasing a house to rent it out, remember a few
things. Las Vegas housing prices are no longer booming (at least right now).
Renting can be tricky - many people think it is easy to do, but it can be hard
work and annoying if you have a bad renter. You may have to face evicting a
bad renter, paying for a lot of damages, having the property be vacant for
awhile, advertising costs, etc. Also if you do make money as property values
go up, eventually when you sell you will get a Capital Gain, which will be
taxed. All the depreciation and other costs over the years while a rental
unit, will now have to be figured back in in some fashion, so you might end up
with a big tax bite. I personally know of a couple of people who have rented
who've had very bad experiences. Before buying as an investment, make sure
you really know what you are doing. Here's one bad example: my sister thought
she could buy some apartments (not in Vegas) to rent out and be her
retirement income. She jumped in with both feet - buying 5 different properties.
She was told, on paper, that all were fully rented and profit makers. Soon
after the purchase was finalized, she discovered some people were not paying
their rent, she had to start eviction procedures on some units. One tenet was
"crazy" making a lot of noise, but couldn't be evicted, so no one wanted to
rent the unit next to him because he was nuts and a noise-maker. One unit was
vacated and was a total mess -- feces on the floor, walls, etc - you get the
picture. Supposedly the properties were in good repair, and she had an
inspector check. But pretty quickly, one property needed a new roof, one a new
boiler, etc. She found herself running a loss at all 5 properties. After
paying fix up expenses, dealing with costs for ads for new tenants and evictions,
etc., she tried to sell, and couldn't because the area really wasn't a hot
real estate market and mortgages were going up. Slowly she has been selling
them off, at a lost. Now she has 2 properties left - the best 2. Do they
make money? Nope. But at least they aren't losing any. My sister had one
special disadvantage during this situation - she didn't live in the town where
she bought, so had to do a lot of long-distance managing, which didn't help.
Another friend of mine is buying condos in Vegas for investment. He's doing
okay, but he too has had problems with evicting non-paying tenants (despite
vetting them in advance with credit checks). He's had one of those - feces
on the floor/walls (yikes!) - experiences. He's investing from rental
property he sold in California and needs to buy new properties or face a huge tax
bite. Eventually when he sells he will have to face those Capitol Gains.
Some people do rent happily and make money -- I'm just trying to point out -
be cautious, because this can be a trickery road to go down than you think
if you are a novice.
Location, location, location. Remember that traffic is continuing to
increase in Las Vegas, and if you are retiring here, you are getting older. How
far do you want to drive now? In 10 years, will you still want to drive that
distance? Some people find that a 1/2 hour drive from their home to a casino
they like is no problem -- they used to commute 2 hours a day. Others find a
1/2 hour drive very annoying. Gas prices are also increasing. So when
picking a location, think about its access to freeways and side roads. Don't
pick a location because you love Casino X. In a year Casino X could change and
lose all its good VP machines. If you want to locate near a casino, try to
locate near several of them. Also you probably will find it a good idea to be
near to some major highways. Do you need to be near the airport because you
travel alot? (If so, try not to be directly under the flight path!) Are
there plans for new casinos/shopping to be built near your proposed location?
Is that going to be a good thing or a bad thing? Do you want a view? If so,
of what - mountains, strip, or both? If you want a view, does your place
have full windows, and if not, can you put them in (watch out for home owner
association or condo rules that might not let you change some things in your
apartment).
If you have a patio - do the rules let you cook there? Do you want a
swimming pool now (or someday)? Do you want an outdoor jacuzzi? Does your new
place have shade trees, patio, or other shade -- Vegas gets HOT in the summer?
Is there a place to park your car in the shade (some people fill up their
garage with STUFF, so is this an option?) Are there enough parking spots for
all your vehicles? What happens if friends visit? In condos or apartments or
even with houses, parking of vehicles can be a problem. Check out not only
the rules, but also ask neighbors about parking availability.
Another bit of advice, don't rely on verbal commitments by realtors and
others. Get it in writing. If you are told "you have 2 car spaces" - get it in
writing (along with exactly where they are!). Have a notepad with you with
questions you want to be sure to ask. Write down answers so you can compare
properties. If a property is under construction and you are given a vague
date for it to be finished, be prepared that it could be delayed beyond that.
"It will be ready by July" in our case turned out to be Sept. 1. Get a
reliable house inspector. Get a house warranty if possible. Do an extremely
careful "walk-through" before settlement and demand all faults be corrected prior
to settlement (or at the very least, put money into escrow for items to be
fixed - however my personal experience is that this can have problems). Use
common sense, your eyes, your ears, your heart, your experience and make lists
of things to ask and things you need to do.
Moving can be an extremely aggravating time. I thought the worst thing
would be the trauma of leaving friends behind and packing. But juggling problems
with selling my old house and dealing with the builder of my new house
turned out to be a lot worse than I expected. However, in the end, because we
paid attention to details, spent quality time searching, got an excellent real
estate agent, etc., we ending up with a beautiful house in a good neighborhood
in an excellent location. We've been here 5 years and we love our house and
by spending a bit more on extras such as insulation, we pay low utility
bills. We picked a single story house, which I'm sooo glad of. Also, we are in
a central location where we can take the bus, walk to shopping and post
office and library and senior center. We are close in to local casinos and the
strip, making for fast trips. It is difficult to find 100% of the things you
might want, but we made priorities and gave up the least important (a view)
for things that were more important (price not only of the house, but of
additional monthly costs) and location. When we had our house built, we spent some
extra money for things that were worthwhile - extra closet space, extra
insulation, etc.
Moving can be traumatic and a lot of work - but in the end it can all be
worthwhile.
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