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Las Vegas, NV Webinar
Everything you need to know about Las Vegas real estate
Webinar originally recorded for LeavingTheBayArea.com
FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPTION:
- I want to first off welcome everybody to this episode of the Market Insider Series. If you've joined us for the first time this episode, we're excited to have you on here. Every episode, we travel the country to talk, to look at a lot of the different destinations that we see Bay Area residents moving to, to a lot of great popular destinations. Today, we are doing that. We are heading east to the desert. We're going to the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm joined with Faith Harmer. Hi, Faith, how are you?
- I am good, how are you?
- Good! Faith is with Urban Nest Realty. She's a real estate broker there. We're gonna be talking a lot about what's happening in Las Vegas as far as housing, as far as employment, industry, all kinds of great things. Faith, we're gonna, first off, we're gonna dispel the rumor that all there is in Las Vegas is, you know, gambling and hotels and casinos and things like that. There is more, right?
- Oh yeah, and what happens in Las Vegas does not always stay in Las Vegas.
- Okay, perfect. We're gonna cover the stuff that everybody wants to hear about. We're gonna keep it all outside of Las Vegas and everywhere else. Faith, why don't you give us your background in Las Vegas and how you've gotten up to this point in your career?
- Sure. I have lived in Las Vegas for 23 years as of December, so about 23 1/2 years. I've been a licensed real estate agent here in Las Vegas for all of those 23 years. I got my license about six months after we moved here. I've raised our kids here. About five years ago, I started a team. I do have an all-women team. There's five of us: me, three buyer's agents, and our full-time licensed assistant. And we love Las Vegas. It's a really awesome place to live. Once people leave the Strip and come out into our neighborhoods and the real Las Vegas, everybody falls in love with it as well. It's not what a lot of people think. They always say that. "Wow, I had no idea all this was here! "It's awesome."
- Wherever you're going . That's it, they don't leave the Strip. They don't realize that there's so much to do in Las Vegas and we're gonna talk a little bit about that. I'm excited to get into a lot of that. I'm also, for people who, if you're watching this live, we have the opportunity, there's a Q&A button. You can hit that button and ask questions live. We'll answer those for you live. And then also, there's a Chat button you can do for the same things. We've love to keep this interactive. We're gonna try to cover everything but if there's something that we haven't covered that you're just dying to know about, we will get it answered for you. Okay, Faith, I think the first thing that most people are interested in learning about is what are some of the more popular areas in Las Vegas that you're seeing higher growth in and what does it cost to buy a house there? So, take us through that.
- Sure thing. Actually, surprisingly, the fastest-growing city in the Las Vegas Valley is North Las Vegas. In what we call the Las Vegas Valley, there's North Las Vegas, Las Vegas, and Henderson. Summerlin, which is in Las Vegas and Henderson, tend to be the first areas people hear about. Those are a little bit more affluent, better schools, newer things going on there.
- Where are some of these areas . In proximity to maybe the downtown area or the Strip.
- Sure. North Las Vegas, let me zoom in here a little bit. This is the entire Las Vegas Valley. Down here is Henderson. Over here is what we call Sunrise Mountain, the east side of town. Up into here, all this is North Las Vegas. Over here is what we just pretty much call the northwest area. And then you move down here and this is Summerlin, Summerlin West, Summerlin South goes down to here. Spring Valley is a little bit older area, all part of Las Vegas. And then we refer to this as the southwest. There's a big master planned community down here called Mountain's Edge. That's a pretty large area as well. And then down in here, we've got the really nice parts of Henderson. Big area, master planned community called Anthem. Oh, I'm sorry. Scott, I can't hear you again.
- It looks like .
- I still can't hear you. I'm sorry.
- Go ahead, go ahead.
- Okay, like I was saying, North Las Vegas has been the fastest-growing actually city in the Las Vegas Valley for the last couple years, mostly because it's the most affordable. Over here, you can get a lot more bang for your buck. Same thing over here in the northwest. Sometimes, we get people who start off wanting to look in Summerlin or Henderson area and they're a little disappointed with the size home they can get, you know, what kind of home they can get in those areas for the price. If that's the case, then we start taking our Summerlin people and going up here into the northwest 'cause it's still nice. This is our Beltway area, which is really, really nice. A lot less traffic, it's newer, within the last 10 or 15 years it's been developed, and it's a really easy way to get around the town. And you can get all the way down here to the airport as well.
- I believe that my mic . Connect here . Okay.
- Oh, now I can hear you. Great.
- Are you able to hear me now?
- Yes, much better.
- Let's try one more thing here.
- Yay, I can hear you.
- Okay. My mic's, had it plugged in here on a headset and I can pull that... Okay, can you hear--
- All right. Now we got a radio announcer going on. This looks good.
- All right, apologize to everybody. It looks like this is working fine, I hope.
- Yes.
- Okay, that's fantastic. My question earlier was, show us on the map where the Strip is in proximity to some of these areas that you outlined here.
- Sure. Here's the Strip right here. This is Las Vegas Boulevard coming down here. We get a lot of people from California that are moving here, always, more intently this last couple years. A lot of people coming from Southern California that still want to go back and forth, like, say, every month or whatever, a lot of times, they do this Henderson area because it's closer to the 15 freeway to get down here to California. But sometimes, again, affordability or whatever, they all have very different vibes. When we have a client coming in that's never looked at homes here and they aren't sure what area they wanna be in, we strongly encourage them to drive these areas. And they will come back, I promise, they always come back and say, "Wow, like this, "don't like this, don't like this, don't like this." You just have to drive through in about 30 minutes and you have a vibe for each area, very different.
- Absolutely. You've gotta get your feet on the ground, right? To be able to visually
- Absolutely.
- see everything. What we're gonna go through today is a great overview. But if you're serious about really learning about it and what the best area might be, it's really to go out and meet with you guys. Take us into some, I think you got some property examples that you can pull up in some of these different areas of, you know, what homes cost.
- I do. I thought I would start off in North Las Vegas to give you an idea of what you can get in North Las Vegas. These would be in the $250,000 to $300,000 price point. This particular home is, hang on a second, listed at $275,000. It is 2,147 square feet on a 3,900-square-foot lot. It's built in 2009. As I mentioned, you can get quite a bit of home in North Las Vegas for this price point.
- Most of--
- How far out, Faith, is that from the Strip or from the downtown area?
- Let's see, this is right off the 215 so if you hopped on the 215 and went around to like the airport or to get to the Strip, you'd probably be about 30 minutes away. If you hit traffic, maybe 45, at the most. But a lot of people really feel like it's worth it especially people coming from Southern California because they're used to a lot heavier traffic than that.
- Yeah.
- And we're like, "Oh my god, it takes 30 minutes to get there!" They're like, "That's cake. "What are you whining about?"
- Right. Yeah, the owners of this property made some interesting color choices.
- Yes. I have some fantastic painters here, by the way.
- This gives you kind of an idea. You can change the paint around, customize it to yourself, but it gives you kind of an idea of what you can get yourself for $275,000, right?
- Absolutely.
- Okay, perfect.
- The next price point that I did is in the $400,000 to $500,000 range in North Las Vegas and in this price point, you can get you a pool if you like.
- Once you're out there, you're gonna want a pool 'cause it gets pretty hot.
- Yeah, yes. Kind of a cooler summer this year so far so it's not been too bad. This one is a large home. It's 3,790 square feet with a three-car garage. It was built, oh let me move this. It was built in 2006.
- Okay. And that's five bedrooms, wow. Yeah, that's big, almost 4,000 square feet.
- Yeah, a lot more neutral colors. You've got your plantation shutters.
- Very nice.
- Big kitchen. This is 215 and Aliante. Aliante is what we call a mini-Summerlin. It is developed by Del Webb, a master planned community with its own hotel casino. So, there's Aliante Station and then there's Red Rock Station in Summerlin. When you live here, you watch things going on in the Strip on TV just like you do. We rarely go to the Strip because we have our own local casinos and we have movie theaters, concerts, pretty much anything that you wanna do is in our local casinos.
- Is it true, to go off-topic for a minute, Faith, is it true that when you live there, you're purposely trying to stay away from the Strip area, right?
- Yes.
- Yeah, there's the locals only let the locals know about and they probably wanna keep that separate.
- For sure, and there's a lot, we're getting more and more really nice restaurants. We kinda follow suit with Southern California with the more, like people who are vegetarian or they want that more whole foods kind of thing. We're getting a lot more of those kinds of restaurants here which I love. It's really awesome.
- Perfect, okay. Give us another example of what you can get in some of these areas.
- Okay, the next one is Henderson and you'll see quite a difference. Again, this one is, oh, it won't remove that picture right, listed at $289,000. It's 1,800 square feet, built in 2008, with four bedrooms. This one is in Henderson so you kinda get the shortened driveway. It's still nice inside, still some space. You'll just be on smaller lots and little bit smaller homes. But some people think that's worth it for the location. You'll have your better schools, that kind of thing.
- Yeah, and a lot of people, especially people who are retiring at retirement age, they probably want a smaller lot because maybe they don't want as much maintenance and upkeep, right? So, it's like--
- Oh, for sure, yeah.
- You want the inside dialed in but the less to take care of outside might be better especially in the summertime.
- Yeah, and we do have a lot of easy-care desert landscaping that still looks really good, lots of greenery. Like at my house, I did a lot of hardscaping with a really nice paved stone walkway and stairs, and then you do, like, you know, really pretty purple lantanas and shrubs and stuff around so it doesn't look like just a rock front yard.
- Got it.
- Nevada has done really, really well with water conservation over the last 20 years. We actually don't have as many restrictions as like, say, Southern California does or as big of a threat with that issue. And then in Henderson, I did this one. It was listed at $450,000. 3,100 square feet, three-car garage. It does have a pool and a spa. Five bedrooms plus a den and a loft. That's still a lot of house for Henderson at this price point.
- Yeah.
- Wow, they made some interesting choices, too, with the brick on the wall and all that. But it looks nice.
- They're spending too much time at the Strip. With new ideas for decorating the house.
- Yeah, this one's got some manufactured wood floors. And the good thing is there's more choices for buyers right now. We have a more balanced market right now. For the longest time, we were in this crazy seller's market and it was really frustrating for buyers because you'd have to make offers on 10 different houses and you kept getting beat out. Now, you can actually go look at a home and, for the most part, pick out what you want and get an offer accepted. That's a pretty pool.
- Yeah, that's nice. Good landscaping on that.
- Yeah.
- I'm not sure about the overhangs on the--
- Um, I was gonna say, a home inspector would have a heard attack on that one. Yeah, that's not a good idea.
- Okay. Faith, we've got a quick question here regarding utilities. Understand it might be hard to generalize but, say, for a three-bedroom home, 2,000 square feet, how much would electricity average per month? And the same thing with what would your water bill be assuming that there's no pool?
- Well, for the electric bill, it will depend on the year built and whether or not it's a one- or two-story. The new word is we have all these energy-efficient homes. I have people, clients that live in a home built in, say, 2010 or newer and they could be a in a 3,000-square-foot, two-story, and even in the summertime, their electric bill is only around $200. And no matter--
- That's not with solar, right?
- No, that's not with solar.
- Okay.
- And a one-story's gonna be a bit less. In the winter, maybe $50, $75 for electric. So, it's mostly the air conditioner that's going to draw. Water is surprisingly not that expensive. If you don't have a pool and you've got this kind of desert landscaping on drip and not really any grass or people like the synthetic grass, you're gonna be $50 or less a month for water.
- Yeah, and my guess is we, it's interesting because with Las Vegas being in the desert and we've had the same conversation live with our partners in Phoenix about what the water bill is, it's actually cheaper there than it is in California.
- Yeah.
- And, you know, I mean, for less usage out there, or more usage out there as well. And so, it's interesting that you would expect that it's gonna be a lot more 'cause you're in the desert but that's not the case.
- Well, again, for the last 20 years, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has done a fantastic job. They haven't forced us to do anything like forced taking out grass. What they've done is incentives. They start off at $1.50 a square foot and now I believe they're up to $3 a square foot credit. So, if you voluntarily wanna take out your grass, they come measure it and all that kind of stuff, and in the end, they'll give you $3 a square foot credit or money back, an actual check, to take out your grass. But they want you to replace it with a, what they call a greenscape. Takes a lot less water but still you've got greenery and you have to have somebody--
- That's great, yeah.
- Yeah.
- Great incentive. Okay, awesome. And you've got a couple other property examples to show?
- I do. These are in Summerlin. Again, you'll see a drastic difference. This one is $300,000. Very hard to find a house in Summerlin under $300,000 but I found one. It's a two-story, 1,650 square feet. Three bedrooms, two baths, and a two-car garage. This is listed right at $300,000 so this gives you an idea of what you're gonna get for $300,000. As you can tell, like in North Las Vegas, this would be probably more around $250,000 price point. So, just because it's in Summerlin, you know, the price point goes up. A much smaller backyard, smaller lots.
- But very reasonable. For $300,000, it seems to be very reasonable.
- Compared to a lot of other areas, we are still very affordable. And with interest rates being so low, it's super cool. This one is also in Summerlin. I picked a little higher price point. It's $500,000, 3,200 square feet, with a three-car garage. Built in 1995, it's three bedrooms and a den. We have some beautiful sunsets here.
- That's a great picture, wow.
- Yeah, and obviously, this is on a either an arroyo or a golf course lot. A lot of times, no, we'll have homes about golf courses but also they like to leave natural desert land, called an arroyo, in the background if it's a big thing that they didn't wanna fill in. This is what I'm talking about with the hardscaping. So, still, it's lush and green but you don't have to have grass to make it look really nice.
- They did a great job with that.
- Yeah, the hardscaping takes up a lot of space. Yeah, this is a really pretty house. Decorated a little more traditionally, obviously. But good-sized kitchens. And, again, this is where your better schools are. You've got the best shopping in Summerlin and Henderson. We have shopping everywhere, no matter where you live, you have your own little pocket, but this is where, like I go to Summerlin. I live in the northwest but my office is in Summerlin so I'm there all the time. I get to enjoy these amenities like Downtown Summerlin. It's where the new baseball field is. Lots of close--
- And that's just such a high-growth area, right? And what we'll get into, somebody asked about, can you talk about retirement communities and I think you've got a couple examples of that
- I didn't--
- in Summerlin. But yeah, tell us a little bit more about that.
- We have several age-restricted communities. This is in Sun City Summerlin, which is developed by Del Webb. Sun City Summerlin has about 7,800 homes in that one community. This particular one is listed at $450,000. It's 2,400 square feet. All of them are single-story, three-car garage, two bedrooms, and a den. But for the most part, all the Del Webb or Sun City, there's Sun City Summerlin, Sun City Aliante, Sun City Anthem, and they have Sun Cities in Arizona as well, but their whole concept is no walls in the backyard. So, unless you are backing the end of the community or something like that, I'll show you here, you're gonna have more of an open space kind of thing.
- That's interesting, okay. What would you do if you have pets like dogs?
- Actually, this is the end of the community so you actually have this block wall, but a lot of them don't have that. There's no wall. It opens to your neighbor to being in the back. They do allow for small, kinda like, not cyclone fencing but like a low-wall fencing with approval from the HOA.
- Okay, got it. So there is an option to put that in but it wouldn't be your standard, large, wood fence.
- No. In fact, all of our walls here, for the most part, are all block backyard walls or the vinyl fencing.
- Okay.
- 'Cause wood just doesn't last in the sun.
- Yeah, that's a good point, okay.
- Another age-restricted community that's very popular, I just closed one there, is Sienna. Now, Sienna, it's more, it's open like Sun City is but this one happens to be guard-gated. A lot of people like that more, that feeling of security, especially if you travel a lot. A lot of people want to have a guard-gated community while their home is empty, that kind of. Homes in Sienna sell a lot quicker. Little bit higher price point. Their clubhouse is gorgeous. This is the indoor pool there. And then they have a restaurant there. They have really beautiful amenities in Sienna.
- Yeah, I was reading in the notes here, indoor pool, fitness center, outdoor pool, recreation, guard gate, exercise room and stuff. And they really dial those 55-plus communities in, right? I mean, you go there
- Oh my gosh.
- and, you know, there's not many reasons to leave except maybe to go to the grocery store and maybe some outside entertainment. But they really do a good job of keeping you in there and keeping you active.
- They sure do and they've got all kinds of clubs. Sun City Aliante's got a really great pottery room, with a kiln and the whole bit. Others will have like welding or swim clubs or cribbage or whatever you wanna do, whatever sparks your interest.
- Would you mind pulling back up your map? I have another question here and it might be easier to address this using the map. Michael asked, "My wife and I are retired, "moving from the Bay Area, looking for a one-story, "approximately 2,000 square feet "with a budget of around $400,000." Where would they start looking? At a budget of $400,000. Let's assume that he means a retirement community. What would be a good area for them to start at?
- Well, in that price point, you should be able to find wherever you want. Depends on how new you want and that kinda thing. Down here in this area is Sun City Anthem and he should still be able to find a 2,000-square-foot home for around that $400,000 mark. You do have some nice views down here on some homes. And then if you go back up over here, this is Sun City Summerlin. Now, Sun City Summerlin was one of the first 55-plus communities that were built. It's older so a lot of the homes are dated. You may need some interior remodeling. You'd want something more modern if you're gonna go here. Up in here is, you move into North Las Vegas and up in here is Sun City Aliante. You definitely get a lot more for your money and you could get a really, a nice home in that 2,000-square-foot price point right in Sun City Aliante.
- So, it sounds like there's a lot of options, right? Different areas and--
- There is and we have some brand-new communities, too. There's Regency but those, I believe those start at $400,000 for brand-new, guard-gated, age-restricted.
- Just out of curiosity, are the builders who are doing new construction, are they including solar? Or are there any requirements for solar?
- No. Shockingly, no, not really. In fact, homes with solar here are actually harder to sell. People are still--
- Really?
- Yeah, because, you know, the solar came and then it went and now it's making a comeback and people are afraid of it because it depends on what the previous owner got into. So, as primarily a listing agent, I run into this a lot with my sellers. You can either be papered outright, you can lease it, or you can get a loan on it. And I think some of the hardest ones, the biggest mistakes is the loans. Those are tough to resell to a new buyer to take over.
- Yeah, I think a lot of times, we run across the same thing. There's a lot of uncertainty to the buyer. How does the loan work? And there's so many different ways those contracts are structured but the buyer has to assume that loan and then you're reading through and you're qualifying to assume the loan, so yeah, there's a lot of--
- And it depends on who you get it through. Like, obviously, people feel more comfortable with Tesla than some of the other ones because it's a bigger name.
- Yeah, okay. Perfect. Okay, we've gone through some of the housing, we've gone through some of the 55-plus communities. I think we could probably close your screen on there. Let's talk a little bit about some... Let's talk about healthcare because obviously a lot of people who are moving into the Las Vegas area are looking for retirement and a big concern is what is my proximity to healthcare service providers or major hospitals or things like that. So, any information you can give us on that?
- Well, we have hospitals everywhere. What we don't have, we're building another one. I lose track sometimes. I'll be driving somewhere and be like, "Oh my god, there's another hospital." Healthcare, I think it's the same here as anywhere. It's all in, you know, who you find to fit your needs. Again, we're right next to Southern California so we have a lot of Southern California doctors coming here. We do have a shortage of doctors so we're trying to attract more and more. And then we have, a couple years ago they built that, the brain institute which is pretty world-renowned now. It's pretty interesting to look at, too. If I could find it, I'd show you.
- You said it was the brain institute?
- The brain institute, yeah. The Cleveland Clinic, actually.
- Oh, sure, okay.
- Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health. It's a very interesting-looking building so if you come to Las Vegas, you should definitely drive by and check it out.
- That's something to put on the bucket list, check out the brain institute.
- It actually is.
- The brain building, okay.
- Yeah, it's actually near, closer to Fremont Street area.
- Okay.
- Yeah.
- Excellent. Going back, one question I forgot to ask. Going back to the housing market. And you alluded to this, that you're seeing a slowdown right now. We're seeing that in the Bay Area. From everybody that I'm talking to, we're seeing it almost nationwide with a few exceptions. What would you say is the average days on market for a typical home?
- I'm still selling my listings within 30 days. One week to four weeks is what I'm still seeing in the average-price-point home that I'm selling. If you get a listing that, say, I need some cleaning up if the sellers didn't wanna freshen it up and paint it so they're no longer able to put just anything on the market and have it sell with multiple offers. You gotta clean it up, paint it, freshen up, price it right, and then the agent's gotta have good pictures. If you're missing any of those things, you're gonna sit on the market and then you're going to see homes sitting on the market 60, 120 days for those kinds of homes. Vegas has always been really price-sensitive. My whole 23 years working here, if you overprice by $5,000, you'll sit. And the seller will be saying, "Why won't somebody just make me an offer?" I'm like, "I don't know, they just don't. "So, I would just price it right."
- Well, I mean, it seems like there's a lot of homes that are very similar, you know, maybe like track, stop, build. So, you might be priced $5,000 over but there's three or four other options that are priced correctly.
- Absolutely.
- And when you don't have a lot of distinguishing factors for your home because there are so many that are very similar, it boils down to competition-buying.
- For sure.
- So, if I was to come out there and say, "Faith, let's go shopping, I wanna look at some houses," if I put in an offer on a reasonably priced house, am I gonna expect to have competition or multiple offers or is that kind of, you know, so two years ago?
- For the most part, it's actually so eight months ago. So, this--
- Eight months ago, okay.
- Yeah, and it's just started shifting about eight months ago. Prior to that, yeah, you would expect multiple offers but now, no. If you're competing with another offer, it'd be maybe one or two and it'd have to be something really unique like a really big lot, had RV parking and a pool and all that.
- Okay, perfect. Hank just read my mind. His question is, "Does Faith have any insight "on the area regarding company growth and the job market?" and that was the next section that I was going to get into. So, talk a little bit about some of the dominant industries, job growth, and then maybe some of the major employers in the area.
- Yeah, we are actually number one in job growth again. Have been for I believe this last year for a number of--
- Is that across all industries or maybe a specific industry?
- I think just the volume of jobs that we're creating here. It's for volume.
- Okay.
- Right now, my oldest son is in the electricians' apprenticeship program and he's working on a big Google building. So, right now--
- Is that right?
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Okay, that's exciting.
- Yeah, a lot of corporations moving in. We're just so business-friendly and the taxes are so much lower. It's so much easier to have a business here that more and more are coming all the time. Out of APEX on the east side, it's been kinda touch and go, but there's been some really big companies that have been coming in over there.
- And so, Las Vegas is obviously really big in the customer service industry, supporting the casinos and entertainment. And then also, as you mentioned, healthcare is really big because we have a lot of seniors who are moving into the area for retirement. Are there any other dominant industries or, I should say, growing industries that you're seeing that are making a lot of traction with new build, hiring, things like that?
- I don't have anything specific. There's a lot, there's so many going on. Let's see, we had Amazon, an Amazon warehouse over here on the east side along with, who's the other one, Fanatics? Fanatics was moving in here. They're a workout wear, that kind of thing.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- And then on the Strip, oh my gosh, there's, I'd have to email you a whole list of all that's going on in the Strip. They're getting ready to build a big dome for music. You know, after the tragic shooting and all that, they wanted to have somewhere where it was like you were outside. It literally looks like a... I'm just thinking of the word.
- Like a dome.
- Globe! It's like a big globe.
- Oh, a globe.
- Yeah, trying to look like a globe on the outside. It's gonna be temperature-controlled and it can hold, I don't know, 500,000 or more people and it's all gonna be for music. And then they'll have it sound better and it's safe and all that. There's those going on. A lot of the hotel casinos are switching over. They found that only about 7% of people come here gamble now, so--
- Is that right? Wow.
- Yes, a lot of the casinos are shifting, taking out gambling areas and adding in things like man-made beaches and surfing experiences and things like that.
- Which makes a lot of sense. I mean, you've got tens of thousands of slot machines and ways to gamble there, but you really have to kind of start setting yourself apart and I know that a lot of those hotels are doing some really clever, cool new concepts to be able to get people in.
- Oh, yeah. They're doing some crazy, cool stuff. And then the other industry that's kind of growing is the high-rises on the Strip. That's kinda come and gone but some of the older areas where they have the high-rises, they're refurbishing those and making them newer. And people are really liking that because they can walk. It's like other countries where you can live in one spot, walk down, you don't have to have a car. So, that's really growing in popularity here right now.
- Let me ask you this, Faith. Let's say that if I'm a working family and I have children, what areas might I focus on?
- Summerlin is usually the number one pick for a growing family. It's just got some, over 150 miles of walking trails, over 240 parks, all kinds of, you know, ice cream socials, that kind of thing, community and family stuff going on all the time. And then the second area usually is Henderson because they have a lot of the same things and the better schools for both of them. Now, that's public schools. But charter schools are huge here. My grandson is at a charter school and he does do a lot better in the charter school than in the public school.
- So, it sounds like there's some areas where you're gonna have the higher-ranked schools, let's call it, you know, eight out of 10 or nine out of 10, and then some other areas where it might be a little bit more affordable, the public schools may not be as good but you have private and you have charter school option.
- You do, yup. And even in the nicer areas, some people opt for the charter schools.
- Okay, I have two questions I wanna get through and then I wanna talk about taxes.
- Okay.
- Michael asked, "I'm semiretired, working part-time "in the limousine business as a driver "for the last seven years and love it." That's awesome, Michael. "I'd like to continue in that business in Las Vegas. "Can you speak to that industry?"
- Yes, it actually is a very popular industry here, limousine service, it's huge. So, you will not have a problem working in that industry here again.
- I would imagine that the whole Uber/Lyft model is not competing with the limousine service.
- No, that's a whole different...
- Different demographic.
- Yeah, that's completely different. I mean, Uber is more for like, ooh, I need a ride to the airport or I had too many drinks, take me home. Whereas a limousine is, you know, you're making a statement. I did one, a big limousine bus for one of my buyer's agent's 50th birthday two years ago and thought it was so much fun. So, yeah, that was a really, they're like party buses, you know?
- Those are memorable, especially, like you said, when you get the big bus that you can stand in and walk around.
- It's so fun and you can't do that in an Uber.
- No, you can't. Well, you shouldn't try.
- No.
- Okay, Hank asked, "Could Faith comment on the air quality "in the Vegas area?"
- Yeah, air quality. I'm looking right now at my, my camera is outside and the sky is nice and blue. But sometimes, when you go up to a higher elevation and you're looking down over the valley, you can see a bit of a haze. We do get quite a few winds through here which is actually a really good thing because that wind blows that haze out. You do suffer, some people do suffer with allergies here just because we do sit in a valley so we're going to have some settling of dust and stuff like that. I don't ever recall having a time where we had those crazy sandstorms like Phoenix can get, like one time, I saw at the airport where the sand destroyed the airport. I've never seen anything here like that before.
- Let's talk a little bit more about that 'cause I want, there's two things I wanna cover. I wanna cover more of the climate and then also we've gotta cover taxes and we've got just a few minutes here. Tell us about, I know that you guys have had a pretty mild summertime. We have as well, very, very mild. Tell us what you can typically expect, lows, highs, in the wintertime, summertime, and then just, you know, rainfall, what you could expect.
- On average? In the summertime, I've seen it as hot as 115 or 118 but you gotta keep in mind that our humidity is very, very low. So, while that's hot, it feels like a blow dryer blowing on you, there's not the humidity so you don't get out of the shower and feel like you gotta take another shower kinda thing like I hear a lot of people say in high-humidity areas.
- I won't have to redo my hair, right?
- No, no, no, the hair does good. It's a good-hair city. Then in the winter, a lot of people don't realize how cold it gets here. We do freeze sometimes. I had a water fountain in my old house and I have pictures of ice cubes hanging from it. It can get down into the high 20s, as low as 28, sometimes in the 30s. Last year, we had snow several times which is not normal. We'll have snow maybe once or twice but it melts really fast and goes away. Summerlin is higher altitude and it's about 10 to 12 degrees cooler than the whole rest of the Valley, so in Summerlin, you will get a little bit more snow and it will stay a little longer than the rest of the city.
- So, Summerlin is about 10 degrees cooler, okay.
- It is.
- Did not know that. That's awesome. What about, what's the rainy season? What months do you expect rain? Is that in the spring, summer, or is it the winter?
- Well, of course, generally, we don't get that much rain. This year, we got a lot more than normal. Our monsoon season would be, our flash floods would be August.
- Okay, that's coming up.
- Yes.
- So, if people wanna get a real taste of Las Vegas, book a trip to visit with you guys in August and then you'll see what it's really like. It's gonna be hot. Gonna need some flash floods.
- Yeah, and some possible
- The real deal.
- flash floods, yeah.
- Possible flash floods. Well, you gotta keep it exciting, right?
- Yeah, and they've put in a lot of drains and stuff like that over these last 20 years, flood channels, to handle the water because our earth just gets almost like cement so when the rain hits it, it doesn't soak in very much, it just rolls over.
- Okay, awesome. I'd love to talk about this more 'cause I find the climate very intriguing but I do wanna get into taxes.
- Okay.
- Coming from--
- None!
- What's that?
- None, we have none.
- None. Well, you have some, but I'm gonna say it's safe to assume you have more than we do. Okay, state income tax rate.
- Zero.
- Goose egg, big, fat zero.
- You don't have to file or anything, nothing.
- We talked about this, I think it was a few days ago. The state income tax rate in Nevada is zero, right, which a lot of people are choosing Las Vegas, Reno, some different areas because there can be a lot of tax advantages from that angle. Property tax rate is, you said, about 0.77%.
- Yes, very low.
- Okay. That's very, very low. We're at, starting at about 1 1/4% here and it can go up a little bit. Normally, in states that have no state income tax, you're gonna have property taxes at 2 3/4, up to 3 1/2, to make up for that because obviously the money for services, right, social services have to come from somewhere. So, if you have 0% income tax rate, you've got about a 0.77% property tax rate, where is the money coming from?
- Casinos.
- Gambling.
- Yup.
- So, all the people that are coming in and visiting the Strip and putting their money into the slots and everything else,
- Thank you very much.
- they're paying a lot of, you know, a lot of these services, a lot of these costs for the residents.
- Absolutely.
- Brilliant. What's a gallon of gas costing you right now on average, premium?
- It's about three, roughly $3.
- Okay, so you're about $3 and right now I think we're hovering at maybe $4.25, somewhere around there, so we're a little bit higher. Not that anybody who's listening needs a reminder but the state, California state income tax rate is up to about 12.3% at the highest tier,
- Ouch.
- which is the highest in the county. Property tax rate, as I mentioned, is 1 1/4%. Our sales tax is about 8 1/4%, you know, obviously, depending on the adjustments on county. What's your sales tax rate? Do you have any idea?
- 8.75, I think it is. Well, it ranges, depending on the county but 6.85 to 8.265.
- We'll call it roughly the same on that.
- Yeah.
- And here's the thing, Faith. We always recommend if somebody's considering making a move, whether it's to Las Vegas or whether it's somewhere else, always talk to your CPA, talk to your financial planner or wealth manager and find out how does that impact your whole financial picture, right, because we don't wanna be telling people, "Oh, it's great," and this and that but obviously it's a very individualized scenario. I think we covered everything. Just real quick. Besides the casino, what are some cool things to do out there? If I'm coming out there,
- Oh my gosh.
- and I don't wanna gamble, what am I doing?
- Okay, we have Lake Mead if you wanna go water skiing or boating. We have Mount Charleston, which is, from my, I live in the northwest, so it's about 30 minutes away up in the mountains. And you would never know you're near Las Vegas. You can snow ski there, you can go camping in the summer, and it's about 20 degrees cooler so it's all pine trees. There are people that live there as well. Then right by where I live is Floyd Lamb State Park, which is really nice. There's three small lakes there and you can go fishing and that kind of thing there. There is Red Rock State Park, which is west of Summerlin, and that's just beautiful. You wouldn't wanna go this time of year 'cause it's too hot but the Red Rock Mountains are beautiful and you can go hiking there. People go there for taking pictures 'cause it's so beautiful. There's Bonnie Springs out there which is a little Western town but the sad thing is that they're just shutting that down because they're gonna build houses in that area.
- Oh no, okay.
- Yeah, and it's been there for so long, it's super cool. And then the other ting that's really neat is that you can be to Southern, if you wanna be at the beach, you can be there in 3 1/2 to five hours from here.
- What beach would that be, Los Angeles?
- Yeah, just go straight over to Southern California's multiple beaches. We do it all the time 'cause I know when people come here from California, they're like, "So, what do Las Vegans do when they want to vacation?" It's like, "Go to California."
- I mean, the proximity is great because, like you mentioned, that's, I didn't realize that it was three, four hours.
- Yeah, yeah. We do that all the time.
- That's crazy.
- We'll go to Pacific Edge in Laguna Beach or whatever and in four, 4 1/2 hours, we're right there at a hotel on the beach. So, it's real easy. And then, of course, you know, we got all these sports teams now so you can go and see hockey.
- The Raiders are coming.
- Yeah, the Raiders. That building is coming along
- End of season,
- really quickly.
- it sounds like, yeah.
- And our baseball, the whole baseball stadium in Summerlin, that's really cool. And the hockey, the hockey is a blast at the T-Mobile Center. I've been to one of those games. That is fun.
- Well, okay, so we've really debunked the myth that all there is to do in Vegas is gamble. I mean, like you said, there's things to do and, you know, to escape the heat in the summertime, you can get up into the mountains, the pine trees, the higher elevation, you can get to the beach. And in the wintertime, all kinds of different things to do. This has been really, this has been great, Faith. It's been a great introduction. If somebody wants to come out and pay a visit to you guys, your team, and maybe go around and just look at some areas and be a resource, can they do that? Can we put them in contact with you?
- Absolutely. We usually start off with even like a buyer consultation. We can meet at the office and then we can go over anything that they want to and then go out and check out a few homes so they can see what they look like inside.
- Excellent, okay, that's great. All right, well, Faith, thank you so much. This has been wonderful to learn more about Las Vegas. I look forward to keeping in touch and maybe we'll do this in six months or so and just kinda see what's going on in the market out there. Also wanna thank those who had joined us today. Any questions that we can answer for you, it is info@leavingthebayarea.com. Faith, thanks again.
- Thank you. Thanks, everyone.
- Okay, we'll be in touch. Take care, bye for now.
- All right, bye-bye.
- Okay, bye-bye.
Cost of Living Comparisons
Las Vegas, NV VS Los Angeles, CA
49.6% less
Cost to Rent
9.5% more
Utilities
1.7% less
Food & Groceries
3.2% more
Health Costs
22.3% less
Transportation
10.1% more
Auto Insurance (Annually)
8% more
Auto Sale Tax
52.8% less
Auto Registration (Annually)
13.1% less
Sales Tax
100% less
State Income Tax
25.8% less
Child Care
Commute Comparison
| Las Vegas, NV | Los Angeles, CA | |
Average Commute Time |
25.2 mins | 31 mins |
Comparison of gas prices |
$3.41 | $3.79 |
Live Traffic Comparison
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Climate
Las Vegas
Los Angeles
101
Average Summer High84
75
Average Summer Low62
60
Average Winter High67
39
Average Winter Low46
294
Sunny Days Per Year284
5
Rain (inches per year)16
0
Snow (inches per year)0
Current Temperature in Las Vegas, NV
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