Possible relocation for me.

[Doramius]

I too, like Bazooka, am looking for another job. Not because of anything really wrong with my current job. The project I'm on is drawing to a close [yeah], but they want me to work on a new project, which may require me to relocate, again. I've been in Vegas for only a few years as it is. They almost relocated for this project, but it involved a lot of traveling anyway, so they just kept me here and had me fly to all the different places. The next project may not be so lucky for me. I'm getting to the point to where I would rather settle for a bit. But if I settle, I really don't want to stay here in Vegas. Nothing wrong with it, just not my choice place to stay. But if I find something interesting and worthwhile, then I might. Or I might just move back to good ole Upstate NY, and hope property taxes stop drastically increasing for a while.

So my dilemma is should I stay and find a new job? Should I go, but stay with my current job? Or should I just make the large transition and start off fresh in a new area with a new job?

[CoasterCreator]

ok now is it because you think its better in NY???and if so why do you think so.. or because you might have loved ones there??

Vagas ....man its nice place to visit but I dont think I could live there ...

[glockjs]

i did live there...and never again but one thing i gotta say is if your in the position buy up all the property you can Doramius and sit on it for a little while. it would be well worth it specially since the markets like it is right now.

[Doramius]

NY is where I grew up, and is the first place I thought of. I was also thinking of Pocatello, ID; Barrington, IL; Yreka, CA; South Western PA; Mamoth, KY; and a few others. I've been in every state in the US except for Hawaii & Louisiana. Still trying to get to Mardi Gras and checking out tropical volcanoes. If I had to go to another country, I'd pick the Phillipines, Aus., South Africa, New Guinea, Peru, and certain parts of Brazil and northern Chile.

[CoasterCreator]

actually that is not a bad idea Glock....a friend bought the new homes ( the one they are building just before you get to the strip) actually he just placed a deposit on them and before they had to come up with the rest they sold them for alot more ( check your local laws , some might make you keep the house for a while...good luck Dorm..it sounds like you know what you want ...and not close minded about a certain area..also well traveled....

[Doramius]

I've been here. I've been there. Done a lot of things. Some willingly and others not. My house right now has taken quite a bit of a value increase as it is. I'm not planning on buying another property here though. I'm going to use all the money out of this home for the next. Funny thing is, If I were to sell this house, 2200 sq.ft., and move to Upstate NY, I could purchase a house at around 4800 sq.ft. with top notch frills and upgrades for the same price. My parents home is 1800sq.ft., is on 1 acre of land, full basement, and has a large fenced inground pool. The appraised value is $150k and it's a NICE home. It's way in the country though. The same house here in Vegas w/out a basement runs for about $240k+. Add the basement and you have a home over $1Mill. Virtually nobody has a basement and it's way too expensive to have one put in. Only a small handfull of really old homes have them in Southern Nevada.

[glockjs]

it's the damn californians messin the vegas economy up. its a good thing if you own or can afford to buy right now. but the prices are just sky rocketing. i know it's recently dropped off a little so it's easy to buy right now. it'll start goin back up again. it's stupid though, my friend bought a 1800sq ft home here in phoenix for 120k with a decent size front and backyard. like you said dorm in vegas that would sell for well into the 200's.

[Doramius]

I'm almost thinking if I move back to NY, or even to PA, I'll have a home custom built. Haven't done that before and it'd be nice to have one done with what I want and in a layout and design I like.

[Roundabout]

No basements, mostly due to caliche. The ground is hard and dry, and naturally occurring lime deposits cement the ground into caliche. The stuff's so hard, home builders used to dynamite it to make way for the occasional basement.

When I lived there for about a year in 2002, I looked around for quotes on having a pool put in, but the cost is very high due to the very real possibility of caliche preventing it. And having my backyard dynamited didn't sound very appealing. My neighbors gave up and put in an above-ground pool.

I was in a new tract of homes in NW Las Vegas off Decatur and Farm Road. That area was exploding with homes when I was there. But not many pools. Or basements

[zzyzzx]

I think it would make more sense to cash out on the vegas house and move to someplace where you can get a similiar house for cheap (like upstate NY or SW PA) and invest the excess cash. No need to double the size of your house unless your job is so great that your sure that you can pay the bloated utilities/taxes/insurance/upkeep.

[Doramius]

The taxes and ins. are what we are compensating for. I think if I sell my house for almost $320k, I can get an outstanding house for about $280k somewhere out east (including any special upgrades or frills I want). The extra $40k will have to be reinvested so I don't pay any extra taxes on it. But it'll basically be to pay Real Estate Taxes and Hazard Insurance for at least a year.I only need a mortgage for just under $200k so I won't have to worry about paying Mtg. Ins.

I currently live in the North Las Vegas area just west of the I-15. The area that was talked about on N. Decatur is pretty developed now and is still developing. Even the open desert area at the end of Jones has completed houses on it now. I shot potato canons and played paintball out there the first year I was here in vegas. It's now various phase level tracts. I've been going up into the mountains to play paintball now or go in the middle of nowhere heading north on 95. Found a place that looks like it may have been an early ghost town, but there's no reall high standing structures. Just some foundations and a few broken stone walls. Great place for PB, but way the heck away. I've been making sure I have a large cooler of water and a large gas can, just in case, when I go play PB there.

[Roundabout]

I currently live in the North Las Vegas area just west of the I-15. The area that was talked about on N. Decatur is pretty developed now and is still developing. Even the open desert area at the end of Jones has completed houses on it now.

I was in Lynbrook, so-called master planned community. Not as nice as Summerlin, but I didn't want to pay the taxes (or CFD's, whatever they called them) for the upkeep of common areas in Summerlin. Summerlin & Peccole Ranch is very nice, but the taxes will eat you up.

Lynbrook was several large builders getting together and creating a master plan, but one thing they forgot was to pay the subs. Before I left there, everyone in Lynbrook was slapped by a lawsuit with a lien attached to their property because the company that put in the sewer pipes was never paid. It didn't show up on the original title reports, so the title companies were fighting with the builders to make them cough up the payment. Needless to say, it was quite a shock when the huge amount of paperwork landed on my front porch on a Sunday morning. Come to find out later, this has happened several times in different places in the valley. Sleazy builders try to escape their obligations by not paying.

When I sold the house, it still had the lien on it. My buyer had title ins. too, so it's not really all that much of a problem except eventually someone has to pay. Since it's insured, the title company may pay someday.

When I was there, the area east of Decatur and north of Centennial was totally vacant for many miles into the distance. By now they've probably started developing it. I was told by the agent that if the house had been one block further east, it would have been in the city of N. Las Vegas and the price would be 20% less, because NLV has a stigma of being crime-ridden and less desirable than LV. I don't know, but I guess it's possible.

I guess by now all the construction on Centennial Pkwy is finished all the way to the I-15? It stopped at Decatur when I was there. So much construction and dust...I sneezed constantly and finally realized I couldn't tolerate living there. I was very allergic to all that dust.

I was happy to get the hell out of there when I did, and had a hard time selling the home even though it was new. I just read recently that the homebuilders are lowering their prices across the valley by upwards of 25%, just to be able to sell. The boom is for the most part, over. Probably a good time for you to get out of there, making hay while the sun shines.

[Doramius]

They just moved the construction further North. The big road construction areas are the I-15 & Rainbow exit now. That needed to be done for the longest time I hear. You'll be able to get on Summ. pkwy. easily wether coming from N. or S. on 95, with out having to to any backtracking or getting onto Rainbow. The worst is people heading south on 95 to get to south Rainbow. The 95 exit merged with the Summ. to 95 S. & Summ. to Rainbow N. traffic with only 2 lanes. People were trying to switch lanes like crazy. It was even more horrifying when a truck came off the 95, because if the stoplight at the over pass was red and you needed to get left, you waited 30 min. just to make it in the other lane and have to wait for another 2 red lights. They are also widening 95 btween rainbow and I-15. They tore out stores and houses to do so and they have got a lot of work done. Looks like they might be a little ahead of schedule too, but that changes with some of the contractors they get around here. I often wonder if people out in the west know how to properly construct roads & bridges, let alone houses.

Housing contractors seem to always be under heat and there has been a lot of corrupt dealings going on. No big news though. I know a little about how things should be done in construction and I got a contractor to lose his license because I had visted the house of one of my New Construction clients and noticed the error. Their house was the 60th being built in a large development area. I noticed how they were doing the electrical and that it didn't seem protected in the walls. I told them NY code requires conduit, but I would have at least put up a steel plate in areas to protect pipes and wires. Sure enough the borrowers mentioned it to the realtor and the realtor knew the codes. Apparently the contractor, trying to save money, omitted any of the required protective pieces for pipes and wires in all the homes they previously built. Some currently being lived in. The inspector also lost his license. Big lawsuit and the homes had to have walls ripped down and the area fixed, and built back at no cost to the owner.

[stiltman]

If you leave, can I have your job? Seriously!

[Capmaster]

If you take my job I'll have more time to spend here

tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?

I've always wanted to comment on that. I've Skyped with tgpo and I know what he sounds like. That guy isn't tgpo

tgpo belches uncontrollably whenever he talks. This guy doesn't

[stiltman]

If you take my job I'll have more time to spend here

tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?

I've always wanted to comment on that. I've Skyped with tgpo and I know what he sounds like. That guy isn't tgpo

tgpo belches uncontrollably whenever he talks. This guy doesn't

Meant that to Doramius

[Capmaster]

If you take my job I'll have more time to spend here

tgpo famous MAC commercial, You be the judge?

I've always wanted to comment on that. I've Skyped with tgpo and I know what he sounds like. That guy isn't tgpo

tgpo belches uncontrollably whenever he talks. This guy doesn't

Meant that to Doramius

I know. But I was still offering you my job

[stiltman]

OH, OK

Always wanted to visit Albuquerque

PM me about the pay and stuff

[Capmaster]

OH, OK

Always wanted to visit Albuquerque

PM me about the pay and stuff

Here's the company website:

www.sandia.gov


They list job openings and stuff Worth a look ...even if there's nothing there that melts your butter

We have facilities in NM, CA, TX, a launch facility at Kauai Hawaii ( 8) ), Wash. D.C.

[Doramius]

If you want my job, you'll have to go the Chase.com and check out jobs in the area. My brokerage is parented by Chase, and that's where the job applications come from.

[Roundabout]

They just moved the construction further North. The big road construction areas are the I-15 & Rainbow exit now. That needed to be done for the longest time I hear. You'll be able to get on Summ. pkwy. easily wether coming from N. or S. on 95, with out having to to any backtracking or getting onto Rainbow. The worst is people heading south on 95 to get to south Rainbow. The 95 exit merged with the Summ. to 95 S. & Summ. to Rainbow N. traffic with only 2 lanes.

I remember trying to get on the N. 95 while heading east on Summerlin Pkwy. You have to exit then turn left on Rainbow then left again right away. Heaven help you if you don't know where you're going. It was poorly marked and I'm sure many a tourist has gotten lost there. Why couldn't they have made an onramp from E. Summerlin to N. 95? The whole city is one big construction zone. The most common sight on an LV street is orange cones. The suckers are everywhere! I'd like to have the city contract for supplying them...

The second most common sight? An upside-down vehicle. I swear, I've never seen so many traffic accidents in a city in my entire life. Either LV has the world's worst drivers, or there's something in the air. A night wouldn't pass without us seeing at least one or two accidents. I have my own theory. I think the speed limits are too low on all the major streets. Some are as low as 35 mph, on a major street like Ann Rd. Drivers get frustrated by people doing the speed limit and try to pass at 60 mph and lose control and wrap their car around a light pole or overturn. Either that. or they're drunk. Cheap drinks in casino's have to be a factor too. I'm just glad to be out of there alive.

Housing contractors seem to always be under heat and there has been a lot of corrupt dealings going on.

Seems to be S.O.P. there. One agent told me "It's the wild west, baby!" I'd be inclined to agree. IMHO, the entire city is messed up.

We'll see what happens when Lake Mead runs out of water, then what? Water was so cheap when I was there, no need to conserve. I used tons of water and my highest bill was $12. I watered every day, and never worried about the bill. Where I am now, my bills average $40 and I don't use half the amount of water. There's no real incentive to conserve water there, and that may be their final downfall.

They just keep building, building and building. Sooner or later they are going to run out of resources. I'm glad I won't be there when it happens. Not to mention Yucca Mountain. :P

[northcat_8]

If you leave, can I have your job? Seriously!

If you take that job, you'll have that ******* in the black SUV parking next to you everyday...you sure you want that???

[stiltman]

If you leave, can I have your job? Seriously!

If you take that job, you'll have that ******* in the black SUV parking next to you everyday...you sure you want that???

Guess you need to say 2 arseholes in SUVs

[northcat_8]

So Doramius.... is the wife moving with you

If so may I suggest Dayton, Ohio

[Doramius]

@ Northcat

@ roundabout - that E. Summ to N. 95 via rainbow will all be changed. You'll be able to get right onto N. 95 without having to cross over and backtrack. I doubt it'll happen, but I think a couple of the major through streets should be tunneled underground and Las Vegas Blvd. at The Strip should be closed off to all traffic other than pedestrian and Cab & Limosine services with a special permit to enter.

I am checking out my options at the moment on what I want to do, but I'll probably have a final decision into the new year.

[Roundabout]

@ roundabout - that E. Summ to N. 95 via rainbow will all be changed. You'll be able to get right onto N. 95 without having to cross over and backtrack. I doubt it'll happen, but I think a couple of the major through streets should be tunneled underground and Las Vegas Blvd. at The Strip should be closed off to all traffic other than pedestrian and Cab & Limosine services with a special permit to enter.

Too bad they didn't think about this when they were first building the Summerlin Pkwy. Now, it'll cost 10x as much to do all the tearing apart, rebuilding, etc. not to mention the years it takes to do it. When I was there, they had already started widening the 95 between Rainbow and the 15, they had torn out some overpasses (!) and made a general mess of things.

I agree with you, they should just shut off the strip to normal traffic. Would have been nice if they had some type of "people mover" moving sidewalk to get people from one end of the strip to the other. Traffic is perpetually bad on the strip, but trying to drive it on a weekend night is suicide. It takes an hour to get from one end to the other (or more).

I think the monorail was supposed to help, but IMO it should have been free. Let the hotel/casinos pay for it, after all, it's bringing money and customers to their place. I won't pay for it, for sure, when I'm there. Parking is free at the hotels, and shuttle buses are free, so why shouldn't the monorail be free too? Public money should have never been spent for the construction of it. The casinos have billions, let them pay.

BTW: I'll be there in Vegas the first week of Jan. for the CES (Consumer Electronics Show) just like last year. I don't know if you go to it or not, but you should check it out. There's still time to register, and it's free. I go every year and check out new stuff and get the giveaway "goodies". Wear comfortable shoes, as you will walk all day. It's easy to spend all 4 days walking and not even come close to seeing everything.

This year, CES is from Jan. 6 - 9, 2005. www.cesweb.org if you are interested in registering. You don't have to work for an electronics company, just print up a fake business card with anything electronics related on it, they never check it out. Sometimes they don't even ask you for a card, only a driver's license. Once you're in, they automatically send you an invite every year. A lot of fun, I've gone for many years now.

[Doramius]

I might actually go. I enjoy that sort of thing. It all depends on my wife though. I think she's planning on us going out to her Dad's in CA around that time, because we're going back to NY for the Holidays.

I agree with the 215 and 2/3 of the roads out here. They should have just built the 215 the way it was supposed to be. The planner that developed the system was also fired and had legal proceedings against him for several various things. Embezzlement being the big one.

Another thing I hate is they make developments and have a way for a 5-6 lane main road to go through, but they only make 2 lanes on half of the way, and in areas it switches which half is the 2 lanes. I've seen so many people not paying attention at night drive into people's garbage cans and dumpsters or into other cars because the lanes shiffted 20 feet over suddenly. I've seen straighter & smoother S-curving in a cow trail. They say the cost is half that of making the full road. But the Mutant Einstein F**ktards that graduated from DSU (Down Syndrome University) haven't realized it's going to cost them 4 times as much to rebuild it as a full size street. First there's cost to divert traffic, because the road is now considered accesible (didn't have to worry about diverting traffic when the road was being build for the very first time), They have to tear up the old road. They have to level and grade the areas that weren't paved before and have to match them to the existing parts, pave the whole thing over, and now worry about more frequent repairs (because the base of the road is made of different materials as one side is new made vs. the other that was made years before). What this usually leads to is large cracks opening up and creating potholes unltil enough years have passed that the road base had settled evenly enough to be failry even. This usually takes about 25-30 years.

[Roundabout]

I might actually go. I enjoy that sort of thing. It all depends on my wife though. I think she's planning on us going out to her Dad's in CA around that time, because we're going back to NY for the Holidays.

You should definitely go if you can, especially if you've never been before. If you wind up moving out of Vegas, you might not get the chance again if you move back east. I always park on Harmon at the Alexis Park Hotel, they don't charge for parking and they have a free shuttle to the convention center from there every few minutes. Just be sure to arrive early, as all the spaces get taken quickly. Last year, I was too late and had to park behind the Sahara. There's a large free lot there on the SE corner of Sahara Ave and Paradise Rd you can park in, then walk to the CC from there. Other alternative: have someone drop you off and pick you up later, if you can. That's even better, and you don't have to deal with the parking problems.

Another thing I hate is they make developments and have a way for a 5-6 lane main road to go through, but they only make 2 lanes on half of the way, and in areas it switches which half is the 2 lanes. I've seen so many people not paying attention at night drive into people's garbage cans and dumpsters or into other cars because the lanes shiffted 20 feet over suddenly. I've seen straighter & smoother S-curving in a cow trail.

Yeah, it's a real mess out there. Seems like sometimes it's hard to find a road that's not under construction, no matter where you go, although the East side of town doesn't seem to be as bad as the North and West side, perhaps because they are still building a lot there.

I almost considered buying a house in Southern Highlands until I realized just how far away from everything it is. I like the NW part of town, as it's still relatively close to everything and still mostly new. Also, SH has fees like Summerlin without the "charm" of Summerlin which really turned me off. Henderson, forget it. East side, more crime. So I wound up on the NW side of town, and would have stayed had it not been for the dust and dirt constantly blowing, and the dryness. As far as the city itself, it's alright, but there really isn't much to do there except going to casinos. I'm not a gambler, so that bores me and doesn't leave much else to do.

The only thing I can say is better there is Radio. They have more good radio stations there than all of Southern California. Most of the time I liked listening to KJUL 104.3 (N. Las Vegas) just because I've not heard another station in the US with the same playlist as this one. All "cool" singers like Sinatra, Crosby, Sammy and others. I wish we had a station like that here. Half the stations here are Mexican radio, the rest mindless teeny pop.

[Doramius]

I thought the opposite. I can't even fill in all the presets on my car radio with the stations here. I do have the classic oldies stations and a few of the 80's and top 40 stations, but it's limited IMO. In Rochester we had that, plus a really decent Classical music station, alternative music, pure punk, thrash & metal, 60's, folk & 50's, and international top 100 station. I still listen to one of the radio stations that had alternative music on it. It's way cool most of the time. Only times when it sucks is when there's a local soccer game or the local mid-day high school rock jocks go on the air. It's a public access radio station, but they play some of the most awesome and rare alternative music. Like "The Orb", "NIN", "Enigma", "Gorillaz", "ICP", "Dario G" and several others long before they make it into the top 100. It was the first place I heard King Missle, Moxy Fruvis, Bare Naked Ladies, Blue Clocks Green, and other artists back in the late 80's and early 90's.

You should check them out in the evenings (EST) if you have Real Player for streaming.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!

[Roundabout]

I thought the opposite. I can't even fill in all the presets on my car radio with the stations here. I do have the classic oldies stations and a few of the 80's and top 40 stations, but it's limited IMO. In Rochester we had that, plus a really decent Classical music station, alternative music, pure punk, thrash & metal, 60's, folk & 50's, and international top 100 station.[/url]

You probably had a better mix of radio formats there because of the colleges, or maybe more young people in the mix. Vegas probably has an older mix of population (more retired people) than Rochester (my guess).

Still, having compared the formats on radio in Vegas to L.A., I'd take Vegas any day. There's nothing around here to listen to, and even though I tend to listen to older music, most stations that play it tend to play the same songs again and again.

Recently I was chosen by Arbitron to do a diary of my radio listening habits for their ratings service. I took the opportunity to lambast all the local stations in the "notes" section regarding their limited playlists.

There's a lost of good music that isn't getting played. Since Clear Channel took over so many stations around the country, the playlists have shrunk even more. I've pretty much stopped listening to the radio anymore, and stick to my CD's, where I can hear what I want, when I want.

At least in Vegas, you have "97.1 The Point" for rock, "Star" (for 80's), " 93.1 KOOL" for oldies, "KOMP", and the aforementioned KJUL for "standards", or vocals. Not nearly as many teenypop and Mex stations there. If you think radio isn't great there, you should be here! It's much, much worse.

The last straw came when KEZY 95.9 in Anaheim became "The Fish" KFSH by the 1980's, playing religious music. They were by far the best rock station in Southern Ca. for years IMO, but they finally threw in the towel in the 90's.

L.A. Radio? Bah. :P