Howdy folks,

Being a Floridian for the past few years and only visiting Vegas for a few days every year has caused me a little bit of a dilemma now that I am moving there. I have no idea what parts are good and bad! I am told my new office will be around the Summerlin area which I believe is in the West or SW portion of the city? Looking for help from any native or former Nevadans (is that what you call yourselves?).

1. Any suggestions on where I should look for an affordable apartment/condo? (don't mind some commute, just not 2 hours)
2. Any suggestions on where I should NOT look for an apartment/condo?
3. How are the expenses, though my research shows it has a much lower cost of living that anywhere I've lived in Florida so far.
4. Is the city navigable as long as I stay away from the strip?
5. Is it a complete hassle to register a car and get a license after moving?
6. Will you roll out the welcome wagon for me? Preferably if you lay yourselves down at the offramp of the plane so my feet don't have to touch the ground. J/K. Seriously though, as any of the Gods can tell you, I have a slight problem with Vegas and casinos so we can definitely arrange some meet when I get there.

Anyhow, probably be the middle of next year (next month at the earliest) before I get out there, so any advice is appreciated.

Given the fact that "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", no-one is allowed to answer your questions about commuting, housing, driving, etc..

You will just have to work it out yourself.

I'm willing to grab southern californians and erect a shrine. Beyond that, I don't know.

If they don't respond to the thread, you could PM either Aithne (dormant?) or Metzger (not-so-dormant) and ask them personally.

ask lachlan, she is a dancer on the strip

S-man. Seriously, you're leaving FL to live in Vegas???
I hear it's worse there in terms of overcrowding/necessity prices.

At any rate, to answer a few questions:
Do not stay within a 10 mile radius of 'The strip'. Housing prices are outrageous, for obvious reasons.

Las Vegas right now is kinda high in house foreclosures, so you might be able to work out
a great deal on a decent house else where.

Other then that, I have no idea about Las Vegas.

I moved from FL to WI, so I can't really harp on a 'bad move'
Hope all goes well!

City's easy enough to navigate, but the traffic is -ing crazy. I've never driven in such aggressive traffic in my life.

Other than that, Vegas has my heart. Totally.

Honestly, I've been in Florida so long that I am just tired and sick of all the old people and hurricanes. The weather is nice like one month a year, other than that, it is either too humid or raining cats and dogs. We did our Godsmeet this year when the temps were running about 100 something in Vegas, and I really had no problem at all dealing with the heat. I don't really plan on being anywhere near the strip for my residence, and have a found a few places that look enticing on the southwestern edge of town and the like. You have to understand that right now I live in Jacksonville, which is slowly becoming the new Detroit of the south with a skyrocketing murder rate and competition for the worst city in America. I don't think Vegas will be a step down at all compared to this dump that has a corrupt police chief (under investigation for mob ties) and overzealous officers who would rather pull over speeders than catch any of the billion unsolved murders.

My first choice was to go back to Boston, but my employers picked Vegas instead so I can catch my international flights out of LAX much easier.



Looking at roommates sites, it seems there are a lot of dancers on the strip who are looking for people to room with. It seems to be all 20-28 year old females who make sure to point out they have "night" jobs and will have a lot of female friends over. If only I were back in my college days....

Oh, the glories of Vegas.

I'll be visiting again around the middle of July on another 'business trip'. We'll have to stalk the eternal halls of War (read: Caesar's Palace, MGM Grand, etc)!

Leave your zaps at home though.

Wait... July you say??? *sniff.....sniff* I smell an Aegean Meet '09 up in this bitch.

@Aegis: sorry.. never been to Vegas but we've been looking at taking a family vacation for some time.. (or maybe just me and the wife..who knows - she wants to eat at that restaurant that the chick from Hell Kitchen cooks at so...)

Wear a condom. Maybe two.

Sounds like a plan.

But I'll be in WTC

Doesn't stop Tuerney or Latus!

This article should help a lot, hope it does at least:

http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/08/l...g-in-las-vegas/

Grew up in Florida myself, spent a couple weeks in Vegas. Move to Seattle.

lachlan is not actually a dancer on the strip, for the record

I was born and raised in Vegas, so I'll have to share a drink when you get here.

Yes, Summerlin is on the west side of the city, and you will enjoy it, I think. Traffic can be a hassle, but as long as you don't drive 5 mph UNDER the speed limit and know how to stay between the lines, you'll be fine. Navigating is pretty easy, just avoid the I-15 and the I-95 during rushhours (6am-9am, 12-2pm, 5-8pm); it gets crowded FAST.

If you can, look for an apartment within Summerlin, there's tons around here within a 5-mile radius. A lot of places are turning condos into apartments, and vice versa, due to the economy and all that, rent's around $1k, plus or minus 300 depending on size and location (I got $845 right on Sahara, which is an AWESOME deal, considering the location).

Your water bill will probably be higher than you're used to, we've been in a drought for about a decade now, and people are real picky about waste. Electricity should be good, though, thanks to the Hoover.

We don't have any tolls, so the DMV rapes your registration. Gotta register every year, cost should be about what you pay for insurance. Not too much of a hassle, people complain about the lines but it's really not that bad if you're just there for a registration. You can also do it online, and if not, they're working on it so you may be able to soon.

The 100+ days are numerous during the 7-month summer, but you said you didn't mind, so good for you.

Strippers are actually quite cool people outside the bars, but have attachment issues, so...yeah...

Umm, don't know what else to say. West/SW side of town is still fairly new(compared to the east side, anyway), a lot of expansion going on(or was going on) in the SW towards Pahrump, but it's slowed down because of the economy and all that. I like it here simply because it's home. After you get used to the glitz, it's kinda boring.

But hey, who can complain about 24-hour bars! If the bartenders like you, they comp the hell out of your beer if you throw in a $20 in video poker.

Edit: As Batista said, we are very aggressive drivers. If you're 5 under the limit(or even at limit, with most of us), expect to get passed. The gas pedal's there for a reason, damn it.

Hi, Aegis. I'll buy you a drink, how bout that?

I dislike Summerlin, and thus I avoid it, so no advice there. I lived there when I first moved out to Vegas, and the construction job was absolute -. It was a brand new house and the electrical and plumbing was all -ed. As for the DMV, just suck it up and do it. My preferred DMV is on Sahara near McLeod. They are extremely efficient and you can usually get in and out in less than an hour. Once I spent a peasly 20 minutes in there, so it isn't bad at all. Avoid any temptation to go to the office on Flamingo, or else you might as well bring a tent and a sleeping bag. As Simoln said, the registration hurts. A lot. I don't know much about the offices in Summerlin.

Also, don't listen to the born-and-breds. There is nothing boring about living in Las Vegas. Anything you want to do, you can do. So if you move out here you should never be at a loss as to how to spend your time. And if you're into all the glitz and crap, the shows and attractions very frequently sell tickets to locals for incredibly discounted prices. Coming from Hayward, CA originally, it makes no difference what you're into or what you like, there are people here that cater to it.

I'll only be home for the first week of July, and the not again until November. No fair.




I, too, am a native. Borm at UMC.





The first thing this man ever asked me was "So what, are you a Summerlin Brat?" It couldn't be farther from the truth


The only thing I'll ammend on Simoln's advice is this - unless you have a swimming pool or you're watering a lawn your water utility will be next to nothing. With as many as six people showering daily at my place, the highest our bill ever was was about 45 dollars, and it's generally 16. The electricity, on the other hand, will absolutely rape you, and Nevada Power (now NVEnergy, or something) begs for astronomical rate-hikes every single quarter. They usually end up getting one of those approved yearly too.

Personally, I've never lived anywhere but east of the strip, and while I like Metzger's neighborhood well enough (he's a hell of a lot closer to Summerlin than I am!) I prefer the east side of town to the west side. You're not really going to find a terrible neighborhood in that (west) area, but you're also going to be paying out of pocket for that niceity. I've also only lived in one apartment complex out here in the last 17 years, so I have about zero advice for you there.


I'm not sure what kinds of activities you're into, but we have excellent skiing and hiking basically on our door step, Lake Mohave and to a lesser extent Lake Mead for water sports, and basically anything you can think of as far as nightlife activity available. If you're into camping, however, you're going to want to get that done in April, or October, if you're not going out of state, and even in April it's balls hot outside by noon.


If you smoke hookah, Metz knows of the best place in the Valley to do that, and he doesn't have anybody to go with, aside from my sister (who can't just pick up and go, needing a babysitter and all) now that I'm gone.