[Atlas1337]

I was looking for a place to move to escape New Jersey's State income tax which goes up to 10% My shortlist included Texas, Nevada, and Flordia. Alaska was too cold, and Wyoming was too empty.

I decided on Las Vegas and bought a small condo at Sky Las Vegas. It's a high rise condo between Circus Circus and Hilton Grand Vacation. I've spent the past 2 weeks furnishing the place and just thought I'd share my thoughts.

1) Home prices are very reasonable, even for high rises compared to North Jersey/NYC area.

2) Cox internet service doesn't offer fast enough upload speeds. Their download speeds are fine. I miss my 25mbs/25mbs FiOS from Verizon.

3) This city is sprawled. I don't own a car, and never have. I'm going to have to get one here...

4) The McDonald's next to Circus Circus is amazing. I go there for lunch every day. $4 gets you a healthy meal. $1 large unsweetened tea, $1 yogurt parfait, $1 side salad, $1 chicken sandwich.

5) Most people don't seem to be very optimistic. All the taxi drivers I've spoken to want to get out of Vegas and/or are pessimistic about its future.

6) LOTS of stalled construction. I can see the nearly-finished Fontainebleau, the barely-started Echelon, some barely started tower near The Venetian, and several plots of undeveloped land from my balcony.

7) Lots of Spanish speakers. I regret sleeping through my high school Spanish classes.

That's all for now, I'll edit this if more comes to mind. If anyone else is planning on moving here, I'd be glad to answer questions.

[PinkString]

Welcome to Las Vegas Atlas. Seems you are settling in quite nicely. You may want to start cooking at home more...if you eat enough of those "healthy" McD's meals, you can gain about 30+ lbs in a month.
You will definitely need a car. Many people moving here think they don't need one, but you do if you want to see it all far and wide. Where I live, it takes almost an hour to get to Henderson. If I went by bus, it would probably take 3 hours with all the stops they make. Forget that!

[AA702]

My advice on getting healthy meals is a place called Fresh n' Easy. They have very good quality food, and if you know how to pick your meals, there are healthy alternatives here for a fair price. They have prepacked meals that are very tasty if you are not the cooking type. They have locations all over the valley. I'm not sure which is closer to the strip area, but you can check out their website. You are going to need a car for sure!

BTW, why would you need such a fast upload speed of 25? Unless your doing peer-peer stuff or is this work related? Fiber should be out here one day, but for now we are stuck with Cox Cable.

[olecapt]

Welcome to Vegas Atlas.

Be curious to see your views on Sky after you have been there a while. I have rented a few places in there though I have not sold any...

I like the place and thought it pretty well run...though it has a rep for being a little wild.

YOu are correct about the hulks. An interesting problem. Clark County could crack down but the only thing they have in their arsenal would be to make them tear it down .

[las vegas drunk]

I concur with the people above me. McDonald's and healthy do not belong in the same sentence. Those chicken sandwiches you are eating everyday have silly putty in them.

[Joe3788]

Welcome from one Jersey native to another. Welcome to the most pessimistic city in the world. Hopefully you brought that east coast swagger and work ethic with you. It will take you far out here. Tons of lazy people out here and you will feel like you are passing them up in life like they are standing still. Good luck to you.

[unf0rgiven6262]

I've always wondered with people who buy property down by the strip how long it takes them to get completely sick of that atmosphere?

[tazz]

If you are on a budget drink water at McDonald's and make iced tea at home. A teabag costs about 5 cents.

[Atlas1337]

Thanks for the warm welcome folks. Perhaps 'healthy' was the wrong choice of words with respect to my McDiet. Trouble is, my 'home meals' at the moment consist of ramen and cereal. Fresh & Easy sounds good and according to the official website, there's one opening up 2 miles from me!

From my limited experience so far, Sky is great. The staff is friendly, and the gym that my HOA fees are paying for has given me an excuse to start exercising. 30 minutes of cardio a day means I burn just enough calories to sneak in one of those 'silly putty' McChickens (no mayo)

The reason I noticed the comparatively slow upload speed is because I work online and upload speed is very important to me. This place does need some optimism, I hope I brought enough to go around!

[Robustus]

Where in Jersey? I'm moving to Vegas from Jersey City next month - just bought a single-family home in the Northwest. Also looking forward to escaping NJ's ridiculous taxes, traffic, crime. (Sidenote: I know a lot of you Vegas folks will say that traffic and crime in Vegas are bad, but trust me, Hudson county NJ traffic is awful, as is crime in the bad parts of Jersey City (numerous shootings within a 2-block radius of my apt, etc)).

I hear ya on the FiOS comment - we have it my office and it's fantastic, though I'm stuck with Comcast at my apt, so switching to Cox in Vegas won't be too bad for me.

Anyways - thanks for the thoughts. Please continue to update your list as you get settled more.