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I hear you, I have never been to Vegas so I am just perusing homes for rent on zillow.com and at first i just came across the monopoly board homes crammed next to each other like sardines and there were no trees no grass. The more I look and explore I am now seeing homes in vegas burbs like Henderson, Boulder City, etc. that sometimes have a few odd looking trees (odd for me from Minnesota) and even with some grass-- that is what I am going to try and get for a rental at first so it is not such a shock; I want to get a year lease on such a home, then I can take it from there and see where to go. I just know I can NOT deal with the winters here, just brutal shoveling of heavy and abundant snow, ice to chop and slip on, streets buried with blizzards and then waiting for plows to come 2 days later before i can even drive to a coffee shop, I have so had it with that way of life, i simply MUST LEAVE Minnesota, but I am just so having a hard time dealing with living in more arid desert like Vegas. But I looked at Oregon and I just do not want 8 months of gloomy rain each year, and the South and SE USA has the damn snakes like black rat snakes that creep me out. So what is left is e.g. Vegas! And damn good house rental prices, and shockingly resources i need for at least a year for getting an independent feature film made (meetup.com shows lots of filmmakers, screenwriters, etc. to network with; plus astronomy stargazers!)
A. For God's sake when you are ready to move, don't use Zillow for anything.
B. I initially moved from Missouri to LV in 1994. I never missed winter for one second and giving up green all around was a price I was happy to pay to get away from miserable winters and sultry summers. What finally got to me was the crime, and the heat to some extent, but I loved living there for the 10 years I was a resident of LV. If I were to move back now, after 10 years in Hawaii, it would be seeing the ocean constantly that I would miss. Not sure if I could handle that at all.
C. Come in person and pick a home in one of the nice subdivisions that does have a lot of attractive landscaping.
not that i pretend to know anything about the vegas community, i don't, having never been to Vegas, yet, but maybe check this out: Las Vegas meetups
i used meetup.com during a several day trip to Eugene OR recently and on a day's notice found a wine tasting meetup (Sweet Cheeks winery) just outside Eugene and we just went and had so much fun, met new people, it was great. So if and when I move to Vegas, or wherever, I play to get involved with a half dozen meetup groups for things I am interested in, seems like a nice way to quickly get involved in a community.
Were you in Eugene scoping for a place to live and checking the vibe? It's much smaller than Las Vegas with a population of around 155,000. It has great running trails and of course the Oregon wine country.
Eugene reminds me a lot of a miniature Austin with the hills, hippies, liberals, well cultured, quirky, cool, educated, artsy college party town. That area of the PNW has some of the highest percentages of highly educated people with two top University's in close proximity. Bad sides to it is Moderator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed. Snobby isn't the first word that comes to mind when I think of it.
Another point is while it's lush and green it's in the Willamette Valley which is extremely fertile land and known for having one of the highest percentages of people that suffer from allergies. So if you don't have allergies and you move there you may very well develop allergies within the first five years. You'll know come spring and summer time if you can't hack it there though there are reprieves when the rain showers come. It also can feel a little too small. Portland and Seattle on the other hand have the advantages and disadvantages that come with living in a larger urban environment without the allergies so much.
I grew up in eastern North Dakota (reflected by my user name) on a farm. I have spent time in a lot of the western US for work. The 2 years before I moved to Las Vegas I lived in Florida. The heat here is easier to adjust to then the humid heat in the southeast and midwest. 105 in Las Vegas is much more comfortable than 85 in FL or MN because of the lack of humidity.
My parents are retired and spend the winter months in Sun City West, AZ. There are a lot of people from ND and MN living there, some seasonal and others year round. It's a safe city on the border of the Phoenix metro with lots of activities and it's own sort of culture. I think there are similar 55+ communities in Las Vegas, but also plenty of retired folks mixed in the regular family neighborhoods.
You won't have the grass yards and space that homes in the midwest have. My brother's home in Fargo is about the same age and price range as mine and his backyard is 3x bigger. However, I don't have to mow mine since it's just landscape rock and shrubs. Not having to mow grass or shovel snow really give you a bit more freedom. Just because there isn't much grass doesn't mean it has to be brown and drab though, there are plenty of heat tolerant trees and shrubs to add color.
Were you in Eugene scoping for a place to live and checking the vibe? It's much smaller than Las Vegas with a population of around 155,000. It has great running trails and of course the Oregon wine country.
Eugene reminds me a lot of a miniature Austin with the hills, hippies, liberals, well cultured, quirky, cool, educated, artsy college party town. That area of the PNW has some of the highest percentages of highly educated people with two top University's in close proximity. Bad sides to it isModerator cut: link removed, linking to competitor sites is not allowed. Snobby isn't the first word that comes to mind when I think of it.
Another point is while it's lush and green it's in the Willamette Valley which is extremely fertile land and known for having one of the highest percentages of people that suffer from allergies. So if you don't have allergies and you move there you may very well develop allergies within the first five years. You'll know come spring and summer time if you can't hack it there though there are reprieves when the rain showers come. It also can feel a little too small. Portland and Seattle on the other hand have the advantages and disadvantages that come with living in a larger urban environment without the allergies so much.
Eugene felt a bit small after being there several days. My female friend thought it was too hippyish even though i am an artist i too thought that a bit. main thing for me was the foothills where i would have bought a house-- too negative for bicycling, all coasting down in the morning for coffee, then anaerobic or motorized bicycling to get home; i wanted more level for bicycling. I do miss the de factor commonplace organic free range food they had there at restaurants and cafes near the U of Oregon, that was cool as i try to eat organic and free range.
...I initially moved from Missouri to LV in 1994. I never missed winter for one second and giving up green all around was a price I was happy to pay to get away from miserable winters and sultry summers. What finally got to me was the crime, and the heat to some extent, but I loved living there for the 10 years I was a resident of LV. If I were to move back now, after 10 years in Hawaii, it would be seeing the ocean constantly that I would miss. Not sure if I could handle that at all....Come in person and pick a home in one of the nice subdivisions that does have a lot of attractive landscaping.
Best wishes.
The crime index of e.g. Henderson makes it look pretty safe, far below the national average, 1/3 that of the crime index of Duluth MN where I currently live. I wonder if you were in a not so safe area of Vegas when you lived in Vegas or just had a run of bad luck with crime?
I too have pondered Hawaii; i could see someday perhaps moving to Hawaii if i can save up enough $.
You are right about finding a house rental in person; I will have rent a hotel or airbnb for a week or a month to be able to find a good house rental in vegas that has some attractive landscaping and a pool. A pool sounds like almost a necessity. I could go to $2000 a month for such a home if 3 bedrooms, air conditioning (I assume that is pretty common), if it has some landscaping, safe neighborhood, etc.
This is such a great question. I love the many small random bodies of water around Chicago. Our beaches aren't much but I will definitely miss them, but I'm so excited to be moving to Las Vegas. Not to mention it was just 60° in July
The ONLY thing I miss is having an ocean 2 miles from me. That is it. I moved here from Rhode Island, but was born and raised in Santa Cruz, CA. Between the 2, I lived in 12 states, and spent every summer in Bothell, WA at my grandparents' golf course. Included in the 12 states were midwest (Chicago, WI), South (TN, KY), and Puerto Rico. I would rather live in Las Vegas than anywhere I've ever been. I haven't found a downside yet. The landscape is gorgeous (subjective, of course), and I live in a beautiful neighborhood with lush green grass and trees. Although I really couldn't care less if there were any trees, it gives a nice contrast to the desert landscaping.
And people will b*tch about it being "too hot". Well, sucks for them. They live in a desert. Their choice. Shut up. Many of us moved here BECAUSE it's a desert. Go move to Michigan and tell me how that works out for you.
To anybody who moved to the Vegas area from somewhere with lush green, etc. (northern climates or SE USA, etc), what was it like psychologically, did you adapt and how long did it take? I am in northern MN, lush green grass everywhere, pine trees, other trees, and it will seem so odd if move to Vegas to transition to arid desert with cacti and no lush greenness. Of course I would also be giving up the nasty whiteness of snow and ice, lol, and that i can do without, this last winter did me in. Just wondering if immigrants to Vegas from places such as OR, MN, etc get used to the desert and such and how long it takes, or if one never gets used to it?
Joe
Duluth Minnesota
retired; writer, filmmaker, composer
You will be surprised at how the Mojave desert can be very lush as well, courtesy of the residents in Clark County. If you want to see very lush natural surroundings, Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forests is just a short drive away, 6 million acres and you can access part of it here in Clark County.
My neighborhood in Spring Valley is surrounded by towering pine trees apart from the other mature trees. I love it. My front and side yard is full of drought tolerant lush desert trees and lush xeriscaping, not just succulents and cacti.
Newer communities tend to have smaller trees and there are plenty of newer communities all around Clark County. Here in Spring Valley we have the best of both worlds, mature lush landscaping in the older communities and young landscaping in the newer neighborhood and we still have so many undeveloped acres of land. Developers are advertising left and right with regards to soon to be established communities in Spring Valley.
My husband and moved here last June from Maryland (we got here about the same time as Raiderman). We have both lived in desert places before (LV for him, CA for me), but also in snowy places (MI and MA). Given the choice, we'll take LV any day. There are sacrifices (I miss green sometimes) and it'll take some adjusting for your body (see the humidity thread...), but the desert is beautiful in its own right, and we LOVE living by mountains.
We also run one of the active LV film meetup groups, PM me if you want more info about that :-)
Also a big advocate of renting for a year to get the feel of the town before commuting to buying. It's something highly recommended by the locals on this board and it's definitely a good plan. I'd recommend coming out to visit for a few days, hook up with a realtor to show you properties to get an idea of what it's really like before considering a move. LV is a cool place, but you have to come into it with reasonable expectations.
The Wetlands park is growing in vegetation every year. Locals should frequent and support the center more.
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