[desertsun41]

Originally Posted by olecapt

You picked that number from thin air. At least a third of the jobs will be casino/hotel which start above 12. Retail seasonal work in Las Vegas goes for 8. There will be low end retail in the mix certainlly...but not more than a third or so.

And I am an RE Agent. And I always advice techies that it is a bad town...unless you are in to some specialty that works here. And I have never advised anyone to come here without substantial resources for a significant job hunt. The clientele that I work is generally quite well off. The only real contact I have with new wage earners would be finding an occassional rental for someone who asks off a list.

This list gives pretty good advice. Check out the threads on the OP - Parking. He is actually an IT guy looking for a position that is pretty high up in the pecking order in Las Vegas. $70K IT jobs here require local experience or working for one of the governments or a little luck. Parking had none.

Olecapt, I no longer pick on you. We even have some civil post swapping these days. I know you well and you did me well. In fact you went very above and beyond your call of duty and your job description when working with me. You are an alright guy. I will never forget that.

But........

I do feel you give much too positive thinking advice about Vegas when Vegas is not deserved of such. It is your job to do so, I know that. You said you deal with very well off people. In the past you said a large % of your business is Sun City. Are these people your only contacts? They are not one of us. They have no clue. Perhaps you dont either about the financial strength of the average smoe.

Yet you are telling average working smoes how great things are here from jobs to housing to cost of living and traffic issues. You also disagree with me about the retail sector making the $6-9/hr range. That reminds me of the govt. Those politico clowns are so very filthy wealthy and have never had to stress over how they were going to pay their next house payment. Because they have no clue what the working smoes are doing. What they are earning. What they live like.

So many of us are scared while being upside down in our homes. We (not me) sit in almost an hour traffic to travel 10 miles. The cost of goods here are higher then almost anywhere in America. Young people can not afford to buy a home here. The foreclosure issue here. Even the price to see a show is 10 times anywhere else. Higher gas prices. Higher insurance costs. Lets not even go into the horrific infrastructure of our functionally obsolete roads here. Oh and the world famous unsynchronized red lights here. Notice I call them red lights and not traffic lights because they are always red. Is that on purpose or is it lack of a traffic engineer's brain? While this may be a result of bad and crooked local govt, it still reflects badly on the city as a whole.

Anyway.....this was not to pick on you but rather to say I feel you give too much of a positive idea about a city not deserving of such. This is not that great of a place, at least not anymore. Leave it to the tourists for now. Because at $300 and more....way way more a night to stay on the strip, how long before the tourists stop coming too? They can no longer afford it anymore either.

I am leaving this morning to go to my 2nd home in Texas. When I come back I will be interested in seeing your response.

Good day to you Olecapt !

[Daddys///M3]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

I hope you are right about the additional better paying jobs that will invent themselves or expand that are not directly related to City Center. I probably will not doubt you are right there but I do doubt it will have much of an impact.

For those of you who think those young and older people are making $10/hr working in places like Sears, JC Penny, Drug stores, all banks, C-stores, Clerks and so on should ask around. I promise you they are from $6-9/hr. No benifits at all either. Even the once good paying Home Depot and Lowes pay only $10-11/hr but they get some bennies for that. All Lowes stores have now gone to part time only workers as have the banks years ago.

The rest of your post was about rents skyrocketing while the wealthy who buy homes prosper. How is that good? The low payed people are still SOL ! The rich get richer.

No one here can say in truth that wages will ever go up much. Raises are a thing of the past unless you work for the govt. Historicly when home prices fall it is only till wages catch up. That will not happen again. Low wages are here to stay. What will this do to the current housing situtation? The future economy? None of us know although several of us have our positive thinking ideas. I just can not see a lot of good in the future. Oh things will come around again. But how and when.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't minimum wage now $7.50? It is not unheard of for a person with zero skills and experience to start at $8-$10 an hour. You're also comparing a convenience store cashier or Home Depot worker to the retail jobs that will be available at CityCenter. Been down to Caesar's Forum Shops lately? How about the Wynn or the Venetian? There is some serious high end retail down there, and foreign money eats it up. My buddy was down at Venetian a few weeks ago, said over 75% of the visitors were foreign, hardly anyone was even speaking english. The fact is that Vegas is becoming an international playground in it's own right, and I guarantee you the guy working at Torneau selling $8000 watches or the gal working at Harry Winston are NOT making $6-$9 an hour.

[airics]

desert - you are wrong, the cost of living are not higher than anywhere else in the country...

utilities are cheaper
property taxes are a joke, much much less, i pay $5k on a $150k house in cleveland
groceries are cheaper
gas is cheaper (and doesnt change every other hour - we are at $3.79 in cleveland for unleaded)
restaurants and dining is much cheaper in vegas

the only thing that is significantly more in vegas is car insurance.. even homeowners insurance is cheaper in vegas

enough said... oh and i have homes in both places (1 in cleveland and 2 in vegas before anyone asks)

[vegas_4u]

Originally Posted by airics

desert - you are wrong, the cost of living are not higher than anywhere else in the country...

utilities are cheaper
property taxes are a joke, much much less, i pay $5k on a $150k house in cleveland
groceries are cheaper
gas is cheaper (and doesnt change every other hour - we are at $3.79 in cleveland for unleaded)
restaurants and dining is much cheaper in vegas

the only thing that is significantly more in vegas is car insurance.. even homeowners insurance is cheaper in vegas

enough said... oh and i have homes in both places (1 in cleveland and 2 in vegas before anyone asks)

I agree. Also, to add to this - the big one -- NO STATE TAX!! That is the real benefit. People always take small things like car registration and say - wow, that's expensive. I just don't get it...... people complain about spending an extra $300 a year on auto registration, a few extra bucks on drinks at upscale clubs, maybe a few hundred extra on auto insurance....but they forget about the tens of thousands of dollars they just saved in real estate taxes AND no state tax!! Compared to California, Vegas is sooooooooooooooo low cost of living. Come on people!! Get it together!! With no state tax, you save about 9% of your taxable income!!! Come on now people!!

[airics]

oh, i knew i missed a biggie on the no state tax.. compared to the most beautiful place in the world... Cleveland.... not.. ..... vegas is a bargain.. (as i stare out of my cleveland window looking at 15" of snow on the ground) --- but vegas bound again in 2 weeks...

[pukalo]

Originally Posted by desertsun41

Do you know any body who can survive this high cost city making $6/hr? What about a duel income family where both earn $6/hr? $12/hr does not even buy you a rental in the getto here.

You are very much mistaken there. Most casino/hotel jobs start off at 9$+ or more. Plus amazing opportunities to get raises. I've done my research on the job market in Vegas and there is a guaranteed job of at least $9/hour waiting for me whenever I make my move. Or anyone else who is willing to do their research. Is that a lot of money to live in luxury? No. Is it enough if managed properly or with another part time job? Yes.

[cjski21]

Housekeepers at the Venetian start at $15 an hour. Maintenance guys start at $18. Security starts at $15 and front desk starts at $17. They hire about 700 people a month. And they are right on line with other strip properties.

[daveyjones978]

Originally Posted by vegas_4u

I agree. Also, to add to this - the big one -- NO STATE TAX!! That is the real benefit. People always take small things like car registration and say - wow, that's expensive. I just don't get it...... people complain about spending an extra $300 a year on auto registration, a few extra bucks on drinks at upscale clubs, maybe a few hundred extra on auto insurance....but they forget about the tens of thousands of dollars they just saved in real estate taxes AND no state tax!! Compared to California, Vegas is sooooooooooooooo low cost of living. Come on people!! Get it together!! With no state tax, you save about 9% of your taxable income!!! Come on now people!!

And let's not forget as well people... Yes auto registration is high, but you can deduct it on your tax return. (I should know, I just did my taxes). Nevada is one of a dozen or so states that allows the deduction.

[AA702]

Talking about jobs. I have a customer that does Medical Insurance billing and is hiring 15 people. Anyone interested, please send me a DM and I can send you to the right place. I'm not sure how much it pays per hour, so dont ask.

[mmckenna]

Anybody know the difference between cost of car insurance (roughly) in Las Vegas compared to Massachusetts (aka Taxachusetts?) Is it about the same?