That depends on who you ask! Throughout our fifteen years of living in Las Vegas, we've lived in Green Valley (the Master Planned community of Henderson), The Northwest part of Las Vegas and Summerlin. Over the years, we've probably bought or sold a home in every major master planned community of Las Vegas and we've even bought and sold homes in Mesquite. The truth of the matter is that there are wonderful communities all across Las Vegas.
Suggestion #1: Live Close To Where You Are going to Be Working
Traffic in Las Vegas is not improving and with current planning, will not improve anytime soon. When we first moved to Las Vegas back in 1992, it used to only take about 15 minutes to get to Northwest Las Vegas from Green Valley. Now, that same commute can easily take over an hour. If you are going to be working in Henderson, it really makes no sense to live in North Las Vegas and vice versa.
Suggestion #2: Everybody is Going to be Biased about where to Live
Ask somebody in Green Valley where to live, they'll tell you Green Valley is the best place. Ask somebody who lives in Summerlin, they'll tell you that Summerlin is the best place. Our clients in Spanish Trail say it is the best, while our clients in Red Rock Country Club would live nowhere else. Everybody wants to think they live in the best part of Las Vegas. The truth of the matter is there are wonderful communities all over Las Vegas and the best advice you are going to get is from an unbiased Real Estate agent that is going to tell you where the best place to live after asking you the right questions and listening to your answers. Not everybody has the same criteria and with all of the new construction in Las Vegas, today's hot communities may be old news tomorrow. Slick advertising by builders with Million dollar advertising budgets is no way to make your choice. Some of the hottest communities for appreciation in the future may actually be some of the older communities in Las Vegas. We'll be happy to share why.
Suggestion #3: Don't start Searching for Homes on Your Own
See Above. We have extensive experience in the communities of Las Vegas and education in community planning. Good planning always wins for long term appreciation. We'll also save you a ton of time by being able to send you properties via e-mail in the area you want to purchase in. These are updated homes fresh from the Las Vegas MLS. Get the newest listings e-mailed to you when they hit the market for sale in Las Vegas.
Suggestion #4: Buy What You Like
Buy in the community you like. See #2 Above. A Good Las Vegas Real Estate agent will be able to help you narrow down the areas to start looking in by listening to you and what is important for you. If you already know where you want to live, great! Don't let somebody talk you out of it unless they'll be making your mortgage payments for you.
Suggestion #5: Watch what you fill Out OnLine!
You've seen these services online and on TV. You go to their site and some of them claim that they'll put you in touch with the top Real Estate Agents in the area you are looking in. Simply fill out your information and the top Realtors in the area will contact you with information on buying or selling a home. What they don't tell you is that in actuality, they are selling your information to the real estate agent that will pay for it which does not mean the best one. Many major services are all doing this and selling zip codes to real estate agents for exclusive access to your information. There are also lending sites doing the same thing. What they don't tell you is that not all banks are included to offer you the best rates, just the ones that want to pay for the service. We've worked with a lot of lenders in Las Vegas and we know which ones are the best ones without the junk fees and hidden costs. We also know which ones to stay far away from due to poor service. We do not receive any fee from the Las Vegas lenders we refer our clients to. We use the lenders we use because of great service and great rates which equals happy clients. Watch out for this! It is illegal for lenders to pay Realtors referral fees for referring clients and you don't want to work with unethical real estate agents. It's also illegal for real estate agents to pay lenders for referrals.
Suggestion #6: Don't believe everything you Read in the Media!
Some Las Vegas communities get more exposure in the media then others. We quickly learned that in many media magazines in Las Vegas including the Las Vegas Review Journal and Southern Nevada New Homes Guide, communities that get mentioned in the articles by the real estate reporter or editor are spending a certain minimum amount of money in advertising. If they Don't spend advertising money, they don't get mentioned. So, the new home community or Las Vegas High Rise community that is always in the paper may be getting some extra exposure simply because of all the money they have committed to the publication. HMMM... now you know why so many new high rise condominiums in Las Vegas have gotten so much exposure and were then cancelled!! Truth is, some of the ones that don't make the headlines are currently under construction and they are doing great in sales. We know which Las Vegas high rise condos are doing good and worth buying into and which ones just have an expensive advertising/PR campaign.