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Snowbirding NV

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by Reefer, Apr 23, 2013.

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  1. Reefer

    Reefer Low-Roller

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    Just curious...retirements coming up in about 5 yrs. Everyone talks about snowbirding in Florida & Arizona, any places in NV (not Vegas) that brings in snowbirds? I know that it's somewhat cool Dec - Feb but just wondering about March through April to start.
     
  2. Nevada Kid

    Nevada Kid VIP Whale

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    There are a lot of them in the Laughlin/Bullhead area. It is warmer than Vegas year round. I know there are RV Resorts in Bullhead, and the Ramada (now Tropicana) in Laughlin used to let you park in one of their lots for free, but needed to go elsewhere to dump your tanks.
     
  3. tatterdema

    tatterdema VIP Whale

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    I think Mesquite gets a lot of snowbirds also. Never been there, so I cannot comment on the weather, or anything else about it. Maybe I will take a run up there this weekend and check it out.
     
  4. HoyaHeel

    HoyaHeel Grammar Police & Admin

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    I have stepgrandparents who spent 25+ winters in Laughlin/Bullhead City AZ. They're in their mid-90s now and spending their first winter in forever in northern Illinois - boy are they cranky about it! :peace:
     
  5. Reefer

    Reefer Low-Roller

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    Seems we all get that way up here when they drag on like this winter has.
     
  6. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    People snowbird all over. It really just comes down to where you want to be. You can buy into a nice, high-end ghetto like Sun City Anthem, or pull up in a fifth wheel on the outskirts of town.

    One key question (for many) is the (general lack of) quality health care in Vegas.

    If you like the idea of Nevada, turn some of your vacay visits over the next few years into inspection tours, be it Vegas or the river or Reno. As noted above, Mesquite has a sizable retirement contingent, permanent and transient.
     
  7. Reefer

    Reefer Low-Roller

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    Ken, you spot on regarding checking things out the next few years while on vaca. Next year we plan to vaca in Florida and will be checking out The Villages. Just haven't heard much about 55+ communities in NV although I haven't done much research. Since we have time it's nice to check out all options....just know we don't want to be here in WI in winter when the time comes. Thanks for your response.
     
  8. tatterdema

    tatterdema VIP Whale

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    If you have never been there, check out Palm Springs. Tons of 55+ communities, and only 3 1/2 hours to Vegas. I have pretty much narrowed down my retirement to there.
     
  9. Reefer

    Reefer Low-Roller

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    Thanks...never thought about it. Heard its beautiful there so will check it out.
     
  10. tatterdema

    tatterdema VIP Whale

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    Condos are dirt cheap there right now too. You can buy a decent 1 bedroom for about $30,000. Just be careful and research what area you are buying into. For example, the North End is really really cheap, but the wind never quits.
     
  11. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    And you need to know if you're buying fee simple or if you're on tribal land with a lease. Also, Palm Springs is just one of nine cities in the Coachella Valley, though the valley often is referred to as simply "Palm Springs." At the risk of offending any residents, there's no need to consider the cities of Desert Hot Springs or Coachella, or most of the unincorporated areas.

    If you have any questions about the California desert please drop me a line. I'm the lead desert correspondent for a number of my clients and I've been doing the desert thing for 30 years.

    Now turning to the Gray Ghetto idea ...

    The retirement model has changed quite dramatically in recent years, mostly because Boomers are not retiring like their parents.

    Retirement "cities" -- The Villages in FL you mentioned, the two Sun City city-ettes west of Phoenix, Green Valley, AZ, etc. -- are giving way to retirement communities or developments or even tracts. Essentially it is a housing project of some size, with internal amenities, age-restricted, perhaps with some taxation incentive, but located within a larger "normal" community/town/city of families and jobs and schools. That's what you see in, for instance, the Sun City projects in Summerlin and Henderson and the Coachella Valley. (Mesquite has a Sun City development going, as well.)

    The Big Two of age-restricted developments out west are Sun City (Pulte/Del Webb) and Trilogy (Shea Homes). Hovnanian's Four Seasons is another good-sized offering.

    Another thing to consider is that whole ghetto effect; do you want to live some place where everyone "looks" the same? Some people can't wait to retire to a place that includes only their age peers, and they love the decision. Others find they miss the broader socio-economics of a "normal" town. Again, in some regards the latter outcome is less of a concern given the move to retirement developments rather than often literally retirement cities. (If you've ever driven around in endless circles in Sun City/Sun City West Arizona you'll know what I mean by a gray city versus a gray 'hood.)
     
  12. leanonme

    leanonme Tourist

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    I don't personally know anyone who does that but for me Vegas was a little too cold in the winter (even though I'm from MN)
     
  13. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    The wind never quits in Vegas either.
     
  14. Joe

    Joe VIP Whale

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    What...you didn't enjoy this last winter.:cuss::cuss:

    To follow up on something Ken posted...we really did enjoy the diversity of cultures and people living in Vegas. SE WI, especially Ozaukee County, is plain vanilla and boring.
     
  15. tatterdema

    tatterdema VIP Whale

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    Yeah, the wind blows in Vegas, but I dont think it is anything like North Palm Springs. It literally never stops. Wind farms..... Desert Hots Springs is pretty bad, spent a summer there, and I lived in the La Quinta area for a while, and it was pretty bad out in that area. Up in Anza, the high desert, wasnt quite as bad, but the road in and out was killer in the winter.

    I wouldnt want to live anywhere in the Palm Springs area except from downtown south to Rancho Mirage, and close to 111 so you are shielded by the mountains. It still can get pretty windy there too, just not constant. The problems is, like Ken said, that is where most of the lease land is. One block will be lease, the next fee simple. Kind of like a checkerboard. I have been looking at a condo across the street from the casino, but the lease expires in 15 years or so. Rare for a lease to get that low, and with the location, I can see them not renewing it. I dont want to be looking for a new place to live when I am 65.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2013
  16. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Yep, Desperate Hot Springs pretty much sucks.

    If we ever go back, we'd go down in the La Quinta cove. They're still sorting out the crime situation down there but I love the gentrification and the city has a good mix of uses and services. We're big fans of old P.S., too. Nice to see life boomeranging back there.
     
  17. tatterdema

    tatterdema VIP Whale

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    A friend of mine inherited a mobile home in DHS a couple years ago. The lot payments were $500 a month, and he had a hell of a time unloading it. Took a year, and he finally basically gave it away for $2000, furnished, with a car. It was a nice little mobile too. Gawd awful area. I did like living in La Quinta, but that was 25 years ago, before there was anything out there. Quite a different area now. I spent a week down there at the beginning of March, and looked and looked for my old place. Never could find it, or even recognize where it had been. Went up to Anza, and laughed my ass off. Absolutely NOTHING has changed in 25 years.
     
  18. Reefer

    Reefer Low-Roller

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    You know how it went this winter/spring Joe...seemed to never end. Spoiled by last winter I guess (washed windows in Feb). Looking back when I was a kid in 19...(never mind), this is sort of the old norm...snow at Thanksgiving for the hunters and snow opening day fishing in Door County. Nice in the Fox Valley today and even cut lawn for first time.
    Had a great time in Vegas last week, 85-95 all week. Get off plane in Milwaukee- 42.
     
  19. NandJfrmNJ

    NandJfrmNJ VIP Whale

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    We spent some time looking at houses in Mesquite and I think that's where I'd like to be. Close enough to Vegas but also close to St George for amenities and close to a lot of NP's. Seems like the ideal place to snowbird.
     
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