I would love for you to expound upon why "It just wasn't for us to live there".
I love Vegas and would love to move there in my future retirement. I don't just love it for the vacation aspect, I love the city itself. I spend very little on shows when I'm there. I make long (2 week) trips and always rent a car and drive around from neighborhood through neighborhood just getting the vibe from all over the valley. I love the city. I currently live outside of Atlantic City so I have plenty of gambling at my disposal and Philadelphia is very easy to get to; but nothing is like the city of Las Vegas. What made the city not right for you to live in?
OK, I wrote this in 2011 and I have not updated it, but here is a general overview of why we left.
Vegas: A wonderful place to visit, just not to live. We gave up and after 18 months and we bought a house and moved back to Wisconsin. For 15 years it was my dream to retire and buy a house in Vegas. I guess be careful what you wish for…
Things we loved:
Gambling and drinking 24/7.
The weather 10 months a year! Summer is hot and I never thought I’d be golfing at 100+degrees, but it wasn’t bad.
No income tax.
Cheap or free buffets
Did I mention the weather 10 months a year! Unfortunately there has to be more.
The negatives in no particular order:
Gambling and drinking 24/7. Access to both is too easy.
Over-priced restaurants and drinks. $7 for a bottle of domestic beer or $16 for a mixed drink. $40 for a steak that costs $20 back home. C’mon.
Cheap or free buffets. I might never want to eat at a buffet again! I just got tired of eating at them and of course you don’t eat healthy when you’re at one of them.
Air quality very poor. Weekly advisories about quality.
8.1% sales tax. It adds up quickly.
HOA fees.
Neighbors you never talk to. Garage door goes up, in they go and the door comes down. If they come out, it’s to go in their backyard and sit in their concrete block enclosure that they call a backyard here. No reason to be out front, no plants to take of.
If the neighbors are sitting on their patio and we’re on ours, its like having them at our table, the sound just reverberates off those block walls. No privacy despite the walls.
Almost constant wind 15-20 mph daily, some days 30-40mph. Even 50 mph!
Dust, it’s everywhere. Open the windows and it just covers everything in the house. Even with the windows closed and no A/C running the house gets dusty in 2 days.
I’ve developed allergies since we’ve been here, never had them before.
Water quality: 98th worst out of 100 cities.
No rain. I miss thunderstorms and I hate to admit it but I miss snow.
Smoke. Vegas must be the smokiest city in the country. Go to a casino and your clothes just reek. Now this wasn’t a surprise. We encountered this every vacation but when you live here and have respiratory problems, it takes a toll. It’s different than visiting 5 times a year. I know, just stay out of the casino. But hey, we like gambling and the casino vibe.
Of course the crazy drivers have to be on the list. The long time locals we talk to blame it on the influx of CA drivers. I don’t know if that’s true, or just a justification for everyone to drive nuts. Just happy I didn’t have an accident, but did come close a couple of times.
Rolling stops. Or, the driver that pulls out 10ft into the intersection and looks like he’s not going to stop at all. I’m tired of flinching.
Cost of car insurance. 2.5x the cost in Wisconsin.
Medical and dental costs and quality of service. Costs high, service very poor!
40% Clark County high school graduation rate. 5th largest school district in the US and it only graduates 40% of the kids. It doesn’t directly affect us, but what happens to the 60% that don’t graduate? How do they make money in a town with double digit unemployment?
Cost of living: My figures show it will be about $1,000 per month cheaper to live back in WI, even with an income tax and higher property taxes.
And last of all: Losing our favorite place to vacation!!!
