A Wall Street Journal article by comedian Louie Anderson http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324439804578109132151433950.html
I have always wondered how many people actually live in City Center. And how it works for them. Sadly, this article really does not tell us much, other than some people have so much money, they can just call room service whenever they want.
Well this guy lives in the residences at the Mandarin Oriental. Not by any means cheap stuff. If you look at the City Center residence site, it doesn't look like there is much left in the Veer Towers so I'm guessing that they are pretty full. But that could also be a trick and they just list a few on there so that they appear sold out. The "cheapest" one for sale right now at Mandarin is $1,093,000. It's 1,084 square feet, and has a monthly HOA fee of $1,409. ($1.30 per square foot at the Mandarin) So imagine that on top of your house payment! The "cheapest" one for sale at Veer is $415,000 and 778 square feet. It's monthly HOA fee is $778 ($1.00 per square foot) Vdara's lowest price comes in at $365,000 and 545 square feet. Which I believe equates to smaller then Vdara's standard room size. There is also what would be a City Corner Suite, and that's $933,000. All these prices are condos on the market, and are not new. Both of these properties also have yearly property taxes of 1% of the purchase price, per year.
Yea, but you can rent on in Veer a studio for less than $1300 (at least that's what I found snooping on craigslist, in my never ending quest to eventually move to Vegas) Though in contrast, a regular apartment in like Henderson is $600 right?
I guess $1300 isn't that bad when you compare it to Chicago and New York rents. But the Veer studios seem pretty tiny looking at the floor plan, but I'm sure they're nice on the inside.
It would be fun to live there for a year or so but no way would I pay those ridiculous HOA fees, just out of principal. Too bad because I would love to live there, but honestly what am I getting back in return for such a sky high monthly HOA fee?
When I was looking them up to post, I thought the same thing about not wanting to pay that just out of principal. After a little bit of looking it covers the ability to use all the hotels amenities, security, building insurance. Places like Veer have common areas, and an entertainment area, as well as the usual business center. And as the article pointed out someone to bring you ice cream at 2AM. But if that's the case it makes the $25 well $28 after tax resort fee look cheap. I wonder if the HOA fee also includes your electricity, water, gas, and cable etc... Because if it doesn't, between the mortgage, HOA, and possibly utilities, my goodness it's expensive! I also read today that at one point they were leasing the smaller units in Veer to City Center employees for $900 a month. They look super tiny, but still not that bad of a deal.