Volume 1, Issue 7 August 12, 2010
Moving to Vegas
A MONTHLY NEWSLETTER FROM STEVE FEY
OF KELLER-WILLIAMS REAL ESTATE IN LAS VEGAS
Having a Good Summer?
Me, too, except for some bumps involving a rental property that we own. That’s all taken care of, so we did what a lot of people around Las Vegas do in the heat of summer and spent the weekend in the nearby resort community of Big Bear Lake, California. Yes, it may be hard for some to admit, but one of the attractions of Las Vegas is the nearness of Southern California. Big Bear Lake is an artificial lake located almost 7000 feet above sea level on what is referred to as a “sky island” in the middle of the Mojave desert. There is skiing, boating, camping, hiking and all sorts of mountain recreation available. I know, I love Vegas, but once in a while everybody needs a change of pace. I’ll mention another popular “cool” getaway next month.
Speaking of “cool,” Las Vegas and New York are tied for first place in “coolest cities in America.” How about that? 116 degrees and we’re cool! Not what you’d expect, is it? Still, I believe it. There are things that you see here every day that just don’t exist anywhere else, and not all of them involve our entertainment industry. Once you move here, you’ll see what I mean.
As always, to opt out of receiving this mailing, click here and make sure that the subject line says “unsubscribe me.”
steve@retiringtovegas.com
702-379-6267
Odd Bits about Las Vegas:
In current news, the Nevada Tea Party candidate has gotten back into the fray. Apparently he’s not satisfied with the credentials and demeanor of the Republican candidate. As I said last month, Nevada politics is entertaining.
The Lied Discovery Children’s Museum announced recently that it will be moving into the Smith Center being built in downtown Las Vegas. This is great news for families in the valley, which is not, sad to say, famous for the many family-friendly activities offered by Sin City. The truth is, Las Vegas is first and foremost a place to live, and the hype is, well, hype. (I like to say that if you do the wrong thing, you’ll stay in Vegas, if you get my drift.)
Here is something that’s coming right up, in Las Vegas and everywhere else, I suppose. (Maybe you shouldn’t let your kids see this one.) August Las Vegas Weather:
August begins to cool down, a little. The monsoon usually continues through Labor Day or later, so it can be amazingly sticky some days. It happens in August some years that we’ll get a day or two that doesn’t even reach 100 degrees. An amazingly refreshing day results. Heat-wise, the worst is over, and the rest of the year is usually pretty nice. The rainiest day ever in Las Vegas was in August, 2.6 inches.
• Mean high temperature is 103°F, or 39.5° Celsius.
• The mean low temperature is 75° F, or 24°C
• Mean August Rainfall equals .54 inches
• Record High is 116° F, and the record low is 46° F.
If you’ve only visited Las Vegas you might be surprised that August is the last of three hot months. That dry heat story is true, so the temperatures in September, while they look hot on paper, will feel cool and refreshing to residents of the Valley.
Las Vegas weather can be surprising. The official record high temperature was 117 degrees, just a couple of years ago. The official record low was 8 degrees, a long time ago. In winter it typically freezes most nights for a couple of months, although rarely a truly hard freeze. In summer it only rarely gets above 110 degrees, but most of us think that 110 degrees is hot enough for practical purposes anyway. Everything is air-conditioned, even temporary storage facilities.
To contact Steve, including to opt out of this newsletter, please email using the address below.
Email: steve@retiringtovegas.com
Website:
www.retiringtovegas.com
Snail Mail:
3100 S. Durango Drive #106
Las Vegas NV 89117-4044
Things to Do in Vegas (Even When You’re Alive)
Try miniature golf. There is King Putt, an indoor mini-golf emporium that’s good to go even when it’s hot, windy, or raining. And there is the traditional outdoor The Putt Park, located in the Southwest. From time to time others have come and gone in the past few years, but these two seem to be long term features. Both have excellent courses (I’ve played them.) Summer is in full swing in Nevada, meaning that on Saturday the kids playing soccer over at the park are going through about a gallon of water apiece during the game. Also you’ll see a lot of boats heading for Lake Mead, and many tourists burning themselves to a crisp around any given resort pool.
LAS VEGAS REAL ESTATE MARKET STATISTICS AS OF AUGUST 12, 2010
Total listings equals 20391
Listings with no offers equals 11181
August to date closings equal 722
Converted to a monthly rate that equals 1805 per month
Absorption rate based on the above is 11181/1805 months, or 6.2 months.
When the tax credit expired, so did a lot of enthusiasm. But, the good news is that this remains an excellent time to buy property in Las Vegas, even if you never plan to move here. You can now rent for enough to cover the mortgage on most properties that you buy here, and it’s a cinch that sooner or later values around the Valley are going to shoot up. Maybe next year, even. So, give it some thought, and call me if you want some help.
As always, this information is from the Multiple Listing Service and is deemed accurate but not guaranteed. Figures were gathered at 10:50 PDT on August 12, 2010.
August 2010
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12
Civil Rights Day
13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20
National Radio Day
21
Senior Citizens Day
22 23 24
First Potato Chips Prepared – 1854 25 26
First U.S. Rollercoaster Built – 1929 27 28
29
US Air Force Academy Opens – 1958
30 31
generated by HTML Calendar Maker 1.1. Copyright (C) 2009 John Dalbey.




Steve Fey
Steve Fey, Agent
702-379-6267