Speeeed,
Welcome to the desert! It depends on what lifestyle you truly want to lead.
If you want to live an urban, big-city lifestyle where you can walk to clubs and restaurants, there are a number of high-rise apartment buildings where prices are just now starting to recover from the meltdown. That includes a few downtown buildings where a budding techie-hipster vibe is growing thanks largely to Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com.
If you want good-ole American suburbia with a nice house, maybe a yard and a "neighborhood," stick with Green Valley to the south (10-15 minutes to McCarran), Summerlin to the northwest (30-40 minutes to the airport depending on "Spaghetti-Bowl" traffic), or due west at the foothills of the Spring Mountains (15-20 minutes). Avoid the far-east side, northeast, or way north. Avoiding the actual City of North Las Vegas is absolutely imperative.
If you are looking for a suburban ranch type of place that is less crowded but still close to the city, the southwest quadrant of town still has some old-school horse properties with a few acres of land among the subdivisions.
But if you're actually willing to drive an hour to the airport and you want a very rural setting, look at Mount Charleston and the foothills on the way up the mountain on the far northwest side of town. Ski area and a cool lodge at the top of the hill (decent skiing when the snow is plentiful) and great camping and hiking. There is also a little area on the far southwest side called Blue Diamond that is very close to Red Rock (rock climbing, hiking) and there are mountain bike trails literally out the back door. Tucked in among the cottonwoods and scrub oak in a canyon, Blue Diamond is very small, very rural, and very old school.
Now is the time to buy if you're planning on staying for a while. Las Vegas is lagging the rest of the country on real estate recovery but prices are starting to rise especially in the 2000 square foot, sub $300K part of the market.
The advice is worth every penny you paid for it but restaurant referrals will cost ya extra....
Good luck.
, we are really looking for a more traditional surburban setting. Good schools is a big factor, and access to recreation like trails and biking areas a big plus. I will get busy with more research in preparation for our upcoming recon trip!
