Mid 40's couple moving to vegas. Any advise appreciated.?

My husband and I are in our mid 40's and are thinking of selling out and moving to Vegas. We are both licensed professionals where we are from. He has over 20 years in all kinds of Contruction and I have over 20 years customer service and management/office experience.
We are looking to move because of the weather, it's cold where we're from. And for the financial uplift that we have heard we will get in our fields in Vegas. As well as for other personal reasons. We need advise as to where to look for affordable decent housing. As well as the job market, and any other advise or comments that would be helpful.
We are moving from Utah. The reasons are: Cold Weather causing health problems, the pollution of constant inversions, "the church" running everything, Low paying jobs with no security, we are both licensed professionals in our respective careers with both having over 20 years experience and can't even make $40 K in a year together. Will Vegas change these things for the better?

We have traveled to Vegas about 2-3 times a year for the past 10 years. We have relatives that live there and we go visit them when we are in town. We not only have spent time on the strip, but we do go driving around looking at the neighborhoods and we even got a realtor one time about 2 years ago and spent the entire day with her looking at homes. Which we found one that we liked, just wasn't ready to do it quite then. We have talked to many local people about their jobs, and we have had nothing but positive results from those conversations. However, with all that being said, we still wanted to get some more input from other people who don't know us. We felt like we wanted unbiased opinions as well. All the answers so far have been very helpful, and I would like more input before we make our decision. I welcome all, good or bad, I want the truth. Thanks All!

Go there on vacation first, and scout things. Take clothes, etc appropriate for job interviews, and try to line these up before you go. Be prepared for an awesome sticker shock on housing - I have read that Vegas has been one of the hottest real estate markets in the country lately, and builders couldn't keep up with demand, so prices were soaring. At the income level you list, you probably won't get anything close to town, so expect to either rent a small apartment for awhile, or else live far out of town and commute in.

Oh, and expect family to stay with you now that you live in Las Vegas - they'll all want to come visit and have a free place to stay.

I think it will be a great life changing move for both of you. You Should do it. Make sure your prepared. Line up an apartment close to where you want to live. You may want to rent an apartment for a 6 month or less lease until you get situated with good jobs. You may also start searching for jobs online before you get there. You will probably be making more money in Vegas, But keep in mind that everything might be a little expensive than Utah.

Change is always good when you feel the need.

You may use yahoo to search for jobs and apartments in Vegas. Good Luck

Hi there. I have lived here for five years and one thing Vegas is good for is money. You two will both find good jobs here. You mentioned you have customer service experience...one thing Vegas is big on is call centers. Call centers offer jobs such as finance, customer service, collections, tech support, etc. Most of them pay fairly well.

Places to job hunt:
Monster.com
Hotjobs.com
Craigslist.com
LasVegasReviewJournal.com
Careerbuilder.com

Companies I am familiar with that are call center:
Nextel Partners
CitiBank
Wyndham
ADT
Bank of America
Credit Acceptance
HSBC
Bank of Merrin
Academy
Expedia

I don't have any suggestions for construction other than to read the papers.

For housing....you're looking at paying a pretty penny. I would say rent a home or an apartment. For a home check out Craigslist and for an apartment or condo go to www.apartmentguide.com or forrent.com

Vegas is an alright place to live. My biggest complaint is the lack of local scene. I am from the Midwest and am used to local coffee shops, concert joints, etc, etc. Everything here is on the strip.

If you need more info, advice, etc. feel free to email me. My contact information is in my user profile here. Good luck to you.

Harley Girl, I didn't know whether to answer this question or not. But given that I have SOME input, I guess I will. I recently moved from Las Vegas back to SoCal, after having lived in LV for two years.

Let me dispell a few widely held Las Vegas Myths:
WEATHER--Las Vegas is cold. I don't mean Utah cold, but it gets bone chilling cold, especially once the winds hit in Jan/Feb. It's really cold. You only get a few weeks of decent weather before it becomes extremely hot. It gets so hot you can't come out during the day. This may sound dumb, but after a while you begin to miss things like trees. There just aren't any! Nothing but dust, dirt, and concrete.

JOBS--Unless you work work directly in the Gaming Industy, there are very few good paying jobs. This is the primary reason I moved back to California. If I were you, I would thoroughly research job opportunities.

Other considerations are congestion. The traffic in Las Vegas is horrendous. There's only two major freeways 15 and 215 that serve a metro area of a million people.

The crime is really bad. It get's down played very well, but it shouldn't. This shouldn't come as a surprise to people, but gambling comes along with many other bad things.

The day I decided to move out was when I had a conversation with a co-worker who had lived in LV for 15 years. She told me she knew nobody else, other than her husband, who had been in LV when they moved there and still live there...nobody. Lot's of attention is given to the fact that 6000 people move to Las Vegas a month. What they don't say is that just about that same number leave! It's the most transient city in the country. During my time, I failed to meet anyone who felt moving to Las Vegas was the best move of their life.

I'm sorry my response was so negative. I really like Las Vegas to visit, but definitely not to live. I was seduced by what I thought the town was based on my visits as a tourist and what I saw on the Travel Channel, but it was so different when I moved their.

AJ

My fiance and I have lived here for 2 years now. He is also in construction. the work has started to REALLY slow down for him and we're thinking of moving back to California.

The summer's here are BEYOND warm......last summer it was OVER 118 for weeks at a time. your electric bill is very expensive from running the air conditioner constantly.

We live in Seven Hills.....which is a part of Henderson (3 minutes or less from Las Vegas) The homes here are BEAUTIFUL. anywhere in Green Valley Ranch (also Henderson) is nice too.
North Las Vegas (anywhere near Aliante) is a very good area. stay away from North east, or east las vegas (BAD BAD areas)
Las Vegas is pretty huge and all parts are sectioned out into little *sub-cities* but they are still addressed as "Las Vegas".
My fiance does new construction for new homes all over.
so from our experience the better areas are:
Las Vegas:
Aliante
Summerlin
Rhodes Ranch
Southwest Ranches
Eagle Point
Silverado Ranch
MacDonald Ranch


Henderson:
Seven Hills
Anthem
Anthem Highlands
Green Valley Ranch


and as long as you DON'T like to gamble, it's a good place to live.
we had a hard time with that when we first moved out here. it's EVERYWHERE. gas stations, grocery stores, laundry mats, K-Mart, WalMart....everywhere!

I hope this helped!!
good luck
Mindy

I suggest you visit first for at least a week. Stay off the Strip during this time and just acquaint yourselves with residential areas of the city and the work opportunities presented. Check out the work opportunities before you arrive. You may find that your income will increase, but let me assure you your cost of living will also increase.Apartment rents are way up, condo conversions are begging for customers with all kind of offered incentives.
All food comes in from outside the area, gasoline prices are always among the highest in the nation,water is in short supply and rationed to homeowners for lawns and plants, and the nation's worst drivers reside here so car insurance is sky high. There are jobs here there is no snow,ice, nor sleet here. before you make firm decision come see, look, and listen.

Since just moving next door from Utah should not have big problems. No taxes & better pay should help. I only pay $614 incl water,trash, & gas near Sams Town on east side so not expensive everywhere. Also mid-40s & made the move in 05. State bird is the (construction) crane so should work out fine ;) Coral Garden name of apartments.