On our second house-hunting trip we decided to get a room at the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino. What a great find! The hotel has been updated recently to include a new pool area with lots of bars, gaming and deck chairs. It is easily the nicest hotel in downtown Vegas and there are many more young people there than at other hotels.
We tried to get into Vic & Anthony’s Steakhouse but there was a long wait. Not surprising since it was Saturday night. We plan to go back armed with a reservation next time.
Our second house-hunting trip was much more productive.
We spent two solid says with our real estate agent Kelly Fritz from RealEstate.com looking at 10-20 houses that were more along the lines of what we were looking for. Kelly understood what was important to us and did a great job finding properties that were definite possibilities. There were three areas we really liked.
Alliante in North Las Vegas is a new masterplanned community with lots to offer. All of the homes are brand-spankin’ new there but the neighborhoods tend to be a cookie-cutter and lack charactern (much like the rest of Vegas). A few of the Pulte developments fit our criteria for flexible and open floorplans. Unfortunately, Alliante is a bit far from downtown (where my wife will work) and Chinatown (where we will shop for groceries and eat). We saw two identical homes that we really liked. One had hardwood floors and upgrades like granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. They had small yards though and would not leave much room for a swimming pool.
Mountain’s Edge is another masterplanned community located in the southwest area of the city. This area seemed less crowded and we saw a few places with huge floorplans. One place in particular was gigantic at 4,265 square feet. We could not get over how big it was and the floorplan was pretty ideal. It was just above our price range, however.
It would be cool to say we were considering something in Spanish Trail, but that would be lying. Instead, we saw a home near the upscale Spanish Trail neighborhood that was laid out how we wanted and had a pool. This was the last property we saw on this house-hunting trip. The downsides were that it was a little older and looked like it would need some work. But, it was competitively priced and in a great location.
We’ll be back soon for a third try.
For dinner we stumbled into The Second Street Grill located inside the Fremont Hotel and Casino. What a great choice that was! The service and food were very good. I hate it when your waiter asks “sparkling or still”? They sort of force you to say “tap” to avoid having to pay for H2O. At the Second Street Grill they automatically bring out bottles of water to fill your cup, free of charge.
So what did we eat?
My wife had an enormous Australian Lobster Tail which was reasonably priced at $24.99 but a little tough. The real gem was the escargot and scallop appetizer swimming in pools of garlicky melted butter. A dish like that easily would have costed twice as much in L.A.
I had the special which is advertised on their website:
A Perfect Introduction to Second Street
A 12 oz. T-Bone Steak with all the trimmings for $18.99.
Between two appetizers, salads, soup and our entrees we were stuffed. We waddled out of there and onto Fremont Street very satisfied with our experience.
We split our time between two real estate agents during our first house-hunting trip in Las Vegas. While both were knowledgable and able to orient us to the city, one was much more prepared than the other:
Real Estate Agent #1
- Company: Big, established real estate company: Prudential
- Preparedness: Not very. Printed out listings for us to visit while we were there in the office.
- Expertise: Very good. Knew Las Vegas well and gave us good “inside” information about different neighborhoods, traffic and planned expansion.
Real Estate Agent #2
- Company: Brand new division of internet company: RealEstate.com
- Preparedness: Great. Came with maps, city guides and an list of houses for us to see based on preferences we listed earlier in the week.
- Expertise: Very good. Also knew Las Vegas well but had to make a few U-turns to get where we were going. A GPS-powered navigation device would have been helpful.
Ultimately, we decided to continue working with Real Estate Agent #2. He was better prepared, more professional and really listened to what we wanted. His professionalism and level of organization gave us confidence that he could successfully help us locate and purchase a home in Las Vegas. We thanked Real Estate Agent #1 for his help and parted ways.
We decided to stay in downtown Las Vegas in order to save a little bit of money during our house-hunting trip. The hotels on the strip are much more expensive and we’re here to find a new home! The Four Queens was affordable and seemed conveniently located near the middle of Fremont Street.
It ended up being a great little hotel and we enjoyed our time there. There’s not much by way of decor or design but our room was clean. One cautionary note: don’t get a room facing Fremont Street if you plan to sleep. It was exciting at first to look down onto the crowds below but this was a liability when we returned exhausted from looking at 15-20 houses.
Our room looked just like this one and overlooked Fremont Street.
It’s pretty easy to get to Las Vegas from Los Angeles. You want to make your way east until you hit Interstate 15. Go north for about three hours and you’re there.
We live on the Westside so our route was a bit more tricky. Going east on the 10 freeway is never pleasant so I worked out this alternate path:
- Take the 405 to the 10
- Go 10 east until you hit the 605
- Head north on 605 until you reach the 210
- Proceed on 210 east until it meets up with the 15
Searching for a new home in Las Vegas using the internet has been fun but we’re ready to get out and see some actual properties. This house-hunting trip was delayed once before and we’re anxious to get going!
I’ll devote my next few posts to providing details on:
