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.