Wednesday, March 29, 2017

A New Beginning for Las Vegas?

Las Vegas!

Everyone knows your name!

Translated, it means Fun! (Not really.)

But, when some one, anywhere in the world says: "Let's go to Vegas!"
Everyone, no matter where you are in the world, knows what they mean.

And Fun means: Lots of Free Alcohol (if you are gambling), Gambling (if you are drinking free alcohol), and Partying all night long (a result from gambling and free alcohol).

So, when the NFL took up the topic of: "Should the Oakland Raiders be allowed to become the Las Vegas Raiders?  For some reason, they voted 31-1: Yes!

And as the insert article from Casino Industry Gaming News states: It was money!

Gambling Finally Becomes Non Issue With NFL Owners

That's because "Money Talks and Bull S@&t Walks!"  Is the old saying, isn't it?

And, they Voted, Yes despite the facts that Las Vegas doesn't rank very high media wise,  But, according to their vote result: Las Vegas still ranks! (No pun intended.)

Las Vegas City Rankings (Just for Fun!)

And, lastly, and this is my personal assessment, as a place to live, work, and raise a family (having lived and worked in other markets) Las Vegas is Number 1!

I think the best thing is: Nevada doesn't have a State Income tax.

Lots and Lots of money pours into Nevada via the Mining Industry, just as well as the tourism industry.

Las Vegas roads are wider than any other city in the world -- even wider than the city (supposedly) built for cars -- Los Angeles.

And on the outside looking in, Clark County and City Planners are more up to speed as to what is necessary to make traffic flow easier around the valley.

When people I'm with complain about the "Orange Traffic Cones" lining the streets, I remind them  that, that signals progress and growth!  We may NOT see the results of that growth immediately, but we will as traffic volume increases, the roads are already wide enough to handle that traffic.

And repairing roads, building much needed On and Off-ramps, wider Freeways and Streets, is all part of a growing economy.  A Valley destine to grow even larger.

Years ago, a developer told me: "If you don't have orange cones in your roads, you have a dwindling economy."

I think Mark Davis knew this and wanted to be apart of it.

To Contact David Howes try: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR; 7 0 2 5 01 9 3 8 8 AND Please #Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes Have a nice day!

Monday, March 20, 2017

How Do You Make Money Living In Las Vegas?

Not too many people ask me this question.

Most family members and friends understand that I am not too tempted by gambling.  Oh, sure, once in a while I will play $21 in Megabucks.  And I have driven a handful of times to Prim or even to Arizona to purchase a Power-ball ticket.

Yes, those, in retrospect have been such a waste of time and money.

But since the most money that I have ever won at gambling is $150 dollars, I quickly cashed out and put that ticket in my pocket. (I guess I'm cheap like that.)

Anyway, since it isn't a well-known fact, that the average Las Vegas resident gambles +/-$2,000 per month while living here, I like being the one that doesn't gamble at all -- or truthfully anywhere near that amount.

When I first moved here and was searching for a Real Estate firm to hang my Nevada Real Estate License, I had one meeting with a broker at the time who knew just what to do when the subject about real estate commissions came up"

He asked me: 'How do you make money in Las Vegas?'

Stumped, I gave the standard response of: work hard, be persistent, etc.

He said, in his experience, he has seen way too many real estate agents take a hard earned commission check down to a local casino, cash it, and by the time they leave (usually several hours later) they have nothing left.

He took a piece of paper (like below) and wrote the word Casino in the middle, he circled the word for emphasis.

Then, looking at me with earnest intent, he said, "Stay out of the casinos!'

Well, I took that as probably the best advice I had ever heard.  For one thing, I don't like the 'Strip' casinos because they are well, you know, greedy.  And, the noise and crowd isn't something I am attracted to.

Besides, once I moved to Las Vegas I found out for the first time that a casino would be willing to cash a pay check -- without taking the usual 15% that check cashing places take.

I told the broker, that I have a young family and cashing a real estate commission check at a casino wasn't something I was going to do.

I remember him saying something like, 'I hope not.'

It was apparent, that this broker knew too many agents that did that.

Eventually, I hung my license at a firm closer to where I was living at the time, and through the years, I have learned that agents do -- for whatever reason -- gamble away their commission checks.

To me that is probably the dumbest thing you can do.  The reason I know this to be true is: only one person makes money in a casino -- the owner.

To Contact David Howes try: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR; 7 0 2 5 01 9 3 8 8 AND Please #Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes Have a nice day!

Friday, March 17, 2017

Anyone know what you can do with a Shuttered Prison?

When I first read this, I thought:
Why not convert it into an office?
Then, I remembered, offices are losing traction because computers are taking over most office work functions.

Then, I thought:
Why not turn them into schools?
Well, I already proposed that vacant malls be schools because the conversion would cost less in the long run.  Besides, a prison as a school?  Most children already consider schools like they're prisons.

So, what do you do?




As this news story from the Las Vegas Review Journal indicates, there is not much interest in anyone acquiring a former prison.

So, that leaves me with the only suggestion that I think will work long term.

Tear it down.  And leave the vacant lot as a garden park.

The one potential bidder in the below story thinks turning it into a theme park would work.

Oh, well.

Shuttered Prisons

What would your thoughts on this be?

To Contact David Howes try: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR; 7 0 2 5 01 9 3 8 8 AND Please #Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes Have a nice day!