Henderson Nevada, A Great Place To Live and I Can Prove It!!

Henderson Nevada, One of the 50 Best Cities to Live in!

A recent study names Henderson Nevada to its list of top cities in the U.S.

For those of us that call Henderson Nevada home, we are aware that we live in a great city. But for the sake of everyone else, I’d like to share the findings of a recent study that has named Henderson to the list of America's 50 Best Cities to Live. Henderson was the only city to Nevada to make the list, ranking 27th on the list.

The study was undertaken by 24/7 Wall St., LLC a Delaware corporation set up to run a financial news and opinion operation with content delivered over the Internet.

The cities that make up the list have populations of 65,000 or more and were selected based on wide range of variables including housing affordability, educational attainment, employment growth, and crime rates. Within each category, specific data points contributed to category ranking. For example, the economy category included median household income, cost of living, employment growth between 2011 and 2013, and the 2013 unemployment rate. They then used a formula to weight each category and convert each category rank to a meta rank ranging from 0-100. Crime, economy, education, and housing received full weights, while environment, leisure, and infrastructure received half weights.

How Henderson stacked up.

First the raw numbers:

> Median household income: $61,404

> Unemployment rate, 2013: 9.40%

> Median home value: $186,500

> Violent crime per 100,000 residents: 168.9

> Average commuter travel time: 22.9 minutes

Now, 24/7’s meta rankings and:

Economy 82 (32nd)

Crime 92.5 (20th)

Education 91 (7th)

Housing 72.7 (39th)

Enviroment 69.8 (43rd)

Leisure 60.8 (20th)

Infrastructure 45.8 (21st)

So, if already live in Henderson, you can feel a sense of pride in knowing that you live in an awesome city. If you don’t live in Henderson…..I can recommend a GREAT real estate agent to help you make the move!

Read more: America’s 50 Best Cities to Live - 24/7 Wall St.

4 Myths About Real Estate I Wish Were True

Here are 4 Myths about Realtors That I (and my wife) Wish Were True!

Since becoming a Realtor, I have heard these statements uttered by several people. Below is my attempt to set the record straight!

Realtors are paid the entire commission.

The truth is, for most agents, they are splitting the commission with their broker. That split could be as much as 50/50. **In case my broker is reading this, I believe this split is completely fair, reasonable, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!**

Realtors get paid to drive clients around or show property.

For the most part, Realtors only make money when a transaction is closed and funded. An agent can take a client all the through way the process and if the deal falls apart, the agent doesn’t get paid.

All Realtors are rich.

While real estate can provide a good income, it has been said that 20 percent of the agents do 80 percent of the business. The commision that is paid to the agent,even after the broker split, can be substantial. However real estate is a very expensive business to be in. There are dues and fees paid to associations, advertising, gas, signs, websites, professional photography, health insurance, etc. Pretty much anything real estate related comes out of the agent’s pocket. Most are lucky to walk away with 1 percent of a transaction.

Real Estate is an “easy” job.

Real Estate can be a challenge. It is more than just driving around and looking at million dollar houses. It is constant marketing, prospecting, and handling complex transactions. Agents put in a lot of time and effort with no guarantee of a pay day.

To answer a common follow up myth, real estate in NOT a part time job.  Agents are constantly answering calls, emails and texts. Nights, weekends and holidays included.

Agents work with people on the biggest financial transactions of their lives. It’s emotional, complicated, and can be very stressful.

That said, I wouldn’t have it any other way! I love the challenges that go into the job. It is far from easy, but if done properly, can be enjoyable and rewarding.

Container Park A Fun Departure From The Strip

Whether you are sick of losing at the slot machines or just need a break, consider stopping by Downtown Container Park for a reprieve.  

When you think about Las Vegas, you probably think about this....

or this....

or even this…….

But the city has more to offer than just neon, gambling, and Elvis impersonators. I want to talk about one of my favorite places to go in the city, Container Park.

Container park is one of the few interesting, fun, family friendly places to go to in Vegas.The park offers a fun, modern, and stylish departure from the Las Vegas strip. It is located downtown at 707 Fremont Street. Not far from the Freemont Street Experience.

I love the concept; the shops, restaurants, and even bathrooms are made out of brightly colored, repurposed shipping containers. It creates an interesting visual and immediately struck me as “pretty cool”.

At the entrance you are greeted by an enormous fire emitting mantus. Every night they hold a ceremony in which children are asked to play drums and bongos to “wake the mantis up”.

In the center of the park there is a large playground for the children to play on.

There is a stage where the park hosts musicians to entertain the visitors.

In addition to being a cool place to look at and play in, the park has some really cool shops and yummy places to eat. I can personally speak to the quality of the Big Earns BBQ as well as Cheffini’s Hot Dogs. Pretty tasty! They park is still adding new shops and restaurants, see their website for a full list: http://downtowncontainerpark.com/