Relocating to Las Vegas area by March 1st!

My husband, stepson and I are planning on relocating to the Las Vegas area by March 1st. I've lived in the SW before and love the climate (even the hot summers-- I'd trade -40F weather for 115 ANY day!!!); my husband, who graduates with a degree in marketing shortly, has a goal of working in casino marketing and sales. My stepson is allergic to the cold-- breaks out into hives and can go into resp. distress if not warmed properly. Needless to say, he'll appreciate getting away from -40F weather as well. :-)

I'm in the process of applying to hospitals and have begun the licensure process (just got fingerprinted yesterday!). I will graduate from nursing school in December and will receive MN licensure in January; thus, I'll get licensure by endorsment ASAP and should at least have the temp. license by the end of February. I want to start working as soon as I have my license.

My questions are these: if you're working as an RN in the Vegas area, did you get hired by the first hospital you interviewed at? Is the market as open as people seem to say it is? I've called a few hospitals, and some are really accomodating and seem like they're interested. Some hospitals don't even return your phone calls! I don't know if they ignore me because March 1st seems so far away (although it really is only 4 months until then), or because I will be a new grad and coming from out of state, or if they just don't need nurses. It's a bit frustrating.

And, a bit off-task: which high schools are the best in the area? We're torn between renting and buying a home. It seems like the best schools are in the Henderson/ Green Valley area, where we really can't afford a $400,000 home; to get a newly built house that is affordable, we'd have to move to the north side of town, where it seems schools are not so great. Considering the housing market continues to go up in price, would you just buy what you can afford now and deal with a school that isn't the "best"? Or is the analysis of the housing market just hype and renting for a few years to get a better school district not that big of a deal?

Thanks for your time in reading and answering! My husband is going to be in Vegas at the end of November for his birthday and will be researching housing then; we're hoping to return again around mid-December so that I can interview and hopefully get a job. We also hopefully will have the housing issue figured out and can do an in-depth housing or apartment search and lock in on the option we want. It's all a bit scary, yet exciting.