There’s always something to howl about.

Looking for funky residential real estate on the Strip in Las Vegas? You’re surrounded by it…

I’ll share one more idea from Las Vegas, then I’m going back home to where the men are men and the women are symmetrical.

Start with this: Condotels. This is the utterly brilliant scheme by which I reap the financial benefits of owning a hotel suite while foisting off on you all the risks of owning that suite. When business is slow, neither one of us makes money, but you incur all the costs. Very gracious of you to underwrite my business in this way.

This of course is the time-honored business strategy that I call Socializing the Risk. I may give up some portion of the profits I might have made, but I absolve myself of all the risks associated with ownership while retaining some, most or even all of the predictable rewards. You in your turn acquire all right, title and interest in and to the unpredictable rewards — e.g., future appreciation — along with all of the costs and downside risks of ownership.

Which of us is getting the better deal?

Who pre-printed the paperwork?

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In many of the newer, larger casino hotel resorts, you will see fake structures like this. This is at Paris, but you can see the same kind of faux-cade at The Venetian or Caesar’s Palace or Planet Hollywood. What we have is a ground-floor retail establishment with apartments overhead, just like back in Europe or Olde Boston Towne.

Here’s my question: Why are those apartments fake?

Why aren’t they condos or condotels or even just hotel rooms? Why not condotel whole structures, with the resort deciding who gets to lease the retail space? Living inside a casino would be too loud and too smoky for many people, but there are others who would love it, if not as a full-time residence then as a getaway home.

This retro mode of residential-space-over-retail-space is already happening at Kierland Commons-style outdoor malls. You can find it in Las Vegas at Green Valley Ranch, and no doubt elsewhere. It’s too late to do it in extant resorts, but it might be a fun idea to try in newly-built facilities.

Too much Disney for my tastes, but that’s what makes horse races. And for a short stay, living over a shop right on the casino or shopping mall floor might be a hoot.