This wouldn't be immediate but maybe down the road. I love Pennsylvania but these winters are getting to be too much and a warmer winter would be a nice change. I have pondered somewhere around Phoenix or Tucson. Tucson recently got named one of the best biking cities in the country which is a huge plus to me. I'd like to be somewhere that is pretty outdoors oriented with some good riding roads. Can any Arizona natives round here chime in?
I am not an Arizona native. I have been in the state a bunch of times over the years in various guises and would never, never, never, never, never, ever, even consider living in Phoenix. Tuscon, however, is cool.
I live in the Tucson valley on Dove Mtn., which is in the northern mountains called the Tortolino Mts. Winters are really nice and summers are 5 months long with 3 of them being really hot. It is still about 4 or 5 degrees cooler than Phoenix. I don't care for Phoenix but did enjoy living in Scottsdale. I wouldn't live there again, though.
Tucson has really good biking, street and mtn. Pros come here to train and you can bike a different trail every day.
There is autocrossing but for a real track you have to go to Phoenix.
There are also some great higher altitude places to live. At around 4,500' elevation it rarely hits 100. That would be my choice. Even 3,500' would be nice. I'm at 2,500'. A lot depends on your career/retirement situation. It really is a great state.
My wife and I visited Prescott, Az. a few years ago. Prescott's 100 miles north of Phoenix, but 2500 ft. higher in elevation. They get four seasons, a dusting of snow but not the stifling heat of the Phoenix area.
Small town goodness. Shops, rust free cars and everyone says hello. There's a street called Whiskey row, used to be all bars. In 1900 someone kicked over a candle and burned the town down. Cowboys recognizing the danger, tore the front wall offf a bar and moved the bar, the bigass mirror et al across the street to the Courthouse lawn and watched the town burn. The pumps were take out for service so no water was available. Years later the bar was returned to its original site.
We looked at a few houses while there, one for ~$400,000. Nice, one floor, up in the hills, three car garage, BUT! taxes; school, sewer, water, everything was $1300/year. Welcome to not New York!
http://www.greatplacestoretire.com/prescott.php?gclid=CKH-xMvqo58CFchn5Qod9D4KrQ
The north side of Tucson seems better than the south. It's been a long time since I've been there though. Gets my vote over Phoenix.
I stayed overnight in Prescott 3rd week of August.one year.Daytime temps on the high 70's, nightime 50's. Talked to the owner of the motel and asked if this was typical weather. He said 2+ months of mild winter and back to this the rest of the year. Beautiful area and nice roads, but real estate is a litle pricey. It seems like a lot of California retirees have discovered it.
Yes, Californians have moved in; but I'm told the Williamson Valley is still farmish and reasonable.
Dan
iNLAWS live there. Cost of living is high, unemployment is high, state is bankrupt and the Californians are taking over. Beautiful country, great to visit, but wouldn't live there.
There's not a day that goes by that I don't miss Arizona. I love it there, even with the heat, the crazy, more heat, etc.
Personally, I like the east side of Phoenix+Scottsdale/Tempe/Mesa. I was never a west-sider, but it does tend to be cheaper to live over there and less snooty. Hardly matters, though, since it's fairly hard to get into a house that's not in some far-flung deep suburb.
I never had much use for Tucson, but never spent much of any time there, either. They have better athletic teams, ASU has hotter chicks, and more of them.
Up in the mountains it's beautiful, but nobody who works can afford to live up there, and there's not much work up there anyway. First Sedona was "discovered", and now they're all trickling out into Prescott and beyond. Even Jerome is getting more Californicated.
Flagstaff is one place up north you can actually find some work. It's overrun with NAU pot-smoking hippies, but is mostly a nice town other than that.
Funny each to their own. I think I could handle Prescott or further up in the mountains, but I just don't get the attraction of desert. I lived in Hermosillo Mexico for 7 months and most weekend went up to Tucson or Phoenix. I just don't dig the desert. I really like green and four seasons. My biggest complaint right now in SE Mi is we don't get enough snow. Every morning I listen to the weather and bemoan the other side of the state getting 4-6" while we only get 1" :(
Tucson was a cool and fun town. Had some fun times there, but I really hated the sprawl of Phoenix, I didn't feel it had anything to offer me.
We do have some good friends who moved down there as a teacher. No job's here in Mi but they've been down there now for 4+ years in Prescott. They love it, but Arizona has the worst pay for teachers in the Nation.
^ aGREED. Mother in law just got laid off, a year after winning teacher of the year.
I've never set foot in the state, but based on a few friends who live there I think I would only be interested in Flagstaff. I would not consider either Phoenix or Tuscon as a potential place to live. I did interview with a company to work in Yuma - had mixed feelings about it.
Personally, the wife and I both love the Southwest. The scenery, the dry air, the mountains..... it's all beautiful and deadly at the same time.
A good friend of mine goes to Prescott College. He loves it there, and he says there are unending amounts of singletrack. Just watch out for rattlers!
Visit the place in August before you decide.
A friend tells me New Mexico is the same azure sky, the same mountains, the same desert/mountain snow/climate etc., but is a much poorer State. Cheaper to live there.
It's on my list....
Dan
The Phoenix area is huge, Tucson has much more of a small town feel. I prefer Tucson to the Phoenix/ Scottsdale/ Tempe area. Both have great hiking/ biking/ and scenery once you get out of the city.
The art/ music scene seems more vibrant in Tucson. Be careful with Phoenix, the last time I was there (2 years ago) there was a massive Crystal Meth problem in certain parts of the city (Van Buren ave.) ......more like an epidemic. Tweakers were everywhere. My friend who has lived in Scottsdale for years calls it the "Valley of the Spun"
Not sure how accurate it is, but here's my impression of the towns:
Scottsdale----upper class suburbia with plenty of upscale malls Tempe--- College town, tons and tons of beautiful girls Phoenix---- Kinda scummy in parts, tweakerville
Tuscon--- Old West feel, artsy, lots of "street urchins" begging for $$, and then driving off in their Range Rovers.
just my (maybe misguided) .02
Adrian_Thompson wrote: the other side of the state getting 4-6" while we only get 1" :(
that's what she said
AngryCorvair wrote:Adrian_Thompson wrote: the other side of the state getting 4-6" while we only get 1" :(that's what she said
PIITB?
I've lived in Tempe, Mesa, and now Scottsdale. Wouldn't live anywhere else.
i lived in Flag(awesome), spent plenty of time in Tucson and now live on the edge of PHX metro.
AZ is has insane natural beauty at every turn, great for active outdoorsy types. however, I find the statewide culture to be backwards at best: rednecks, cowboys, bikers, white pwr douchebags, meth freaks, illegals, vain so-cal types, etc. abound.
if you love guns and line dancing this may be heaven for you.
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