Thinking of moving....to Arizona
 

My situtation is this:

I'm 29, and I just got married. We've got a few bucks in the bank thanks to generous wedding guests and loving relatives, as well as our own hard-earned savings.

We're living on Long Island in NY, and dying to buy a home. But the prices here are RIDICULOUS - seriously. We will NOT be able to buy a decent home in a decent neighborhood for under $250,000 - and that's the bottom limit. $275-$300k is more like it. This would be a huge struggle for many years to make ends meet. We would have a mortagage/property tax payment of $1700-$1900/month. Taxes here on a VERY modest home will be about $6000/year. Just as an example, my parents, who own about 1 acre of land, pay $12,000 a year in PROPERTY TAXES ALONE.

Now we're thinking about moving to - ARIZONA of all places. My wife's step-father and brother live there, and they love it. The weather is beautiful. The scenery is awesome. And the cost of living is LOW LOW LOW. We could seriously buy a 4 bedroom, 2 bath home with garage, pool and jacuzzi for $150,000. And with a sizeable down payment (same as we'd spend here), we could pay under $1000 month for mortgage/taxes. THAT IS WHAT I PAY FOR RENT HERE FOR A ONE BEDROOM APARTMENT IN A SHITTY NEIGHBORHOOD. Taxes in AZ - about $1000/year.

And I am a Union Sheetmetal Worker - who may be able to transfer my membership from Local 28 NY to Local 359 AZ. I would make only slightly less per year than I do now (maybe $5k less - that's it), but my major living expenses would be halved.

So - I'm looking for some thoughts on my proposed move. The plan would be to head out there, find a month-to-month apartment and get ourselves decent jobs, and buy a house ASAP.

Anyone here from Arizona? How is it out there? We'd love to visit, but don't know if we'll find the time. I'm excited and nervous about this - but I really want to do it. We're still young, no kids, and this is the time to go it seems.

Thoughts? Give me some confidence!

~HH

Put on your NIKE's and "just do it!"
Sounds like an interesting opportunity, and with the web, you'll still be just a desktop away!
Good luck

GO FOR IT!!!

Man, what a great opportunity. Do it now before you get tied up. f it blows, you can always go back to NY before you settle down and buy a house. Plus property values are going up in the Phoenix area, so if you buy, it will probably be a good investment. Golf all year round........ No snow............ Hmmmm.........

Dale :D

me 2
 

I almost did the same thing. I was going to move to scottsdale. I could get a mansion there for the same cost of a shack in Madison. However, my wife ended up going to grad school here, so the plan was busted. Some say, I will complete the plan and move down there. DO IT! You won't regret it.

I wouldn't do it.

if you factor in the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA), sure, you'll make more money and save more, but you'll be giving up a lot of intangible value.

think about the future. what kind of opportunity will your kids have in Arizona versus Long Island?

I live in Long Beach, CA. I bought my condo two years ago for $96,000. I'm selling it this month for $180,000.

There's no way I can afford a house, but for the sake of my future children, I want to stay in Southern California...more opportunity, more room for personal growth. I'm in the market for a condo/townhome for $250-$300K. Later down the line, when I get more equity, then I'll move up to a house.

Arizona is HOT. Phoenix is VERY HOT. monsoon season is not fun.


I travel to Sierra Vista every year for work...and I can't stand a minute of it.

My roommate is from Arizona (Yuma area). He LOVES it there, and would give anything to be back home but the military is what's keeping him here. He just got back from vacation in fact, he called me on December 10th and said he was wearing a t-shirt and shorts while I was sitting here freezing my butt off in flannel lol. Plus, you can always go out to the sand dunes and go four-wheeling :) Like you said, you don't have kids yet either, so now is the perfect time to do it. It'll only get harder later, transferring school records, uprooting the kids from their friends and things. I'd go for it, there's no time like the present :D Best luck in whatever you decide to do

Yuma is HOT. any hotter, and it would be hell. seriously.

Yuma is where the US Army does their extreme hot weather testing on electronics equipment and new vehicles.

I wonder why Mp3Angel's roommate was wearing summer clothes in DECEMBER?

you can only imagine what it's like in...say, July.


How about this: Corona, California.

it's about 75 miles SouthEast of Los Angeles, 50 miles East of Orange County, a nice three bedroom house is $250,000, and it's not in BFE.

To each their own. But wasn't $250,000 even a little pricey in NY, according to his first post? Kind of defeats the purpose of moving, doesn't it? There's always a good chance he'll like it there, like his wife's family does :bt:

May I suggest Tulsa, Oklahoma? Now don't go ranting "Oh I don't want to live in Oklahoma, I might get scalped!!!"...

Most people think all of OKlahoma is very dry and arid when, in fact, Northeaster Oklahoma is very opposite. This region is even nicknamed "Green Country". There are many trees and some hills; it is very nice. Tulsa isn't too big, and traffic isn't that bad at all. The highschool sports scene is huge around here. I live in Jenks (just across the Arkansas River from Tulsa)...our 6A football team has won the state championship for the last 6 years (not this year, we decided to let our arch rival have a chance) and each year the state games keep drawing more crowds. Enough that they had to move the games to OSU's stadium, then TU's stadium. The road here are nice, there's four major highways/turnpikes that can get you anywhere in 15 minutes (less than 25 in 5-O'Clock traffic). Plus, the roads are in a grid pattern, which makes it VERY easy to navigate. Running East-West are the numbered streets (101st, 91st, 81st, 71st, etc) and running North-South are the name streets (Peoria, Riverside, Lewis, Harvard, Yale, Sheridan, Memorial, Mingo, Garnett, Olive, Aspen, Elm, etc.). So from where I live if, say, I wanted to go to Pep Boys on Memorial just past 71st (the two main streets), I would go North a mile to 91st, East four miles to Memorial, and up two miles to 71st. Simple as that.

The weather is also very nice, yet unpredictable. Summer it can get hot, sometimes in the lower 100's, and in the winter it can get down to around 0. But most of the time it is very nice. Like right now it is 58 degrees at 5:32PM in the middle of December. The downside are the sudden changes that can happen. For example, last month we got four inches of snow over two days, then three days later it was back up in the 70's. We also get a fair amount of rain, but nothing special.

The living rate is also pretty good. I have a 3-bedroom, two-bath house (abt. 1300sq. ft.) which I 'bought' for about $90,000. I pay $1,078 a month total, but that was after a refinance (before I payed about $900 a month).

School are top-ranked also. There are four major major schools, all top-ranked in the nation. They are Jenks, Union (our arch rival), Broken Arrow, and Tulsa. Jenks is the best academically and athletically, then Broken Arrow academically (3rd athletically), Then Union academically (2nd athletically), then there's Tulsa Puplic Schools.

There aren't any major sports teams in Tulsa, but Dallas, Denver, and St. Louis are just "a day a way".

I think i've said enough; made my point. Hope to see you here soon ;)

Hihoslva I know how you feel. I live outside of Philly and you can't get near anything decent for under 200K. My two friend both looked for over a year and spent over 250K each. OUCH!
Anyway, it's a huge decision uprooting and leaving family and friends. You're still young and you can always come back. You should take an extended vacation to the area and thoroughly check it out. Good luck!

P5 in AZ?

Hehe - might be! I'm enjoying readin the opinions guys. My only problem with Oklahoma - tornados! ;) Actually, I always wanted to be a storm chaser.........;)

Plus, we've at least got two people we know in AZ - the wife's step-dad and brother. That helps.

The "extended vacation" thing is a good idea - in fact, my father suggested the same thing. Maybe make it a working vacation - really pound the pavement, look for jobs, check out the school systems, try to learn a lot about the place. Hey - I could claim the whole frigging trip as a tax deduction if I go on job interviews (I'll ALWAYS be the son of an accountant!).

The wife wants to leave tomorrow! In a way, I do too - but for sure nothing is gonna happen that quick. I know I'd hate to get out there and not find work or be unhappy overall. I think we're gonna plan a week-trip at least, maybe after New Year's. Visit the family there, check it all out.

But - if I can't get high-speed internet access, I'M NOT GOING!! Hahaha.

~HH

i totally agree with ya on that one! i've been to yuma a few times, and it's miserably HOT! :eek: it's also pretty boring as well. all i saw out there were obese women and buffets (no offense to any yuma peeps out there)! if you're talking about another part of AZ (i didn't see where you specified which part), i'd say go for it! :bt:

sure, you will be spending a lot less in arizona on housing, gas, etc., but you will also lose out on the ocean! i moved here (tucson) for school after living and going to school in santa barbara for almost six years, and my gosh, do i regret it. not only is the summer unbearable (it was over 110 for the first two weeks i was here in august), there are crazy summer monsoons. one day, i went to class and it was a really clear day and was hot as hell, then an hour later i come out and the mofo was hailing! yep... hailing in 110 degree weather. talk about weird. then there's the whole feeling of being landlocked. and it's dusty here too. my girlfriend and i sweep almost every day and have to dust every other day. oh, on top of that, phoenix and tucson are in the top 10 cities for car theft. and the most important thing, i think, is that people here are not very tolerant. i remember going to dinner with my girlfriend one of the first nights we got here and the white lady waitress person spoke reeeeaaaallll slllllooooooowwwww at me just in case i didn't understand english because i am asian. but that's just me.

tonkabui, I regret that you've not had favorable experience with Tucson. My wife and I moved there from Illinois for about 2 years, then moved back due to some personal/family issues. Now that the view of both sides of the fence is clear, I gotta say... F**K THE MIDWEST, WE'RE MOVING BACK. Tucson is beautiful, sunny more days of the year than any other city in the US, and MUCH MUCH more culturally enriched and tolerant that this little dipshit town we live in now. Cost of living is low. Winters are absolutely heavenly, summers are actually more bearable than here in IL- I'll take 110 w/no humidity over 95 w/ 90% humidity any day. People are GENERALLY nicer than here- of course there a few assholes in every crowd. The DMV operates like a motorists wet dream- lightning fast and efficient. The taxes are unbelievable. I too am now looking at homeownership... here in Rockford, a $90,000 home will cost me $3,000/yr in taxes. In Tucson that same $90,000 will buy me a MUCH better home AND cost less than $1,000 annual taxes. The night sky is breathtaking. The archetecture has much more flavor than the boring old midwest. Just a few hours drive to VEGAS, Sedona, Grand Canyon, Nogales, San Diego. What more can I say? I love AZ & can't wait to return.

well, i'd stay in NY just for the reason that you'll never live in any other place like NY. you also got to think of what your giving up here. also, why move so far away to AZ just move to like PA, NJ, CT, or even a little upstate. i'm sure you can find cheaper real estate closer than AZ.
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