Help me!! Want to Move to ARIZONA / NEW MEXICO-ish

[SumpChump]

Theoretically speaking, let's pretend I am turning 40 today and have decided that I am done with this frozen winter full of salt and hip-breaking ice and am looking in the next few years to move south, not sweltering humidity south.

So I suppose Arizona, New Mexico, maybe southern Colorado? All I have is "stereotypical" knowledge of the region which I am sure doesn't lead my geographical search well because altitude in the southwest changes climate as well.

Perhaps some things that will help you help me...
I will continue working in the education field, am willing travel to work perhaps up to 45 minutes each way if necessary. I currently do enjoy the experience of living in a HOME (with some mortgage left) and having city sewer and municipal utilities but would be fine with suburban living. A limited amount of time living in an apartment wouldn't be offensive to our humble personality. Heck my wife and I currently live in a 1100 square foot 1 car house built in the 1990's and gross perhaps 90k a year, LOL.... humble. 3 bedroom 2 bath homes here currently go for around 160k. We only "need" 2-3 bed 1 bath as a family of three. So that is the local conditions.... I'm sure that real estate is more down there but I'm no sap and will continue breaking my hip (hyperbole) on glare ice here in the Minnesota/Wisconsin area if it is just bloated home prices in every single town down there. We have only one child. Not quite in college yet. This would not be a retirement move this would be a "working" move. Family still in full employed stride. It would be a planned "leap" of sorts.

Neither of us have health problems but would like to know that there is some kind of a hospital within 45minutes. Semi-rural is fine, suburban is fine. Urban ... if clean and safe... is fine. We are population flexible, currently in a city of 15k but have lived in 80k also. We prefer a non high crime area and a non-ghetto/reservation area. I hear there are some reservations with huge native social issues and their related effects "dominate" the surrounding communities especially in New Mexico. In other words, we'd prefer not to live in a small town that simply houses the maids and card dealers for Native Casinos 20 minutes away and has no real sense of a "community".

We are comfortable with diversity in general and currently live in a clean safe ethnically diverse neighborhood of lower middle class first generation white collar single family homes and townhouses mixed. I speak Spanish as a second language, my wife does not.

Warmer weather is not our only draw to region. Obviously it is a nice nice aspect of the southwest. We would be fine with cold temps at night due to a geographical altitude reason and even a cool season and perhaps even "some snow" if it means a good safe community with a coherent sense of lifestyle. Not a "winter".

smaller details, not dealbreakers... we prefer an area with "cable" television, internet of some kind. We prefer to not live somewhere that a horse is a mandatory second mode of transportation.

I like motorsports, dirt track, etc. on a local Saturday night track type of level.
We are Christian non-charismatic (Lutheran -Methodist-Catholic) zone.

 

[dparm]

I lived in AZ for 4 years and visit friends out there almost once a year.

What is it you want to know?

 

[Quattro Pete]

Have you ever visited AZ during summer time? If not, you definitely should. You'd be jumping from one extreme to another. Make sure you can handle it.

 

[double vanos]

Hey Sump, check out Bisbee, Arizona! I moved here from Houston and haven't regretted it a bit. While Bisbee is very small, Sierra Vista ( an Army base town) is only 25 beautiful mountainous driving miles away and it has pretty much everything you could need. If Bisbee is too obscure for you there's always the Sahuarita area just outside Tuscon. Right now as I write this at 9 am the temp is 64 degrees and 22% humidity. Bisbee = Sedona, except you can afford it.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I applaud you for wanting to avoid the "sweltering humidity south." This climate here is fit only for snakes and cockroaches.

Southern Arizona I've been to once, Tucson, in June. It hit 107 F. each day. That's halfway to boiling, people. I don't care how dry the air is, that's hot. However, it was nice late at night and in the early morning. Northern Arizona, nearer the Grand Canyon, has higher elevations, and while it does see some snow every year, its heat is probably less furious.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe I haven't been to since about 2000, so I don't know how they've changed. The climate there is good, 5000 ft. above sea level and 7000, respectively. Mountains and many beautiful things to see. The landscape of southern CO, south of U.S. 50 and the Arkansas River/Royal Gorge, looks very much like northern NM.

I envy you; I only wish Miss Linda wanted to move from this pesthole.

 

[Bandito440]

I lived in Southern Arizona. The heat is oppressive!

Northern Arizona is beautiful. I'd move there if the opportunity presented itself. Visit Flagstaff, Sedona, Cottonwood, and Prescott. I believe you'll find what you seek along that route.

 

[double vanos]

Quattro Pete is right! The key to enjoying Az is living at altitude. Bisbee is at 5400 feet which is just about perfect. A little warm in the summer until the monsoons come and cool things off, and not as brutally cold as Flagstaff or Show Low in the winter. People here walk a lot. I sold my Mazdaspeed 3 because I wasn't driving it - 100 miles in 2 months. If it snows, it's gone the next day.

 

[SumpChump]

Originally Posted By: dparm
I lived in AZ for 4 years and visit friends out there almost once a year.

What is it you want to know?


Good cities or move to or to avoid. or quirks.

 

[SumpChump]

Originally Posted By: double vanos
Hey Sump, check out Bisbee, Arizona! I moved here from Houston and haven't regretted it a bit. While Bisbee is very small, Sierra Vista ( an Army base town) is only 25 beautiful mountainous driving miles away and it has pretty much everything you could need. If Bisbee is too obscure for you there's always the Sahuarita area just outside Tuscon. Right now as I write this at 9 am the temp is 64 degrees and 22% humidity. Bisbee = Sedona, except you can afford it.


THAT is helpful! Thank you so much.really.

 

[AuthorEditor]

Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to live that far from the ocean, but to each his own. I prefer humidity to dryness. My advice, having moved many times, is to not even consider purchasing a home until you have lived in an area at least a year or two. You can't trust anyone or any source on what is a "good" or "bad" neighborhood, climate, etc. until you have experienced it yourself. It takes awhile to get to know people, and they often make or break a place no matter what its other advantages. You will learn many things renting that will help you find the right place.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Have you ever visited AZ during summer time? If not, you definitely should. You'd be jumping from one extreme to another. Make sure you can handle it.


Hardly. Not all of Arizona is the stereotypical sand & cactus & lizards & 130 degrees. Moved to Cottonwood Az from Pa in 2005 and still love it. We see some teens in the winter and 110+ a few days in the summer and the rest of the year is close enough to perfect who cares? Snowed twice since we've been here. Prescott & area is higher and cooler with lots going on. Flagstaff is at 7000 feet and would make no sense for you wanting out of the cold. We left Pa for EXACTLY the reasons you state just before we turned 50 and haven't regretted it. The southwest isn't for everyone, it seems either you love it or hate it. I still marvel when I work on our cars. Rust? Ain't no stinking underbody rust here.

SW Colorado around Cortez is similar high desert, spent some time there.

Good luck!

PS: You may be in for a shock with housing prices. It's on the upswing again. Spend some time on realtor.com, Zillow.com etc

Also, it's harder to live out away from people. Unlike in the east where there are houses all along every back road here towns just stop and you don't see another house, except a ranch, until the next town. 85% of Arizona is public land.

 

[totegoat]

The web makes it so easy to learn about an area. I agree with the above poster, plan to rent for awhile.

I think with a little looking, you will find plenty of affordable houses, most being 3bd, 2ba, w/2 or 3 car garages. I don't know about work.

I would search NV, CA, AZ, as well as NM. Good luck.

 

[AuthorEditor]

Quote:
I don't know about work.

For most of us that's the first consideration--find the job, then see where is the best place to live. Of course in some professions, like education or medicine, you can probably look almost anywhere, while many of us are much more limited geographically depending on where we can find employment.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: totegoat
The web makes it so easy to learn about an area. I agree with the above poster, plan to rent for awhile.

I think with a little looking, you will find plenty of affordable houses, most being 3bd, 2ba, w/2 or 3 car garages. I don't know about work.

I would search NV, CA, AZ, as well as NM. Good luck.


Your Cali definition of affordable housing might be different that the rest of the country. Where we moved from a move-in-ready 3 bed 2 bath 2 car can be had today all day long under $150K. Where I am they start at $200K.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Northern California is where I'd go. If not there, then South Virginia, around Virginia Beach.

Not too hot - nor too cold. I desire all four seasons but just a little bit / taste of the extreme weather. Here today and gone tomorrow extreme.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: SumpChump
Originally Posted By: dparm
I lived in AZ for 4 years and visit friends out there almost once a year.

What is it you want to know?


Good cities or move to or to avoid. or quirks.



I see you live in the Midwest now, like me. I will say that the attitudes and people are very different out west. It is a more relaxed and laid-back feeling, which I totally understand given the weather and plethora of outdoor activities to do. I'm not saying this different attitude is good or bad, it's just different and everyone responds to a huge change like that differently. Arizona is also a state of transplants; think snowbirds, among other things.

I lived in Tucson, which is further south in Arizona. It's just under a million people in the metro area and is only about an hour north of Mexico. You can get to Phoenix in under 2 hours. It's a smaller town feel with a lot of culture, though it does have some crime problems on the southern end of town. The two big things it has going are The University of Arizona (my alma mater) and Davis-Monthan AFB. Tucson is quite dry (10%-15% humidity not uncommon). Tucson is a bit less touristy than the other parts of Arizona but there is still plenty to do.

The Phoenix area is a more typical urban area with lots of suburbs that vary wildly in the economic and social sense. It's also considerably larger than the Tucson metro area. Phoenix-area is far more humid than Tucson due to the abundance of grass -- the climate has actually been changed over the last few decades because people demanded lawns and needed to water them, thereby raising the humidity. Scottsdale is the big resort destination with tons of huge hotels/spas and a lot of tourists; it's also where the best nightlife, food, and shopping is. I love visiting and going out in Old Town Scottsdale. In Chandler, a southern suburb of Phoenix, you have Bondurant/Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park which is a great track. There's also Firebird way out west of the city.

Northern Arizona, like Flagstaff, Sedona, etc, is also very different. You're nudging up against the Grand Canyon and are at elevation, so expect wilder temperature swings and some beautiful scenery -- though Tucson and Phoenix are certainly beautiful as well. I've not spent much time up there but I certainly hear good things. It is quite touristy there during certain times of the year, and people can even get snowed-in sometimes!


Overall I would encourage you to spend a week in Arizona and explore the different areas. As I've said, the state has a lot to offer but it will feel VERY VERY different from what you are probably used to. I'll close by saying that although I had an interesting 4 years there while attending college, I decided to come back to the Midwest when I graduated.

Let me know if you have other questions -- happy to share my experiences.

 

[SumpChump]

Originally Posted By: dparm


I see you live in the Midwest now, like me. I will say that the attitudes and people are very different out west. It is a more relaxed and laid-back feeling, which I totally understand given the weather and plethora of outdoor activities to do. I'm not saying this different attitude is good or bad, it's just different and everyone responds to a huge change like that differently. Arizona is also a state of transplants; think snowbirds, among other things.

I lived in Tucson, which is further south in Arizona. It's just under a million people in the metro area and is only about an hour north of Mexico. You can get to Phoenix in under 2 hours. It's a smaller town feel with a lot of culture, though it does have some crime problems on the southern end of town. The two big things it has going are The University of Arizona (my alma mater) and Davis-Monthan AFB. Tucson is quite dry (10%-15% humidity not uncommon). Tucson is a bit less touristy than the other parts of Arizona but there is still plenty to do.

The Phoenix area is a more typical urban area with lots of suburbs that vary wildly in the economic and social sense. It's also considerably larger than the Tucson metro area. Phoenix-area is far more humid than Tucson due to the abundance of grass -- the climate has actually been changed over the last few decades because people demanded lawns and needed to water them, thereby raising the humidity. Scottsdale is the big resort destination with tons of huge hotels/spas and a lot of tourists; it's also where the best nightlife, food, and shopping is. I love visiting and going out in Old Town Scottsdale. In Chandler, a southern suburb of Phoenix, you have Bondurant/Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park which is a great track. There's also Firebird way out west of the city.

Northern Arizona, like Flagstaff, Sedona, etc, is also very different. You're nudging up against the Grand Canyon and are at elevation, so expect wilder temperature swings and some beautiful scenery -- though Tucson and Phoenix are certainly beautiful as well. I've not spent much time up there but I certainly hear good things. It is quite touristy there during certain times of the year, and people can even get snowed-in sometimes!


Overall I would encourage you to spend a week in Arizona and explore the different areas. As I've said, the state has a lot to offer but it will feel VERY VERY different from what you are probably used to. I'll close by saying that although I had an interesting 4 years there while attending college, I decided to come back to the Midwest when I graduated.

Let me know if you have other questions -- happy to share my experiences.


WOW, how excellent and forthright about it. You could be a writer.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: AuthorEditor
Personally, you couldn't pay me enough to live that far from the ocean, but to each his own. I prefer humidity to dryness. My advice, having moved many times, is to not even consider purchasing a home until you have lived in an area at least a year or two. You can't trust anyone or any source on what is a "good" or "bad" neighborhood, climate, etc. until you have experienced it yourself. It takes awhile to get to know people, and they often make or break a place no matter what its other advantages. You will learn many things renting that will help you find the right place.


I agree with all of this. Find a city you like and rent a house or duplex (apartments are too small and you'll have no privacy,plus you'll be paying for extras you'll probably never use and all these hidden fees). That way you won't be "stuck". AVOID a college town like the plaque.

 

[HerrStig]

I was impressed with both Sante Fe and Los Alamos NM.

 

[panthermike]

I'm an AZ native myself and agree that your best bet is moving into a higher elevation area. Flagstaff is 7000 ft, so winters would still be apart of life. I lived in Payson(5000 ft) for several years and you get the occasional snow and it does get cold, but mild winters compared to what you're used to. Definitely lots of home options for the price range you desire in most of AZ.

I currently live in a suburb of PHX and overall I like it, but you can't escape the hot summers. If it weren't for the small line of work I'm in, I would move to a higher elevation area. When the opportunity arises; I would love to move to Northern AZ, Colorado, or Washington state.

Can't go wrong with Colorado and many beautiful places in NM. Good luck to you!