Wow, Chris, where's that? Paradise Valley? I've been poking around listing in that area a lot. And Hal's neighberhood looks nice too!
Paradise Valley is on the other side of the hill that I live near. The costs there start at 1 million. For the same hills, you pay much less where I am. My area, which includes Paradise Valley, is called the Golden Horseshoe because the homes form a horseshoe shape around the preserved hills. Oh, and we're in the Paradise Valley School district.
i enjoy phoenix but it almost sounds like if your looking for the small town deal you want flagstaff/tucson. phoenix is a big town easy to get around but still a big town. you have to love the 9 months of great weather but then you have 3 months of hell. i enjoy the heat and dont mind it once it gets to 100 degrees. flagstaff is a smaller town 2 hours or so north of phoenix. much cooler will get snow in the winter but not alot. tucson is about 2 hours south of phoenix and has a college town feel to me. a little cooler then phoenix but not by much. im a long time phoenix resident. good luck
All right...now we know. Thanks. If we're going to do this, the only time we'll want to see snow is when we return to Canada for visits!
Hey, all, Been spending a lot of time poking around trying to discover what multitude of things Uncle Sam would require of us to move down to AZ. Sometimes we come across an exciting discovery (i.e. that a CDN driver's license is considered valid without issue) but other times it seems a little daunting - as in when we discovered how costly health care can be! All healthy now but it could be a concern in the future. Q: About effin' healthcare:If the company that you work for carries group insurance, how much do you find that you're paying personally towards offsetting the cost of same? We've read that if we find an employer who offers coverage that a family of 6 (like ours) would expect to pay at least $5,000-$6,000 per year on top of what the employer already contributes. That'd be livable but we want to make sure we're interpreting things correctly as we're reading them. Q: About establishing credit (in advance of getting a mortgage): - Would a basic, unused phone line installed at a friends place that we pay for monthly help towards the process ya think? - What about Target (et al) credit cards? We can apply on-line, buy some stuff on-line and think we can establish a basic credit rating that way too but would appreciate if anyone has additional insights, thanks. More questions to come quite likely. Thanks meanwhile though for your insight all. Joe & Kathleen in Ottawa, Canada
Joe, I was born, raised and lived in Buffalo, NY until I was 27... I too know the winter all too well, and the humid summers. My wife and I are and have been looking for a move... we've lived in San Diego since 2002. San Diego is unbelieveably awesome but just as expensive. We would love to stay in the Southwestern US. I like the idea of no snow, moderate temperatures... and... NO BUGS! We can leave our sliding door open without a screen all day and night without pesky mosquitos... and we live about 200 yards from a lake. We looked into the Phoenix area. The one thing holding me back are the summers. Like some have said, 110+ isn't exactly cool. However, we're in inland San Diego (5-7 miles from the shore) and it can get 100 at our house, but only a few days out of the year... the rest of the year its an average of 74 degrees... about 10 days a year of rain... and thats in the winter. If you have the means, San Diego offers the best weather in the nation, bar none. As our EQ moniker states, I live in Eastlake, a huge suburban development 5 miles north of the border. If you want more info on San Diego, I'll be glad to help. But if you're looking for a normal home for around $300,000, then stay away and look towards AZ, NV, TX and NM. Isn't the humidity in TX on the eastern side of the state (Houston, etc.)?!?! Gilbert: why is it 'your bad'?!?! Isn't that a huge growing area?!?! I heard it was nice there. Katy: That's where Rick may move if/when he takes that other job. Heard it is beautiful there. Lubbock: Yes. Barren land... and HOT! 2 Drag strips?!?! Wow! That just raised Phoneix's stock with me! Dan, I may be putting in for a transfer to our Phoenix office at some point... once the housing market here allows me to sell our home for what we owe! Overall, the US Southwest is incredible. Generally great weather (nothing like Canada or NE USA). The bigger cities offer everything one could ask for, yet alot of suburban areas for a slower family life. NOTE: Mexican food 'up north' is nothing like REAL Mexican food down here. Seriously. I once hated the version of Mexican food I had in NY... here... I can't eat enough of it... as my waistline can attest to. BTW: EVERYONE: when I inquired about moving to the Phoenix area awhile back (on the 'other' site), I didn't get this kind of a response! You can't and won't keep me out!
Awesome, useful insights, Jason, thanks man! Kathleen & I really appreciate all the help we're getting from our brothers & sisters on the SRTC. Who woulda thought that a forum for Mopar enthusiasts could be such a great resource!? I don't believe that we'd have the means for San Diego as we'd be looking for a home in the $350 range but the weather sounds perfect dammit! At this point, we "think" that we can handle the 110 degree temps of AZ but you guys are probably right...we need to visit a few area states in effort to get a feel for things. Recall that Ron even first suggested we visit him in New Mexico. After seeing pics of happy drunken Ron, Chris and the EQ (and lovely Maureen with her truck of course), Kathleen said "oh! they look like they'd be fun to hang out with for a day or two!" Who else is up for a visit, lol?!!! (a picture of Kathleen might help you make up your minds). Seriously though...thanks a bunch so far. I'm gonna google Eastlake right now (and wonder how many EQ references might "pop up"). Ciao.
Joe, if you want to google Eastlake, enter it as either "Eastlake, Chula Vista" or "Otay Ranch, Chula Vista". If you are coming down here to visit/do recon, just let us know. The EQ is ready to welcome if you're in San Diego... I'm sure we could get the East County Clique (our rivals) to show too (John, Adam, Ralph...). BTW: You probably could get a 1500-1600 sq ft home for about $350,000 in my area. Small backyard, but a 2 car garage. With all the foreclosures, etc... your options increase dramatically. Theres a house across the street, a buddy of mine lived there. 1500+ sqft, 2 car garage, decent yard, nice upgrades (tile, solid countertops, big concrete patio, etc) and they're selling at $340,000. House is only 5 years old.
my sister in laws mother is the number one realtor down there in chula. if you want some listings of her foreclosures (she gets all of them first from the banks), hit me up and ill give you her email address for some prospects.
Will get right onto the Googlization - though I think with my 3 boys (who are slated to be biggin's) and daughter we'd need a good bit more house, Jason. But then living across the street from you it'd be all about location, location, location! I'll bother you again with questions afterwards.
Well that's a fantastic coincidence, Steve. Thanks man - it's [email protected] oops, I read your post wrong, d'oy! Whatever... We're stoked to see what recent forclosures are bringing to market (sad really but what can you do...).
Your gonna live in a shithole in scottsdale for only $280,000 you can get a nice place in Maricopa where I live its about 20 mins form phoenix for that money its a nice quite suburb but the schools aren't great
So noted, John. As we poke around, some of the better values seem to lie in Mesa and Chandler...like 4 + bedrooms in the 350-380 range.
