The truth about the Az from easterners midwesterners and southners (Phoenix: property taxes, military)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by twixcookie

Why cant the jobs be in the midwest?

There are plenty of jobs, mainly near the big cities, especially Chicago. Theres no need to pack up and move to someplace you dont want to necessarily go. Post your resume online and see what happens. Where are you located right now?

[steve22]

It's really not fair to lump all of Arizona under one umbrella and make a blanket statement about it one way or another, since it's such a geographically and socially diverse state. From my point of view, there's basically five Arizonas: Northern AZ (by far and away the best of the bunch), Southern AZ (including Tucson), Western AZ (including Lake Havasu; or east California, basically), the Navajo Reservation in NE AZ, and Maricopa County. In my opinion, excluding the dirty, giant, overheated sprawling suburban cesspool that is Maricopa County, AZ is in general a very nice place. Although the "Res", as it's called, which occupies a large chunk of the northeastern area of the state, is no terrific area either. People in northern AZ, as well as in Tucson, tend to be more educated, culturally oriented, down to earth and friendly than elewhere in the state, which probably has something to do with both the U of A in Tucson and the large outdoorsy community of transplants up north.

Bottom line- excluding metro Phoenix and the reservation, AZ is mostly a great place. It's just too bad that the monstrosity Phoenix has become dwarfs everything else and sullies the reputation of so many other great things about the state.

[Zorina]

I don't know which part of Illinois you're from, but in Chicago summers are NOT humid all the time. There are many gorgeous days when we have "Canadian cold fronts" and the weather is about 80 degrees and not humid.

[Zorina]

I live in sort of middle norther Tucson. As a general rule I don't hear anything at night and there isn't much crime. It is so friggen dark at night that there is almost nobody out. But every place has its neighborhoods. I heard on the news that some places south of 29th can be pretty bad, guns and gangs. As a general rule I don't hear any noise or activity at night here. Although, not being nieve, I know crime goes on, like the meth traffic, but its not like a constant gangbanger, druggie house location.

[loose cannon]

It's a great place to visit a few times a year but a permanent residence is just not in the cards for me.

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by Bridgett

I am from MI and retired to Phoenix and after a year moved back to MI. Now I will admit that the main reason for leaving was a family illness BUT I don't know how long we would have stayed anyways.
We are in our mid 50's, retired and bought a home in a family neighborhood (Ahwatukee). We didn't want an Active Adult Community because we felt they were too confining. The neighborhood we moved to was nice but we quickly found that everyone hibernates in the summer. Of course that's what we do in the midwest but even when people did come out at night (in PHX) they just smiled and maybe waved. We also found that the people our age were retired military and were very conservative. We almost had to whisper that we were liberal thinking individuals.
Then there was the issue of immigration, immigration, immigration. That's all you hear about. The hatred for Hispanic's was unbelievable.
Next was the cost of living. Yes the property taxes are low but the price of a nice sized home is quite high. Four years ago you could get a great deal but prices have gone up.
Education is horrible. I am a retired teacher and looked into their system and told my grown daughter who lives in PHX to put her kids in private school. The teachers are grossly underpaid and the curriculums are inadequate.
There is no feeling of community and we felt very alone. We got so tired of the endless heat of the summer and even when you went out to restaurants (during the summer) they were very quiet and empty. The winters were not as warm as we thought they would be and even though you have endless blue skies, sun, and mountains to look at you do miss seasonal changes.
Yes there are jobs there but the pay does not equal the cost of living.

That was a very honest answer. I like living in Scottsdale, but we are moving in July and I am looking forward to going back east. I've been here 10 years. We are lucky though, because we will have a winter home in Florida. The winters up north can be cold and grey. Why didn't we keep a place here? We really miss the greenery and the water. Arizona as a state is beautiful though, too bad so much of it is Indian Reservations or government owned. The mountains are always a nice sight in Phoenix.

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by norm

I was born and raised in NYC, I also lived south of Boston for 13 years and have literally traveled the globe. I now live in a NYC suburb. I have found that people here are as friendly to a stranger as they are anywhere in the world. There have many times that I will start talking to someone I am sitting next to on a bus or a train and we go on to have a congenial conversation.

We travel to NYC several times a year. We love it more and more each time we go. We thought our first time there that the people would be nasty, but they ended up being friendlier than here! We take the subway or a taxi all over town (I even have a neice in Harlem) and we have found it quite friendly! I know, I was surprised too!

[londonbarcelona]

Originally Posted by sandylw

All of these comments make me worry. My husband and I are considering moving to Arizona to be near my daughter and grandchildren. I'm pretty sure that one cannot make friends there because I have read that everywhere. I worry that we will be stuck in the house twiddling our thumbs and wondering what to do. We love our grandchildren but we can't look to them for our entertainment. It's truly a concern. We don't want to live in a retirement community because we don't think that's the life for us. We want our grandkids to be able to stay with us and enjoy themselves. The thing about where I live is that no matter where I go, I will probably meet someone I know. We share greetings and hugs and enjoy each other's company. What do you think?

You'll be fine. The pull of family can be very strong. If you are close with your daughter and grandchildren, you will like it here. Family is very important.

[kaykay07]

but we've lived in many cities and states throughout the southeast...in almost every place we moved, we met our neighbors within a week or so. some of them even helped us unpack. even in a big city like Charlotte, NC, we had people bringing over snacks and bottled water and directions to get to the grocery stores.
We moved to Avondale in February and had the best of intentions. we thought it was different, but beautiful. We fully understood that this was not the south and would not be green...among other things.
We are MISERABLE here. I would give anything to move back, but unfortunately the cost of living here, for us, exceeds the amount of pay we are able to pull in. My husband has been doing the same exact job for 15 years and has always made within a certain pay range. Some states a bit more, some a bit less...but all within a certain range that was comparable to where we were living.
Now? We can barely keep our heads above water, even with me working, which I haven't had to do previously. The neighbors are either unfriendly or don't speak english--and we live in one of those "nice" cookie cutter neighborhoods. we've met exactly TWO neighbors. The crime is atrocious, I'm told I can't even go to certain malls in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY because of crime, car theft and other things. Not too long ago a family was kidnapped from the outlet mall (we were at that very day!) and taken for holding by the nappers in our own neighborhood in a vacant house. People are kidnapped from in front of their own houses unloading groceries into the house. I am frankly just scared to live here.
I understand it's a big city and you have to deal with more of that here. But like I've said, out of many many cities in the southeast, including larger metropolis'...I never felt this level of uncertainty.
As far as the friendliness thing goes...we go to the neighborhood parks (when it's daylight out and when it's not 10000 degrees). We try to talk to the others we see there. They either walk away or can't speak english. Seriously. And I've probably talked to a good 20 different people at the parks this summer, I'm a talker.
The highways freak me out--people honking and cutting you off for doing the speed limit. I'm not getting a ticket for you! I had someone dangerously cut me off and give me the finger for doing 75 in a 65...and this is not a rare occurrence.
I know some people love it here, and it does have it's own beauty. There are less "pest" type bugs out here than we noticed in FL, although in FL we didn't find it to be an overwhelming problem either.
I just can't wait to get back someplace I feel safe, I can enjoy the summers instead of melting into a puddle and taking 2 showers a day, and I can have a sense of community with others who are also eager for the same. good luck!

[collected_eve]

Grew up in Louisiana & have been in Missouri & Illinois for the las 7 1/2 years & Arizona since June 2006. The midwest & south are both very obviously different than here, well, Prescott at least. Hospitality is a big issue for sure. People that I encounter here just aren't very friendly. To get a simple "hi" from a cashier is like pulling teeth. Where I am from, people wave at everyone, for NO reason! Having small talk with someone at the grocery store is common & usually quite pleasant. I talk to many people a day at my workplace & most that I meet seem so unenthused at the fact that I am interested in chatting. I'm social & like to be nice. Well, that's always a flop here. And yes, I did move here with a good attitude.