Best Small/Med Size Town in Arizona (Phoenix, Flagstaff: relocating, real estate)

[Dee76]

Aloha,
My family and I are thinking of relocating to Arizona from Maui. I would really appreciate some opinions about area's in AZ that might be good for us. My husband is a Police Officer and I am a RN, we have a 7 Y/O son and are looking for a small to medium size town. We love the outdoors, hiking, lakes, etc.. We are looking for somewhere we can afford to buy a decent house with some land on our salaries(Impossible to do here on Maui). We can tolerate the heat better than the cold and don't need a lot of shopping, malls, etc.. I spent some time in Payson (sp?) sev years ago and really enjoyed that area. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thank-you in advance.

[lola8822]

For small to medium towns you might have to look out of the "valley" I would recomend looking into Prescott....I have lived In Phoenix my entire life and practically lived in prescott, payson, flagg and sedona durring the summers. I would definitly recomend prescott over payson (no offense to any of you paysoners) there is more to do, in my opinion, for children around your sons age. Sedona is also nice but on the expensive side because of the views. Flagstaff is very nice..however, you mentioned not liking cold and they do get a fair amount of snow durring the winter, but they do have good hospitals and schools. I would definitly check out prescott if you can.

[Dee76]

Thanks for the quick reply, Lola. What is the ~population of Prescott?

[lola8822]

no problem. The population is about 40,000 but that is spread out over a lot of land. 90 percent of the homes there have at least a half an acre. It is a very nice place, my parents are actually looking into moving there.

[Gretchen B]

Dee76, I think Prescott might be a better choice, too, although it may be larger than what you're looking for. Believe it or not, but housing is actually a little cheaper here than Payson, especially in Prescott Valley and Chino Valley. Yavapai Regional Med Center just opened a satellite hospital in Prescott Valley, so nurses are in high demand, plus I don't think your husband would have any trouble hiring on with one of the police deparments.

Prescott itself is 38,000, and it is the priciest as far as housing. Prescott Valley is about 30,000, and Chino Valley is about 10,000. There's a lot of rural areas around, too.

Weather is almost identical to Payson. Chino Valley is definitely the most rural of the 3 communities.

[lola8822]

Prescott Arizona Chamber of Commerce

Here is a link to Prescott's home page....lots of resources there.

[Dee76]

Thanks for the website, I spent some time on there and I love what I see. Houses do seem a little pricey in Prescott itself. I am looking for a good map of the area so I can figure out what town's may be close & widen my real estate search. Does pay in the area seem to be comparitive to the cost of living?

[lola8822]

As far as I know, not from experience but from friends and family, especially in your line of work (RN & P.O) They do pay "cost of living". I know, because of researching for my husband (RN), that they pay very well in that field. I would check out a couple postings in the area maybe for hospitals and police department to compare salaries. They are building new homes just north of prescott (maybe 10-15 mins north) that should be reasonably priced. I will see if i can find a map and post the link.

[lola8822]

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there is a link i found that might help.....if you click on "area maps" on the left hand side it will show you different maps of prescott. Hope that helps, let me know

[Gretchen B]

Dee - prices in Prescott Valley and Chino Valley are much lower than Prescott. Prescott Valley has new homes starting in the $190's and Chino Valley starts in the $180's. Of course, those are the 1200+/- sf homes. For around $220-$250, though, you can get a pretty nice-sized 3/2/3/ home in either area. For Prescott proper, you'll be looking at $100k more for a comparable home.

The Chamber of Commerce has some really nice maps available. That's where I get my maps that I send out to clients.