How Many Of You Find AZ Snowbirds Puzzling? (living in, vacation)

[adventuregurl]

Some snowbirds are from Canada and can't stay in AZ fulltime - the US is working on changing it from 6 months to 8 months which would help!

[adventuregurl]

Originally Posted by RichCapeCod

OK, I'll fess up. I really do like the dry AZ air. Not to the point I want to hang around when it goes over 100 degrees, but even the 90s is quite comfortable (much more so than 80 degrees on Cape Cod with 90% humidity. Really.).

Rich
(Looking forward to heading back to AZ this Fall!)

Totally agree with this ! I'll take 95 in AZ over 85 in the humidity any day!

[tijlover]

Originally Posted by adventuregurl

Some snowbirds are from Canada and can't stay in AZ fulltime - the US is working on changing it from 6 months to 8 months which would help!

Aha! That's part of the explanation then, and does anyone know the numbers, how many Canadians are snowbirds in AZ?

When I was scouting around for a place to retire in Tucson, 5-6 years ago, specifically Tucson Estates, I was a bit deterred to consider that place as a retirement option when the RE agent told me that 50%, or so, of the residents were snowbirds, resulting in my living in a retirement community half-full for part of the year, and it also explained the lack of a big grocery store near that community.

[RichCapeCod]

One nice thing about AZ, you can remain in the state up to nine months and not be considered there for purposes of AZ state taxes. Clearly AZ wants folks to come and makes it as painless as possible.

Rich

[Bondurant]

Some people cannot hack the heat. I prefer the summers here but some people prefer a wet, sticky and mosquito infested summer over baking in an oven. I will take the oven. Every time.

[GregW]

We are considering possibly moving to the southwest. We are looking in your neighbor state because I have noticed on the Weather reports Albuquerque is consistently 15 to 20 deg. cooler than Phoenix in the summer. There also seem to be far fewer "retirement condo communities" in NM.

We may just settle for a snowbird situation from November to April as we have very few really hot days during a typical southern NH summer and Fall around here is glorious.

[thinkalot]

Originally Posted by adventuregurl

Some snowbirds are from Canada and can't stay in AZ fulltime - the US is working on changing it from 6 months to 8 months which would help!

Canadians have to be in Canada for at least 6 months for their insurance. At least that is what a few told me.

[corydon]

Originally Posted by GregW

We are considering possibly moving to the southwest. We are looking in your neighbor state because I have noticed on the Weather reports Albuquerque is consistently 15 to 20 deg. cooler than Phoenix in the summer. There also seem to be far fewer "retirement condo communities" in NM.

We may just settle for a snowbird situation from November to April as we have very few really hot days during a typical southern NH summer and Fall around here is glorious.

It gets real cold in Albuqueque in the winter. Go about 200 mile south.

[new2colo]

Regardless of how people here remember summers in the Midwest and on the East Coast, the fact of the matter is that the majority of summer days are not ridiculously uncomfortable. Many days are in the 70s and 80s with moderate humidity. It's those occasional heat waves that they get with the surge of extreme humidity that can be pretty bad. However, it really isn't anything worse than what we deal with on a daily basis.

That, coupled with the fact that many snowbirds have ties at home, it makes sense that they go where they do. Everything isn't about weather and insects.

[Gandalara]

Originally Posted by tijlover

Aha! That's part of the explanation then, and does anyone know the numbers, how many Canadians are snowbirds in AZ?

From the AZCentral in July 2013:
"In 2011, Canadians spent an estimated $816 million in Arizona, said Evan Rachkovsky, a research officer for the Canadian Snowbird Association. Nearly 704,000 Canadians spent an average of $1,126 per visit during that year, according to the most current figures from the Arizona Office of Tourism."

Although if I do the math, 704K*$1,126 = $792,704,000 so someone's math is off

Oh, and a couple of the Canadian provinces allow more than 6 months 'out of Canada'.