Arizona? (Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa: housing, rental, travel)

[Daytrepper]

Yeah, I know; another mid-westerner wanting to move to Arizona... Right?

I am having a difficult time deciding where to move. All I can gather right now is west is best, midwest is less, lol... I am not in a big hurry to do it, but want it to happen sooner than later. Basically, Im a single 26 year old that will have an MBA in about a year; so thats when the time will come I am hoping.

I live in northwestern Ohio right now, have a job I enjoy very much-- but thats not my reason for wanting to leave. I want to move somewhere thats interesting, with things to do, culture, people that have an array of interests, other than just a few-- and an area that has an array of interests, other than slim to none. Im not big into the sports scene; which is the main interest around here.

Thus far in my travels Arizona has scored high on my list. Good points were central location (between Vegas, San Diego, LA), Mountains and desert kick a**, and couldnt imagine driving up to the Grand Canyon on a Saturday--for the heck of it. . Not too concerned on the heat, as I spent the better part of last June in the Phoenix area, and know about the 3 gallons of water hiking, etc... To me thats better than the doors on my car being frozen shut, (just 2 weeks ago this cost me $180 in destroyed weatherstripping due to ice) shoveling snow, scraping ice, being stuck inside, rust, dead batteries, winter clothes, and the constant winter gloom here. Everything cool basically shuts down October-April here. Ohio can have the 4 seasons. Ive endured nearly 27 years of it.

Job availability looks like a huge plus in AZ. NW Ohio is in the tank employment wise. Housing prices--iffy, lot more than Ohio, but do the wages make up for it? I am an operations manager right now in the trucking industry-- are automotive industry jobs available?

As for the downsides, Im Russian, and a fluent Russian speaker-- so the Latino cutlure of AZ would take some getting used to. I didnt really notice it bigtime there-- like I thought I would-- but living there might be different. Time to learn Spanish maybe? I dont think many Russians live in Phoenix.

Also as an avid automotive enthusiast, the heat concerns me-- extreme wear and tear comes to mind-- but the effect might be the same driving it in 10 degrees here? Overheating, fires, a problem? My Nissan Altima rental car seemed to handle it fine, even driving in the mountains at 115 degrees. Im sure I could adapt. The lack of rust is a huge plus.

Phoenix seems to have a high auto-theft rate, and some crime issues-- but I am guessing this depends on what area you are in, and your level of security, just like any place. I had a serious burglary happen to me a couple years ago in a quiet little small midwestern town that is supposed to be crime free-- so go figure.

Many places in AZ looked good. Love the mountains, IE Pinetop, Kingman, but its looking like Phoenix is the best place job wise. The drives thru the desert in between the cities was breathtaking.

I haven chose AZ as the place yet. There were several other areas that were up there with it. Its in the finals though, and Ill be coming back out mid 2008 for another visit. Im hitting SLC and Portland on the same trip-- also up there.

Thoughts from the Arizonans?

[vegaspilgrim]

Graduating with an MBA? If you move to AZ, more likely than not you will end up living somewhere in the greater Phoenix area. Possibly Tucson if you're lucky enough to find a job there. I say go for it if you want a change! One thing though-- you'll get dead car batteries here too-- the extreme heat in the summer kills batteries just as fast as extreme cold. I had to get my car towed last summer after my car battery died. Another thing-- Grand Canyon is more of a weekend trip/ overnighter. You'd have to be nuts to drive there and back all in one day. I'm sure there's people who do it (especially if you had a team taking driving "shifts"), but it kind of misses the point. I would also recommend looking at Denver-- there is a HUGE Russian speaking, former USSR population there, much more than you will find in Phoenix. Denver can get cold, no doubt, but it will be much sunnier than where you are now, and I've never heard of anybody's door handles being frozen there in the 18 years I lived there. Denver usually gets more of a dry cold with powdery snow that you could shake right off with your coat sleeve. Anyway, take another trip out west and explore! Good luck whatever you decide on.

[Daytrepper]

Thanks for the response!! On the car batteries I figured as much. The cold, snow, and salt seems to be comparable to the heat--but it seems heat is better because you dont have the rust issues, lol. Cool--- just making sure vehicles handling heat wasnt an extreme issue or anything-- ive got AAA if all else fails, lol. I love my cars, have 3 of them, would probably just take one to AZ and sell the rest.

Grand canyon is about 4 hours roughly from Phoenix? To the north rim-- I drove to Flag when I was out there and that was alittle over 2 hours from Scottsdale. Even so, a weekend trip to the GC is definitely worth it, and not too many people can say they can go to a place like that so easily. Heck, to get there now, (per google) Id have to drive 31 hours--or spend $300 on a plane ticket + rental car and drive from PHX.

Im talking to all my friends right now in OH about moving to AZ; or elsewhere. They all think Im crazy, lol. Saying Ill never do it, etc... Im about to jump out of the box and take that chance-- say the heck with it-- I dont have anything keeping me here. No wife, kids, etc. I may have a friend that will go with me, which will make it even easier; being I have no family/friends out in AZ; or most of the west for that matter.

Are jobs still as plentiful in AZ as they were a year ago? Im in middle management now in the trucking/automotive industry-- with an MBA to boot soon anything related would be cool-- or maybe just a job to get by until I finish the MBA at ASU or something---would have to see about a transfer-- just thinking.

Denver is definitely worth more exploration. Only thing is its more remote-- its alot harder to travel to Vegas, San Diego, etc.. Is there any Russian Culture in Phoenix?

-- Sosh

[saffordpastor]

Come on down, friend...AZ is a great place to live.
You might check out Prescott, or Cottenwood area, they are not too cold but cooler than Phoenix. This is a long way from the Grand Canyon, but Sierra Vista is a great place, and we have fantastic scenery here in Southeastern Az.
This area is called the basin and range country, so we have huge mountains, up to 10,700 ft, (Mt Graham), beautiful valleys, canyons, streams and rivers. Check it out.

[xwideopenskyx]

Originally Posted by Daytrepper

Thanks for the response!! On the car batteries I figured as much. The cold, snow, and salt seems to be comparable to the heat--but it seems heat is better because you dont have the rust issues, lol. Cool--- just making sure vehicles handling heat wasnt an extreme issue or anything-- ive got AAA if all else fails, lol. I love my cars, have 3 of them, would probably just take one to AZ and sell the rest.

Grand canyon is about 4 hours roughly from Phoenix? To the north rim-- I drove to Flag when I was out there and that was alittle over 2 hours from Scottsdale. Even so, a weekend trip to the GC is definitely worth it, and not too many people can say they can go to a place like that so easily. Heck, to get there now, (per google) Id have to drive 31 hours--or spend $300 on a plane ticket + rental car and drive from PHX.

Im talking to all my friends right now in OH about moving to AZ; or elsewhere. They all think Im crazy, lol. Saying Ill never do it, etc... Im about to jump out of the box and take that chance-- say the heck with it-- I dont have anything keeping me here. No wife, kids, etc. I may have a friend that will go with me, which will make it even easier; being I have no family/friends out in AZ; or most of the west for that matter.

Are jobs still as plentiful in AZ as they were a year ago? Im in middle management now in the trucking/automotive industry-- with an MBA to boot soon anything related would be cool-- or maybe just a job to get by until I finish the MBA at ASU or something---would have to see about a transfer-- just thinking.

Denver is definitely worth more exploration. Only thing is its more remote-- its alot harder to travel to Vegas, San Diego, etc.. Is there any Russian Culture in Phoenix?

-- Sosh

Hi Sosh,

I answered your post on the Ohio forum. Also, I am fluent in Polish. The Slavic culture here is small but not nonexistent. Although, Mexican and Native American culture is very abundant and very interesting to explore.

Check these links out for Russian info:
Russian Arizona -- ??????? ???????
Russian Arizona -- ??????? ??????? -- DIRECTORY

There may be more information online.

Have fun!

[dgs92]

For the cars...it's mostly the windshield wipers drying out, and tires don't last as long as elsewhere. But I'd rather that than freezing my butt off and shoveling snow and chopping wood!!

[Moving2CO]

Hi, I lived in AZ for 11 years, I moved from NYC and now I am moving to CO in the summer... just make sure you are ok with the summers here, they are long and extremely hot.

There is diversity in AZ, but because everything is spreadout, it's hard to connect with people because unlike midwest and bigcities, there aren't "communities" such as the Russian community, Indian, Israeli (I am from Israel), etc. There are plenty of Russians in Phoenix, trust me... most moved from the East Cost.

If you want Mountains, you might want to check out other States because in Metro Phoenix we don't have that many, you will need to make many weekend gettaways to:

Flagstaff
Tucson
Bisbee
White Tanks
Patagonia
Superstitions... and many more

You will not be able to find a job near the mountains that will pay you and the towns outside metro Phx(scottsdale, Gilbert, Mesa, Chandler, Tempe, Glendale) and Tucson are pretty barren and are so chainy (not that metro phx isn't)...

[Daytrepper]

Thanks for the inputs all!!

Whats the best part of town for a single 27 year old? Im guessing Tempe, with its college atmosphere.

I stayed in Tempe and Scottsdale last time but didnt have a whole lot of time to explore the rest of the metro area.

I found a great club scene in both towns, Mill ave & 5th (stayed at the Marriot on Ash) in Tempe and Scottsdale Rd/Camelback (IIRC) in Scottsdale.

It seemed like the mountains and outdoors experience was not far away, and very much worth the short drive compared to here.

Im coming out again in May, any additional areas you can recommend checking out? AZ is definitely worth a second visit, and I would like to concentrate this one on exploring the Phoenix area, and finally taking a trip up to the GC.

From just browsing monster dot com, etc, seems like there are many jobs in my field-- hoping the MBA will boost that.

On the cars, any other problems with the heat? The Nissan Altima rental seemed fine in 115 degrees last trip, Im just concerned with my other vehicles; if I should modify the cooling systems better to handle the heat or not. I am guessing the issues are similar to here and the cold--

As for the cultures; the Indian and Mexican cultures were pretty cool, I spose I could learn spanish for the heck of it to be able to talk to them. Ive got to keep up on the Russian though; its a very interesting culture and language-- as difficult of a language as it is, I would hate to become rusty with it. When I was in Flagstaff, myself and the people I was travelling with met up with some Indians at a local bar and ended up at an all Indian bar later-- they were very friendly, I still talk to a couple of them via email, etc. They were intrigued by my Russian accent, as much as I was intrigued by them.

Same in Phoenix. We met several people in Tempe and ended up hanging out and tubing the Salt river together-- sweet!

Thanks, --Sosh

[ScoutAZ]

Phoenix does not have a lot of corporate hq's so your MBA may not bring as much value as back east. Quite honestly think about Vegas or Dallas or Houston

[Moving2CO]

Originally Posted by Daytrepper

Thanks for the inputs all!!

Whats the best part of town for a single 27 year old? Im guessing Tempe, with its college atmosphere.

I stayed in Tempe and Scottsdale last time but didnt have a whole lot of time to explore the rest of the metro area.

I found a great club scene in both towns, Mill ave & 5th (stayed at the Marriot on Ash) in Tempe and Scottsdale Rd/Camelback (IIRC) in Scottsdale.

It seemed like the mountains and outdoors experience was not far away, and very much worth the short drive compared to here.

Im coming out again in May, any additional areas you can recommend checking out? AZ is definitely worth a second visit, and I would like to concentrate this one on exploring the Phoenix area, and finally taking a trip up to the GC.

From just browsing monster dot com, etc, seems like there are many jobs in my field-- hoping the MBA will boost that.

On the cars, any other problems with the heat? The Nissan Altima rental seemed fine in 115 degrees last trip, Im just concerned with my other vehicles; if I should modify the cooling systems better to handle the heat or not. I am guessing the issues are similar to here and the cold--

As for the cultures; the Indian and Mexican cultures were pretty cool, I spose I could learn spanish for the heck of it to be able to talk to them. Ive got to keep up on the Russian though; its a very interesting culture and language-- as difficult of a language as it is, I would hate to become rusty with it. When I was in Flagstaff, myself and the people I was travelling with met up with some Indians at a local bar and ended up at an all Indian bar later-- they were very friendly, I still talk to a couple of them via email, etc. They were intrigued by my Russian accent, as much as I was intrigued by them.

Same in Phoenix. We met several people in Tempe and ended up hanging out and tubing the Salt river together-- sweet!

Thanks, --Sosh

You would do well in the Downtown Scottsdale area more than Tempe because Tempe is a bit too collegy and very early twenties... You would also be fine being up north in the Scottsdale/Shea area... rentals are not that expensive in Scottsdale, it 's the housing that is.

Hope this helps.