Sierra Vista, Benson (Tucson, Willcox, Whetstone: fit in, rentals, home)

[ajzjmsmom]

Does anyone have any info on the Sierra Vista, Benson area? My husband is applying for a job in Willcox and since we want to rent we know we will probably have to live in Benson or Sierra Vista. How are the schools and what is the traffic like? Are people friendly there or do you have to work really hard to fit in? I have 3 boys that will be in schools there and I don't want them to have a hard time fitting in. The weather is not an issue nor are all the pests since we currently live in NM and we seem to have the same weather and pests. As long as the boys have sports to do, nothing else is really a big deal. We don't party and have to be going somewhere and doing something all the time. We are just stay and home and chill sort of people.

[crazyme4878]

SV seems like a very transient town because of the Fort. We just moved here in February. I don't like it very much because it isn't as community-based as I'm use to/like, but it might be different if you have kids in school. My oldest will start kindergarten this year, so I don't know much about the schools besides the one he will go to (in Hereford). The drive from SV to Willcox is a bit. I have heard good things about Benson on these forums and it would be less of a drive (plus closer to Tucson for extra shopping/activities). By the way, school starts August 6th here.

Sorry I wasn't more help.

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by crazyme4878

SV seems like a very transient town because of the Fort. We just moved here in February. I don't like it very much because it isn't as community-based as I'm use to/like, but it might be different if you have kids in school. My oldest will start kindergarten this year, so I don't know much about the schools besides the one he will go to (in Hereford). The drive from SV to Willcox is a bit. I have heard good things about Benson on these forums and it would be less of a drive (plus closer to Tucson for extra shopping/activities). By the way, school starts August 6th here.

Sorry I wasn't more help.

Thanks for your help, as long as we can find something to rent in Benson or even Willcox we will live there so he doesn't have to commute. I have been looking on the internet and if he gets an interview then I guess we will come out and look around, been to both Willcox and Benson but just passing through.

[LordBalfor]

Familiar with the area but at my age I can't tell you anything about the schools or kids (sorry).

As mentioned, SV is quite a drive from Willcox.

Why do you think you will not live in Willcox (lack of rentals)?
Willcox IS small, but then again so is Sierra Vista - and while the stats show Willcox as being smaller than Benson, it didn't give me that impression.

Ken

[ajzjmsmom]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Familiar with the area but at my age I can't tell you anything about the schools or kids (sorry).

As mentioned, SV is quite a drive from Willcox.

Why do you think you will not live in Willcox (lack of rentals)?
Willcox IS small, but then again so is Sierra Vista - and while the stats show Willcox as being smaller than Benson, it didn't give me that impression.

Ken

Yes, it is the possible lack of rentals. Of course I guess we could just downsize so my husband doesn't have a long commute. As far as the town being small that is actually okay and as long as we can find a rental we will live there. We want somewhere safe for our kids. So it seems like Willcox and Benson are about the same size to you? We haven't been to Willcox since 04 when we lived in Silver City and our son ran track in Morenci. We passed through Benson in 04 after going to Tombstone. We will see what happens I guess, the job openings end today and depending on how fast the gov't works maybe we will have an answer in a month or so.

[LordBalfor]

Opps!

In the statement where I said "Willcox IS small, but then again so is Sierra Vista - and while the stats show Willcox as being smaller than Benson, it didn't give me that impression."

I meant to say "Willcox IS small, but then again so is BENSON- and while the stats show Willcox as being smaller than Benson, it didn't give me that impression."

Ajzjmsmom -

Yeah, Benson and Willcox seem about the same size and in fact Willcox seemed to be a little bit bigger actually - even though that flies in the face of the official stats.

Neither is very big though. If you include Whetstone/J-6/Mescal then Benson is larger for sure - but there is a gap between those areas and Benson itself


In any event I wouldn't give up hope on Wilcox - though you are right in that with small towns, rentals can be scarce. Unfortunately (as you already seen) there is generally a lot of nothing between Willcox and anywhere else so if you don't find housing in Willcox itself, it WILL be a bit of a drive. While traffic on I-10 CAN be busy, I can't imagine it being busy enough to have any impact on your commute time (barring roadwork or a really bad accident).

Good luck with the job and housing.

Ken