Tell me about Flagstaff (Phoenix, Prescott: environment, real estate, for sale)

[keepitalive305]

I was recently offered a job opportunity in the city. I would be coming from the South Florida area. I have family who lives in Phoenix and the only time they mentioned Flagstaff they said it was quite different from the Phoenix area in Arizona. What are some of the main differences, advantages, and drawbacks of Flagstaff.

[sablebaby]

It's a small town compared to Phx. The weather is 4 seasons. Housing is expensive, and there is a lot of traffic. It's very touristy. It looks like every other small town that I've been to.

[Magnum Mike]

Flagstaff's elevation is about 7,000 feet ASL, and can be up to almost 8,000 in some areas. Phoenix's elevation is about 1,200 ASL. Although SableBaby is right about the "4 seasons" in Flagstaff, they've been experiencing lower than normal snowfall for the past 14 years. I'm a Phoenix native and resident, but I remember when I was a kid in the 1970's, we used to see a lot more snow stay on the ground until the end of April. They've also been having below freezing lows up until just a couple of weeks ago.

Flagstaff does get very crowded in the summer months, but you can't beat the summer time temperatures. It's also close to the San Francisco peaks, elevation 12,633 feet ASL, which has the Snow Bowl ski resort at the 9,500 foot level and does make for a good summer get-away from the brutal heat in Phoenix in July.

Flagstaff is also close to the Grand Canyon. I believe the eastern end of the Canyon is about 60 miles away from Flagstaff, and the Grand Canyon National park entrance is about 70 miles west of Flagstaff.

[carecare7]

I'll take Flagstaff, since I live here!

Weather: Usually 30 degrees cooler than Phoenix. Summer highs in the upper 80’s, winter highs can be in the 20’s at times. We used to get a lot more snow but are in a drought. About 300 days of sunshine per year. July and August afternoon monsoons. Flagstaff is around 7000 feet up so your body will take from 2to 6 months to compensate. During that time, you may feel tired a lot!

Schools: Fair elementary but squeezed in the middle schools. High schools are average to below average. FUSD does promote the academics AND the arts so the schools here are better than many that are going back to basics with dropping arts and PE. FUSD makes it a point to keep PE and arts. NAU has excellent forestry, teachers and dental programs. Coconino Community college is a nice junior college.

Commute: Early morning, after school and evening rush hours can be crowded but the rest of the day and weekends the streets are remarkably uncrowded. During NAU Parent's day and graduations, it gets very crowded and in summer, traffic does pick up a bit but it isn't as bad as Phoenix or Prescott area. There is a bus line. Flagstaff is only about 11 miles across at its longest so getting where you need to be is very easy.

Shopping: There is a mall, Walmart, Kohl’s, Barnes and Noble, Target, lots of smaller stores and Bookmans, a trade and buy bookstore. Restaurants run from Thai and Indian food to Mexican, Italian and Chinese. There’s a couple of Japanese restaurants and sushi bars.

Air quality: Excellent except during control burns. Lowell Observatory is in the city limits because of the low pollution and low lighting.

Economy: Low paying jobs, few jobs, high cost of living and very high housing costs. Main employers are NAU, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Joy cone company, Purina, the tissue company, FUSD, City of Flagstaff, Walgreens warehouse and Gore.

Housing: Single family homes go for around $350,000 to 400,000. Condos for $200,000 and up though there are some for less than $200,000. Custom homes from $500,000 to well over a million. Manufactured homes for the $170,000’s to 200,000 and up. Rents are high, too. The cost of housing got so bad, NAU had to consider building housing for their teaching staff because they couldn’t attract professors because of the prohibitive cost of housing. Leases are high, many physicians are closing their practices and contracting with the hospital to save the cost of overhead.

Crime: Very low but there are areas where it can be bad. Overall for over 60,000 people population, there’s maybe 1-3 murders a year. The I-17 and I 40 corridors do have drug transports, but the crime element these usually bring seem to be in transit, not coming into town as much as Phoenix. There is some gang activity in the Sunnyside, Greenlaw, and Christmas Tree areas.

Good neighborhoods: Behind the Hospital, Cheshire, Coconino Estates off Hwy 180, Doney Park off Hwy 89, University heights, and some of the newer areas but these are more expensive. The country club area is nice but pricey. For friendliness, don’t go to the country club area or the area called Fox Glenn. Sunnyside is a bad area for crime as are the older part near Thorpe Park and Christmas tree and Greenlaw areas.

Culture: Educated, environmentally conscientious, university town people all over. Education is a focus in this town so there’s a lot for kids to do. There is a good hospital here and Urban trails and outdoor activities are big. The big reservations next door with their Hopi and Navajo people add the quiet, kind, non-consumptive attitudes of the Natives and their friendliness. Flagstaff people are for the most part (the snobby ones being the exceptions) very polite, friendly, considerate, and helpful. Compared to the nasty attitudes one gets off the seniors in other areas of Arizona, seniors here (and all people here) don’t have nasty attitudes or entitlement attitudes. There are the haves and have-nots, but overall Flagstaff is an ideal place if you are Democrat, liberal, pro-education, pro-kids, pro-family, open minded, pro-conservation and pro-environment. The city works to become more sustainable and environmentally friendly. A train runs through the city about 60-80 times a day. Everyone recycles, most businesses do and the schools do. Water IS an issue so there are some restrictions.

What to do: Hike urban trails, ski when there’s snow, visit Cameron for excellent Native American food and arts, see and climb around the Wupatki Native Ruins AND visit Sunset volcano crater (both with educational centers) for the price of one park fee. Visit Walnut Canyon native ruins, see Lowell Observatory where Pluto was discovered, come to the Deer Park where you can feed and pet deer and other wild animals, get to see the rare White Buffalo, visit the Museum of Northern Arizona for all things geological, historical and cultural of the Colorado Plateau, come to the annual Science Fair, take a ski-lift ride in the summer and fall to see the peaks in all their splendor, ride ATV’s in the cinder pits, camp in local campgrounds, and do day trips to Sedona, Jerome, Grand Canyon Caverns and the Grand Canyon. Take the Grand Canyon Railway. Watch fireworks at the Fourth of July at Mormon Lake. Boat on Lake Mary, fish at some of the local lakes. See the free thousands of lights at Little America at Christmas time. Visit Los Abrigados in nearby Sedona for their astounding Christmas lights displays that change eaxh year and that take about an hour to walk through. Flagstaff has so much to do and see! (No, I don’t work for the chamber. ) There is Young Jammers, free string instrument lessons for kids that teach how to play by ear and library programs that have magic shows, free Rosetta Stone foreign language lessons online for library card holders, crafts classes that are free or low cost for all ages through Flagstaff Center for the Arts, various free or reduced cost Northern Arizona Museum days for hands-on history, archaeology and culture activities, Native dances and cultural fairs, ice skating and roller skating and bowling. There is a movie theater here and NAU also has a large library. Nau has ballet, there is a symphony and various eduucational movies play at NAU. There's coffee places and work-out places and student hang-outs and family parks. Every Friday night in the summer there are free open air concerts and family movies at the Heritage Square downtown. Flagstaff is also a smoke-free city. That means all restaurants and businesses are smoke free. If you have kids check out flagparents.com, a great resource. There's the horse races in July and the Renaissance in the Pines in June as well as the Coconino County Fair in September. There is a Celtic and Scottish heritage fair, too. Ahhhhh, I love it here!

Creepy Crawlies:Oh yeah, we don't seem to have all the nasty bugs that the desert has. I have lived here ten years and have yet to see a scorpion, tarantula or black widow. (except at the bug exhibit every year at the local science fair) I have seen the rare centipede, but they ARE rare. There is a bug that looks scary because it looks like a scorpion but instead of a stinger, they have a harmless long tail. It is called a whiip scorpion and is completely harmless. There are a lot of black spiders if you live in the pine treed areas, but they are not poisonous, just scary looking.

If you have a selfish, nasty, entitlement, attitude, stay away! If you are retired and hate kids, stay away! If you don't care about the environment, stay away!

If I may ask, what company is hiring you?

[BillR1]

Advantages---
Spectacular weather! I can't think of any place that has a better climate for me anyway.
Scenery. If you like pine forests and mountains, this has what you're looking for.
NAU. Nice college campus.

DISadvantages---
Cost of living! EVERYTHING is pricey here, and the wages don't compensate for the increased cost. Housing is outrageous; gas is higher than most places; everything costs more.
Backwards city council! The city fathers seem to be against any kind of business growth. They've slowed down or stopped several chain stores and hotels from coming into the city, supposedly for asthetic reasons. BS! The council members are business owners and real estate folks, and don't want any competition.
VERY liberal attitudes! This was the only county in the entire state to vote for algore in the 2000 election, and the city is FILLED with hippies and "activists" that have no other purpose in life but protesting SOMETHING! There are some conservatives here, but they are the silent minority.
Schools. The school district here has some of the WORST quality of education that you'll find anywhere. My son's teacher, in a farewell talk to her senior class, said that she was ASHAMED of the education that the students got from the district. If you have school-age kids, PLEASE get them into the charter schools or a private school.
Traffic! My sister-in-law lives in LA, and she thinks the traffic HERE is bad! It IS pretty ridiculous. The town/roads were NOT designed for 70-80K people, and there are only 4 ways to get across the train tracks that bisect the city in half. The trains run every 20 minutes, (80X a day!) so you can imagine the mess that causes. On Friday ALL DAY the traffic is nearly gridlocked in the downtown/NAU area.

I'd sure think long and hard before bring a family here to live. My house is for sale now, and I'll be out of here as soon as it sells.

[Nice Nice Baby!]

Thanks for the post carecare7. Very nice and well done!

[kyte15]

Originally Posted by BillR1

DISadvantages---
Cost of living! EVERYTHING is pricey here, and the wages don't compensate for the increased cost. Housing is outrageous; gas is higher than most places; everything costs more.

Agreed. everyone i know calls this place "poverty with a view" because EVERYTHING is so rediculously over priced. the food, the rents here are outrageous. good luck finding a 1 bedroom apartment for under $600. when i lived in olympia washington i could get a 1 bedroom apartment for $515 that included ALL my utilities. wich is why im moving back there this comming april, Snow? what snow. since ive lived here it only snows like 5 or 6 times a year and hardly rains here, maybe im rain jelouse but i love rain and wet weather none of wich happens in flagstaff all too much...

the peaks are beautiful though but i can see mount rainier from where i lived in olympia

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by keepitalive305

I was recently offered a job opportunity in the city. I would be coming from the South Florida area. I have family who lives in Phoenix and the only time they mentioned Flagstaff they said it was quite different from the Phoenix area in Arizona. What are some of the main differences, advantages, and drawbacks of Flagstaff.

Simply put . . . Flagstaff is beautiful but too damn cold in the Winter! ! ! ! !

[kyte15]

it does get pretty cold here in the winter time but nothing too unbearable. beautiful? meh the forest here isnt that great looking imo, if you go up to the peaks thats basically how washington state looks everywhere. thats a forest! and your little 10 to 15 minute rainstorms in the summertime cant compair to 6 months of straight rain lol.

[Livewire]

Ive lived there and if work was guaranteed to be as steady as it needs to be in some fields, wouldnt hesitate to move back. Its gorgeous! But most of the work there is seasonal, like in many parts of WI, and depending on the type of work some might need a 2 income household and need to save like crazy to live in the winter while collecting unemployment or working side-jobs. (Ive done the 2 job lifestyle up there and its no 'picnic').