Looking to relocate to mountain area (Flagstaff, Prescott: home, schools, university)

[paul1951]

Hi,

I am a single electronics engineer living in Florida who works at home as a consultant. Looking to build a place in the mountains on 20-30 acres. I like Ponderosa pine type environment. The only area I have seen like this is located in the SE part in a state park. That area is too close to the southern border so I prefer Flagstaff or Prescott. All of the Google maps of these areas seem to be high desert with no tall pines. Would like to live 30 miles or more outside of one of these towns or maybe another area someone can suggest in the northern part of the state.

How is the drought situation?

Thanks in advance for your comments.

[agorski]

For the Prescott area, there are outlying communities like Ponderosa Park and Groom Creek in the pines, but they're surrounded by National Forest so I can't imagine 20-30 acres would be possible.

We had a wet Spring, so the forest is in decent shape and the fire season has been delayed. Around here, drinking water comes from wells, so the drought doesn't affect that in the short term.

[Mouser]

Take a peek @ Crown King

Crown King, Arizona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[infocyde]

Flagstaff in the pines is pretty expensive. From the little bit of research I've done you can find acreage but it cost a premium. If you are willing to be outside of the pine areas the cost go down dramatically.

[infocyde]

As to the single deal. Prescott is almost 1 in 3 over 65 and retired (that is the city, the metro area probably isn't quiet so bad). Flagstaff is much younger though the young people are mostly university students that cycle in and cycle out. Flagstaff is expensive and has some of the lowest wages in the nation so not too many of the younger people stick it out in Flagstaff for too long after graduating. Just points to keep in mind if you where looking for more social interaction since you mentioned you were single.

[like-2-hike]

Have you looked into the cost for 20-30 acres within about 30 miles of a decent-sized town/city? For the Prescott area, there are only two properties that meet your requirements, and they are $1,000,000+.

[gemstone1]

I'm curious, which SE AZ State Park, in a Ponderosa Pine type of forest is too close to the southern border ? What constitutes "too close" in your definition ? AZ has the largest contiguous Ponderosa Pine forest in North America, there should be lots of areas that meet your needs.

AZ State Parks

Regards
Gemstone1

[beckerd2]

Check out Payson, Happy Jack, or Clint's Well. I would also suggest Show Low, Lakeside, Heber/Overguard, but I don't know if you can get that much acreage in those areas.
Here are a couple of links for mls searches that you can try...

http://distil.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/ma...2bkjou0hrn5,12


This one has payson and happy jack and others....

Listings

[thedirtman]

A whole lot of acres within 30 miles of Flagstaff in Ponderosa pines. That best describes a place called Kendrick Park which is on the road between Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon. Very few live there. It's a tough climate with road closures.

You might consider a few less acres and live in Parks, Arizona or the Sherwood Forest near Williams, Arizona.

[paul1951]

Hi All,

First, thank you all for taking the time to read my post and respond. Some of the suggested areas look very good.
I do no mind living an hour or more from a major town to go grocery shopping once a month or so. I know the further you are away from a large town the rural land prices go down. Will investigate further some of the areas mentioned.

The area I saw a photo of was Mt. Graham. I think the photo was on this site but I just tried to find it with no luck. I believe it is a state park. A Google space view did no show any small towns in the area.

As for being too close to the border Mt. Graham is close to the southern boarder and I have read about the illegal alien problems. For this reason and as it appears there are no parcels of private property are available it is better to go much further north.

Since I am only interested in mountain property I presume winter show recharges the local aquifer. Is there a drought condition in the northern part of the state in the higher elevation?

I mentioned that I am single only because schools etc. are not a concern for me. I am in my late 50s.

Will keep checking back every 5 days or so with some more questions about some of the ares mentioned here.

Thanks again for all of your help.