Is Flagstaff that bad? Otherwise what town do you recommend? (Phoenix: violent crime, home)

[SAR81]

Does anyone know anything about placing manufactured homes? We really like several of the ones we have seen in the 1500 square foot range, but it seems difficult to get one placed somewhere without buying a big acre or so of land, which is really expensive in the Flagstaff area, and bigger than we really want. I've heard about a lot of regulations and such in some counties about "park homes" and the like where neighborhoods require your home to be a certain type/size or smaller.

Is there anywhere more reasonably priced to place a manufactured home of that size within a few minutes of town in the Flagstaff area? Or in Prescott?

[thedirtman]

If you have already attempted to contact a real estate professional in Flagstaff without success on this subject then I would think availability for new property zoned for mobiles happens to be low at this time. Give it a few more calls before giving up, or looking for other ideas. Another possibility is to buy an older mobile of little value and haul it away.

There are plenty of other towns in the area to try. I would definitely try Cottonwood, Camp Verde, Kachina Village, and Prescott Valley.

[SAR81]

I talked to a couple realtors the last time I was up there, but they both felt the same way. The land is just really expensive. I don't know how knowledgeable they are about buying a new nice/large manufactured home and putting it on a small piece of land, though.

[rruff]

Originally Posted by SAR81

Does anyone know anything about placing manufactured homes?

It isn't unusual for a town to have restrictions against manufactured homes. Especially if it is a growing and expensive town.

You might check out Mund's Park. I know there are a good number of manufactured homes there, although it is ~30 min from Flagstaff and living there would be nothing like living in Flagstaff.

[foundapeanut]

They are getting rid of manufactured home parks in Vegas. Slowly but surely.

[thedirtman]

When I bought a manufactured home five years ago there were a few eighth acre lots going for about $90,000. Land has gone up in Flagstaff since then maybe 50%. There are three acre lots in Winona that are haul-water. There are no sizes in-between that I know.

Mund's Park, Kachina Village, or Mountainaire might offer what you are looking if being 10 to 25 miles out of Flagstaff is okay. There are no full size grocers in town, but there are some services. There is a small development west of Williams called Sherwood Forest that is haul water, I believe.

If none of this works you would have to try another town center like Camp Verde or Cottonwood that have their own stores.

[SAR81]

I'd be happy with a .2 acre lot in a neighborhood somewhere where we could put a custom manufactured home.

We checked out Prescott today. It was nice. We still agree we like Flagstaff, though. I just wish there was an affordable place to put a manufactured home up there that didn't cost more than the house.

[Hschlick84]

Another small city I recommend if Flagstaff is too expensive is Grand Junction, CO. Check out this video. It's like a slightly colder version of Prescott Valley.

[vimeo]202271221[/vimeo]
https://vimeo.com/202271221

[KaraKelly]

Originally Posted by infocyde

From what I've seen there is actually very little (beyond petty crime occasionally from program wash outs) from the drug rehab houses. But the new retirees can't stand the thought of them, so the rehab industry is being targeted for destruction. This will further decimate the population of under 30 people in Prescott, and there will be even less service workers for the retirees to complain at/about.

That's a little absurd, sorry. Your reply implies (you apparently presume) the entire 30 and under population in the city are nothing but drug addicts in rehab. There are those in every city and solving the problem doesn't decimate the population. There might be a hundred or so of them at any given time in a city with 40 thousand people.

And they're not all retirees with any real power to target any industry to get rid of it.

Not sure where you're pulling all this nonsense out of but I bet I can take a wild guess.

There are far, far more 30 something business owners in PPV than retirees who own businesses. You do not need half a million dollars to have a 'decent' home in PPV or Flag or anywhere else in the state. That's some elitist, narrow minded red hat BS.

This is an area that caters more to a family oriented paradigm with a minimal grown up/single entertainment presence. Whiskey Row. One block or so downtown. That's the bar scene. It's not even much of a real scene...it's touted as such for tourism purposes but in reality, after the tourist novelty wears off, they're all boring as hell and are usually stocked full of alcoholics too stupid and irresponsible to get a taxi home and instead decide why not drive. Most of the sirens going off in Prescott are from some drunk tard getting in a wreck. And contrary to your presumption those same drug addicts being tossed out of the rehabs are old enough to hang out on Whiskey Row getting hammered...right along with the retired red hats who hate everything anyway.

From direct, first hand experience, the worst people in PPV are the older white religious republicans overall because they're intolerant, angry, paranoid, zenophobic, and generally oblivious that the world doesn't revolve around them. The 20-50ish range are generally really pleasant, friendly people.

It really hinges on whether these people - regardless of their ages - are just bitter at life and want to protest anything they didn't think up themselves or whether they have some ambition in life, goals, plans, a social network, things they enjoy, living life. The latter group are pro active, positive, friendly, and give people room to live their lives. They also have genuine compassion for their fellow man. Unlike the first group who'll pass a homeless vet or homeless mother or grandmother, or someone with a serious addiction problem and call them dregs of society instead of caring enough to help. These are the ones who are so black hearted they'd protest to outlaw panhandling because of all those "bums" messing up the sidewalks...these same idiots who likely protest raising minimum wage to something close to a livable wage.

Yes there are quite a few drug addicts causing problems but those numbers are nowhere near high enough to make a dent in the overall appeal of the city itself.

As for jobs, I see this all over these forums - there are always these gloomy sorts insisting there are no jobs and it's too expensive to live. And there's a big old ugly meth problem. These people are utterly out of touch with the reality of the city, have zero skills and are too lazy and entitled to just get a job.

There are all kinds of jobs all over both those cities if you want to work. If you have some specialized skill that's too niche, like you fabricate driftwood with lighting and pink flowers, then yeah you'll probably have a hard time just about anywhere. If you actually do that, you'll be SOL as there's not going to be driftwood anywhere in the region, let alone the state. But if you are flexible, you should be able to find more than one job, three or four of them, in the same week if you send out resumes and go apply places - and no, not "just" fast food joints and "service" jobs.

I know that first hand as well. I had been a stay at home mom out of the job market for 10 years and when I moved cold to Prescott I spent 24 hours sending resumes to every single place I found online that had something open, that I was even remotely qualified for. Within 2 days of it, I had dozens of interviews set up and got hired at 3 different places ultimately picking the best of the offers. All of them in industries I'd never worked in before ever. Legal, sales, fabrication.

Anyone who insists there are no jobs to be had is full of bull.

Anyone who insists PPV is "overrun" with a meth problem is as clueless as they are full of bull.

Anyone who insists it's mostly retirees and there's nothing to do is likely 17 and has no actual life.

Prescott is by far nicer than PV but it's way more congested downtown, there are constantly sirens going off two or three times a day every single day - seriously, if you're from NY or Detroit you'll think you're back home. There is more crime in PPV than there has been in recent years but it's not random violent crime. It's drug addicts burglarizing somebody's car, or robbing a store, or it's some drunk teenagers getting pulled over or getting in a wreck, or it's some alcoholic beating his girlfriend, or some neighbors tying into it or a drug bust - the same thing that'll happen in every single other city in the world. You aren't going to get away from it. Even Maine, the safest state in the nation, has to deal with these things.

PPV are still both very nice places to live no matter what age you are. Plenty of groups and stuff happening to get involved with no matter your age. There are jobs, there are quite affordable, decent rentals, and genuinely kind hearted people.

You can't swim in any of the lakes.

And it's still a red hat state...and they pretty much ruin it for everyone anyway, no matter the state.

[Steverino63]

Originally Posted by chahunt

St. George, Utah! Google it and you'll fall in love. Red rocks galore, and Zion National Park right in our backyard. I personally find Flagstaff stunning as well. And sedona.

Until St. George, itself being Californicated, runs out of water. Blech.