Thinking of moving to Phoenix - Help? (Tucson, Scottsdale: appointed, real estate)

[cissinex]

I made a thread awhile ago thinking about moving to Florida from New York, but after doing more research I feel like Arizona would be a better option. I know two people that live there, one of them being from New York, and they love it there. New York is too expensive and I would love to leave in a few years and start fresh. Can locals give me more insight and help me out? Thanks!

[cactusland]

Well, why particularly did you want to go to FL? If you're just moving here for financial reasons, you may end up disappointed. Giving us an idea of what you want/need will be able to let you know if the state is a good fit.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by cissinex

I made a thread awhile ago thinking about moving to Florida from New York, but after doing more research I feel like Arizona would be a better option. I know two people that live there, one of them being from New York, and they love it there. New York is too expensive and I would love to leave in a few years and start fresh. Can locals give me more insight and help me out? Thanks!

You need to be more specific.

Why are you looking to move? What do you do for a living? What is your budget for housing? What are you looking for specifically? Shopping? Nightlife? Outdoors? Are you single/married/have kids?

You will get lots of help here but we need more background than just a "will I like it?" thread.

[lifeisgood15]

I'm from the East Coast and moved to AZ a few years ago to start over. You didn't give much info about yourself so my situation may not relate. I've lived all over the valley and my preference is Gilbert (East Valley). When college is in session, traffic gets much worse. Stay away if you have allergies or asthma. I've had to pay for the bug guy to come over every 2 months since crickets are a thing here. Keep them away and the scorpions will stay away. This may go without saying, but the heat is insane. There are lots of pro and cons but it really all depends on the individual. Some time has past since you were asked to provide more info. There are lots of videos on youtube that address pros and cons of living in AZ.

[goolsbyjazz]

Originally Posted by lifeisgood15

I'm from the East Coast and moved to AZ a few years ago to start over. You didn't give much info about yourself so my situation may not relate. I've lived all over the valley and my preference is Gilbert (East Valley). When college is in session, traffic gets much worse. Stay away if you have allergies or asthma. I've had to pay for the bug guy to come over every 2 months since crickets are a thing here. Keep them away and the scorpions will stay away. This may go without saying, but the heat is insane. There are lots of pro and cons but it really all depends on the individual. Some time has past since you were asked to provide more info. There are lots of videos on youtube that address pros and cons of living in AZ.

Not sure if we will hear from the OP again, but I am curious to hear your thoughts about living in the southwest compared to the east lifeisgood15?!:-)

[daveyjones978]

I grew up on Long Island, lived there most of my life, then moved to NYC for about 5-6 years before moving here. If you are moving here solely because of the COL, yes, it's much lower here than in NY, definitely. If you are moving here to run away from problems, they'll still manage to find you here, and I can somewhat say that from first-hand experience. If you like the dry, hot weather, then this place is definitely for you vs. Florida - with the exception of Monsoon, it's pretty much dry here year-round. Sometimes even bit too dry for people (I have to use Saline mist almost daily in order to just breathe). If you have asthma or any severe allergies, you may want to look elsewhere. My SO has bad asthma that we thought would be remedied here - it's actually gotten worse, and led to several hospitalizations. My allergies now require daily medication, and are beyond seasonal. The last thing I am going to do is sugar coat things here, it is what it is and it is what you make of it. If you have friends here already, that does help somewhat - it's hard as heck to make friends here though, that I will say.

Jobs are plentiful, but it depends on the field. Healthcare and Technology seem to be the big players here now. Real Estate is booming, and a lot of new growth downtown, and in the North Valley near Desert Ridge and Scottsdale. Where you live in the Valley really depends on where you work and socialize. We chose to live 10 - 20 mins from work even though it means a bit longer of a drive to go to anywhere we socialize, but everyone is different.

Best advise -if you have any inkling that you think you might like it here, come and visit. More than once. Come in the summer time - if you can make it ok in the summer, you'll get the worst out of the way.

[mir86]

Originally Posted by daveyjones978

I grew up on Long Island, lived there most of my life, then moved to NYC for about 5-6 years before moving here. If you are moving here solely because of the COL, yes, it's much lower here than in NY, definitely. If you are moving here to run away from problems, they'll still manage to find you here, and I can somewhat say that from first-hand experience. If you like the dry, hot weather, then this place is definitely for you vs. Florida - with the exception of Monsoon, it's pretty much dry here year-round. Sometimes even bit too dry for people (I have to use Saline mist almost daily in order to just breathe). If you have asthma or any severe allergies, you may want to look elsewhere. My SO has bad asthma that we thought would be remedied here - it's actually gotten worse, and led to several hospitalizations. My allergies now require daily medication, and are beyond seasonal. The last thing I am going to do is sugar coat things here, it is what it is and it is what you make of it. If you have friends here already, that does help somewhat - it's hard as heck to make friends here though, that I will say.

Jobs are plentiful, but it depends on the field. Healthcare and Technology seem to be the big players here now. Real Estate is booming, and a lot of new growth downtown, and in the North Valley near Desert Ridge and Scottsdale. Where you live in the Valley really depends on where you work and socialize. We chose to live 10 - 20 mins from work even though it means a bit longer of a drive to go to anywhere we socialize, but everyone is different.

Best advise -if you have any inkling that you think you might like it here, come and visit. More than once. Come in the summer time - if you can make it ok in the summer, you'll get the worst out of the way.

I second this big time! I'm somewhat inherently shy anyways, but I grew up in Tucson and have friends from there that also moved up here, and yet I still haven't been able to make new strong connections in the 4 years I've lived here. I'm a bit astonished that for such a social city, connections are near impossible to form here, even though I'm sort of a native. I'm originally from New York, but we moved here when I was in 2nd grade, 24 years ago. So yeah, even though I'm a native-ish, I still struggle, just to make the difficulty of making friends, clear. If I didn't have my friends from Tucson, I'd seriously have nobody at all to socialize with, but they're all married, except my best friend so I almost don't have anyone lol. I've met TONS of people here too..but nothing evolved to strong friendships/relationships (although the first year and a half here I was in a relationship anyways). If you're not shy one bit, you might have an easier time though. if you're even slightly shy (like me)..the struggle is real.