?-Possible move to the Phx area (advice & thoughts) (Phoenix: apartment, renter)

[ohyellowbug]

Hi!

Background info is I am a single female in my mid 20s. I own a small dog and I have an associate degree in an ABA paralegal program. I have about 4 years experience in my field. I have worked as a legal secretary/paralegal/admin assistant. I am ready to leave my home state of MD and I am very interested in moving to the southwest. I will be visiting in May and I am thinking of applying to some jobs closer to that date to see if I can’t get any interviews while I am visiting. For anyone who lives or has lived in the Phoenix area can you let me know what you think or if you have any advice? I am hoping to get as much information as possible.

My questions are the following:

1. What would you consider to be a living wage in the phx area? How much an hour would you saw is the lowest one person could go and still be comfortable? My lifestyle isn’t really about the bars or going on lots of vacations. I like to go out to eat and try new restaurants. I’m pretty low key and I do like staying home.

2. Car insurance. I currently pay about $300 for 6 months with no accidents on my record. I saw online when I googled that AZ can be about $90-105 a month. Would you say this is correct? Same with gas prices? I know those change, but right now I pay about $2.55 a gallon.

3. How much would you say the average rent is? I’m not a downtown type of living girl and I don’t want to be where there is a ton of college students having parties. Currently I pay about $1,600 for a 700 sq foot apartment in Maryland and I feel like it takes most of my income.

4. Any other information you think would be useful to a single mid 20s female? Things you wish you had know before you moved?

I appreciate any advice, thoughts and insight as you can never have too much info when making a decision like this

[ringler24]

I can't answer #1 for you since we are a large family so I have no idea what it would be for a single person.



2) We pay $1600 a year for two vehicles. Gas prices right now are slightly lower than $2.55


3) You will be able to find an apartment that size for less than $1600 in a good neighborhood. Maybe around $1000

[ohyellowbug]

Originally Posted by ringler24

I can't answer #1 for you since we are a large family so I have no idea what it would be for a single person.



2) We pay $1600 a year for two vehicles. Gas prices right now are slightly lower than $2.55


3) You will be able to find an apartment that size for less than $1600 in a good neighborhood. Maybe around $1000

Thank you. That doesn’t seem to bad for car insurance for 2 cars. Maybe I am wrong. I believe my parents policy which has 4 cars is 1,500 for just 6 months. Plus you don’t have to worry about the winterizing of the car. I did see rental prices were lower, but then I also saw that jobs I was looking at wages were decreased too. I figured the cost of living was cheaper.

[ElleTea]

My usual advice is live near where you will be working. Commuting can really suck here.

[ohyellowbug]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

My usual advice is live near where you will be working. Commuting can really suck here.

Yeah. I commute now and I spend about 3 hours of my day in a car which is my least favorite thing.

[AZJoeD]

I would suggest you spend sometime on LinkedIn, Simply Hired or Indeed to see how your qualifications match up. I am seeing a lot of demand for paralegals with salaries ranging from $35K to $60K (or more) depending on your specialty.

I do not see why if you have good skills you cannot find a good paying position in Phoenix.

Rent wise, you should be able to find a nice apartment in a good area for about $1100 - $1200.

It should be relatively easy to get quotes on things like car insurance, renter insurance, etc.

[KO Stradivarius]

1) That's a tough question to answer...not sure what the bare bones income would be. Maybe you could give an estimate of your potential earnings, and that would be a better way to approach the question.

3) We paid $1200-$1400 rent for some very nice two bedroom apts in the suburbs within the last couple of years. Seems like $1000 would go pretty far for a 1-BR apt in a decent area.

[hiero2]

Traffic is awful. Visit in July instead of May, although it should be getting good and warm in May. Personally, I'd rather live in LA, or NM. Even Texas has some nicer spots than Phoenix. But I'm biased. I hated Phoenix.

[ohyellowbug]

Originally Posted by AZJoeD

I would suggest you spend sometime on LinkedIn, Simply Hired or Indeed to see how your qualifications match up. I am seeing a lot of demand for paralegals with salaries ranging from $35K to $60K (or more) depending on your specialty.

I do not see why if you have good skills you cannot find a good paying position in Phoenix.

Rent wise, you should be able to find a nice apartment in a good area for about $1100 - $1200.

It should be relatively easy to get quotes on things like car insurance, renter insurance, etc.

Thank you. I’ve been looking on Indeed and I will look at LinkedIn, etc as well. I focused mainly on one type of law and I am currently at a new job working on expanding my skills so that I can do more than that one area. I did see quite a few postings for jobs which was a good sign for me.

[ohyellowbug]

Originally Posted by KO Stradivarius

1) That's a tough question to answer...not sure what the bare bones income would be. Maybe you could give an estimate of your potential earnings, and that would be a better way to approach the question.

3) We paid $1200-$1400 rent for some very nice two bedroom apts in the suburbs within the last couple of years. Seems like $1000 would go pretty far for a 1-BR apt in a decent area.

So I currently make about 650ish a week after taxes. I took a slight pay cut from the 700ish I was making at my old job as the new job offered a chance for more areas of law to be explored so I felt it was worth it. I’m use to making about $43-46k a year since I’ve gotten my degree. However, half of that has gone to rent. I would guess I would be able to make roughly the same out in AZ, maybe a slight pay cut as I would have to learn the AZ laws and such.

I am seeing that the rent is much lower than what I am use too which is nice. I can’t find much for 1k where I live unless it’s a bad area.