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Has anyone moved to the Valley from Austin? How was the experience and did you regret it or were you glad you did?
I'm a 32 year old single male tech worker, working remotely as a programmer. I'd say I'm more politically moderate and atheist, but would be on the left of some issues, but we won't even get into that because that's another thread.
I'm wondering if I should move to the valley from Austin. I'm originally from the midwest. Lived in Chicago for eight years. Decided to move away after growing tired of the winters and having seasonal affective disorder. Also wanted to be able to buy property in a place where I'd be willing to commit to for a few years because I'm sick of renting. Traveled to Austin for a week, then decided to move there for the weather, the natural beauty and trails around town lake, tech job market, live music, "best place to live", etc. However after spending a few months here figuring out the lay of the land and checking out real estate, it seems like a difficult place to live due to the high real estate, bad traffic, expensive real estate, etc.
My family all moved to Scottsdale years ago and I visit every year for the holidays. I've just spent a good month and a half there, really getting to know the area, trying to see if it's a place where I would want to live. Found myself going to Old Town, downtown Phoenix, and Tempe. So there are plenty of things to do, I'd argue more than in Austin. I like that real estate is much cheaper there and traffic seems to be lower stress, though I didn't spend much time driving in rush hour. But it is so sprawling and requires driving a ton on freeways and burning up a lot of gas, at least from where I was in Scottsdale. Maybe living more central in Phoenix would be better, but I don't know much about that area, and not sure if it's safe or desirable.
I don't need to live near my family, and kind of enjoy being away from them as I'm more independent. But I also don't really need to go to sixth street and don't really drink often. I find the energy level here to be a bit higher than I need. I do like the air quality better in austin, and after looking up the data, the valley air quality is horrendous. Which makes sense because it did feel like I was breathing in dust and brake particulate matter at times when being outside. The dryness and months on end of 100+ weather with no clouds seems intimidating, but I haven't spent an entire summer there, so I don't know.
I like change, and Austin seems to have more of it, with varied weather, and the winter/fall season. Also the greenness and trees are beautiful here. The humidity can be bad though in the summer. But not sure if it's worse than the summers in the valley. Also the water quality here seems good, and having access to lakes right in the town is nice.
That's a good budget for just about any decent 3b/2ba home in Central/South Scottsdale/ Tempe North of the 202, which are great areas that tend to lean left if that matters to you.
I'd also look at Tempe south of Broadway (I would err on the side of not being too close to ASU. There's a lot of issues with frat housing and student dorm ghettos when you live close to any college campus, and Tempe has some of those problems. South of Broadway is generally far enough away). Once you start going south of US 60 however, you start getting into families with kids.
You could also try central Phoenix, but at your budget you're not going to find anything worthwhile unless you want to live in a condo. Most homes in that range are going to be houses needing significant renovations, or houses that have been renovated but are uh ahead of gentrification curve for the area, to put it nicely. If you look in Phoenix, there are two areas to really look. Directly downtown is nice and the area north of Van Buren has really exploded in growth. I'd draw boundaries as 15th Ave to 11th St, then McDowell south to Washington. This is a great area, but can be patchy after you get west of 7th Ave.
You could also look in Midtown/Central Phoenix, which is a little quieter. It's hard to draw boundaries for this area because its also very patchy, but I'd stay south of Dunlap and East of 12th Ave.
In each of those areas you'd be in areas where driving long distances isn't as necessary and might be more to your liking, socially.
Has anyone moved to the Valley from Austin? How was the experience and did you regret it or were you glad you did?
I'm a 32 year old single male tech worker, working remotely as a programmer. I'd say I'm more politically moderate and atheist, but would be on the left of some issues, but we won't even get into that because that's another thread.
I'm wondering if I should move to the valley from Austin. I'm originally from the midwest. Lived in Chicago for eight years. Decided to move away after growing tired of the winters and having seasonal affective disorder. Also wanted to be able to buy property in a place where I'd be willing to commit to for a few years because I'm sick of renting. Traveled to Austin for a week, then decided to move there for the weather, the natural beauty and trails around town lake, tech job market, live music, "best place to live", etc. However after spending a few months here figuring out the lay of the land and checking out real estate, it seems like a difficult place to live due to the high real estate, bad traffic, expensive real estate, etc.
My family all moved to Scottsdale years ago and I visit every year for the holidays. I've just spent a good month and a half there, really getting to know the area, trying to see if it's a place where I would want to live. Found myself going to Old Town, downtown Phoenix, and Tempe. So there are plenty of things to do, I'd argue more than in Austin. I like that real estate is much cheaper there and traffic seems to be lower stress, though I didn't spend much time driving in rush hour. But it is so sprawling and requires driving a ton on freeways and burning up a lot of gas, at least from where I was in Scottsdale. Maybe living more central in Phoenix would be better, but I don't know much about that area, and not sure if it's safe or desirable.
I don't need to live near my family, and kind of enjoy being away from them as I'm more independent. But I also don't really need to go to sixth street and don't really drink often. I find the energy level here to be a bit higher than I need. I do like the air quality better in austin, and after looking up the data, the valley air quality is horrendous. Which makes sense because it did feel like I was breathing in dust and brake particulate matter at times when being outside. The dryness and months on end of 100+ weather with no clouds seems intimidating, but I haven't spent an entire summer there, so I don't know.
I like change, and Austin seems to have more of it, with varied weather, and the winter/fall season. Also the greenness and trees are beautiful here. The humidity can be bad though in the summer. But not sure if it's worse than the summers in the valley. Also the water quality here seems good, and having access to lakes right in the town is nice.
We have good friends that did the opposite, they moved from Scottsdale to Austin. He's a tech executive and they did complain about the air quality in Scottsdale and Austin is much closer to both of their families. I think they like Austin better overall but in some things they preferred Scottsdale. One thing that really aggravated them after moving to Austin is that the property taxes on the house they bought was more than $30,000 per year (a tech exec but still) so they ended up selling it and moving to another area that has cheaper property taxes.
In my opinion, if you work remotely and will suffer no reduction in income, Phoenix/Scottsdale is a better value.
Has anyone moved to the Valley from Austin? How was the experience and did you regret it or were you glad you did?
I'm a 32 year old single male tech worker, working remotely as a programmer. I'd say I'm more politically moderate and atheist, but would be on the left of some issues, but we won't even get into that because that's another thread.
I'm wondering if I should move to the valley from Austin. I'm originally from the midwest. Lived in Chicago for eight years. Decided to move away after growing tired of the winters and having seasonal affective disorder. Also wanted to be able to buy property in a place where I'd be willing to commit to for a few years because I'm sick of renting. Traveled to Austin for a week, then decided to move there for the weather, the natural beauty and trails around town lake, tech job market, live music, "best place to live", etc. However after spending a few months here figuring out the lay of the land and checking out real estate, it seems like a difficult place to live due to the high real estate, bad traffic, expensive real estate, etc.
My family all moved to Scottsdale years ago and I visit every year for the holidays. I've just spent a good month and a half there, really getting to know the area, trying to see if it's a place where I would want to live. Found myself going to Old Town, downtown Phoenix, and Tempe. So there are plenty of things to do, I'd argue more than in Austin. I like that real estate is much cheaper there and traffic seems to be lower stress, though I didn't spend much time driving in rush hour. But it is so sprawling and requires driving a ton on freeways and burning up a lot of gas, at least from where I was in Scottsdale. Maybe living more central in Phoenix would be better, but I don't know much about that area, and not sure if it's safe or desirable.
I don't need to live near my family, and kind of enjoy being away from them as I'm more independent. But I also don't really need to go to sixth street and don't really drink often. I find the energy level here to be a bit higher than I need. I do like the air quality better in austin, and after looking up the data, the valley air quality is horrendous. Which makes sense because it did feel like I was breathing in dust and brake particulate matter at times when being outside. The dryness and months on end of 100+ weather with no clouds seems intimidating, but I haven't spent an entire summer there, so I don't know.
I like change, and Austin seems to have more of it, with varied weather, and the winter/fall season. Also the greenness and trees are beautiful here. The humidity can be bad though in the summer. But not sure if it's worse than the summers in the valley. Also the water quality here seems good, and having access to lakes right in the town is nice.
First you really need to spend at minimum of a week here in the summer to solidify your opinion of this place. Come visit June, July, August. The heat is a lot different than it is in Texas, except for El Paso. The desert is not for the weak. It can be brutal and if you are just going to hide inside during the summer you may even get reverse SAD, something that does happen to Phoenicians a lot (I suffer from it to a degree, the summertime sadness). And it will ruin your quality of life.
Phoenix is the antonym of change. Other than temperatures and the monsoon season there is no change at all. Being monotonous is a pro in some ways, look at how many people clamor for California. 300+ days a year it is clear with no clouds of the sky and sunny, June or December, except December will be significantly cooler. Trees for the most part will be the same (no falling leaves), Four Peaks may be snow-capped, but that's about it. However you can take a day trip up north and see the change when you want to, which is nice. The monotony makes it easy to plan your day, something I do appreciate.
Most of Phoenix is quiet given it's suburban nature, only pockets are high energy. You have visited the pockets since they are the areas that get the tourists and thought Phoenix was more energetic than what it really is. Next time you are here, in the summer especially, you'll see how dead Phoenix can really get. It's inflated during the holiday season, we estimate about 500k snowbirds move here this time of year ON TOP OF the tourists who don't snowbird. We also get most of our events (Barrett Jackson, Phoenix Open, etc.) in this time of year. A July will correct your perception of this place. A lot of businesses will close in the summer. And a lot less will be going on.
So don't make any rash decisions until the dry heat season.
First you really need to spend at minimum of a week here in the summer to solidify your opinion of this place. Come visit June, July, August. The heat is a lot different than it is in Texas, except for El Paso. The desert is not for the weak. It can be brutal and if you are just going to hide inside during the summer you may even get reverse SAD, something that does happen to Phoenicians a lot (I suffer from it to a degree, the summertime sadness). And it will ruin your quality of life.
Phoenix is the antonym of change. Other than temperatures and the monsoon season there is no change at all. Being monotonous is a pro in some ways, look at how many people clamor for California. 300+ days a year it is clear with no clouds of the sky and sunny, June or December, except December will be significantly cooler. Trees for the most part will be the same (no falling leaves), Four Peaks may be snow-capped, but that's about it. However you can take a day trip up north and see the change when you want to, which is nice. The monotony makes it easy to plan your day, something I do appreciate.
Most of Phoenix is quiet given it's suburban nature, only pockets are high energy. You have visited the pockets since they are the areas that get the tourists and thought Phoenix was more energetic than what it really is. Next time you are here, in the summer especially, you'll see how dead Phoenix can really get. It's inflated during the holiday season, we estimate about 500k snowbirds move here this time of year ON TOP OF the tourists who don't snowbird. We also get most of our events (Barrett Jackson, Phoenix Open, etc.) in this time of year. A July will correct your perception of this place. A lot of businesses will close in the summer. And a lot less will be going on.
So don't make any rash decisions until the dry heat season.
I’m not aware of many business closing for the summer?
First you really need to spend at minimum of a week here in the summer to solidify your opinion of this place. Come visit June, July, August. The heat is a lot different than it is in Texas, except for El Paso. The desert is not for the weak. It can be brutal and if you are just going to hide inside during the summer you may even get reverse SAD, something that does happen to Phoenicians a lot (I suffer from it to a degree, the summertime sadness). And it will ruin your quality of life.
Phoenix is the antonym of change. Other than temperatures and the monsoon season there is no change at all. Being monotonous is a pro in some ways, look at how many people clamor for California. 300+ days a year it is clear with no clouds of the sky and sunny, June or December, except December will be significantly cooler. Trees for the most part will be the same (no falling leaves), Four Peaks may be snow-capped, but that's about it. However you can take a day trip up north and see the change when you want to, which is nice. The monotony makes it easy to plan your day, something I do appreciate.
Most of Phoenix is quiet given it's suburban nature, only pockets are high energy. You have visited the pockets since they are the areas that get the tourists and thought Phoenix was more energetic than what it really is. Next time you are here, in the summer especially, you'll see how dead Phoenix can really get. It's inflated during the holiday season, we estimate about 500k snowbirds move here this time of year ON TOP OF the tourists who don't snowbird. We also get most of our events (Barrett Jackson, Phoenix Open, etc.) in this time of year. A July will correct your perception of this place. A lot of businesses will close in the summer. And a lot less will be going on.
So don't make any rash decisions until the dry heat season.
Leaves don't fall here? Tell that to the giant tree in my backyard currently dumping leaves all over the yard, and countless others all of the city. The mountains aren't covered in changing leaves but this isn't Vermont, that's not happening anywhere out West.
Downtown Phoenix and Tempe are two pockets of energy that are growing massively in relative magnitude by the day. Compare that to Austin where you've just got 1 area, downtown, dominated by a University with no pro sports in town. I'll take Phoenix any day.
If you think Phoenix is dull ever, a city with 2x the population of Austin, you haven't spent much time in smaller cities. Yes, were not LA or NYC, but we pack a good punch especially because of that winter influx of visitors.
Ever been to Chicago in the middle of Winter? It's not exactly hopping, summer is a whole different story and we've got the same changeover here. Except I'd much rather adapt to a warm day then a freezing one.
I like change, and Austin seems to have more of it, with varied weather, and the winter/fall season. Also the greenness and trees are beautiful here. The humidity can be bad though in the summer. But not sure if it's worse than the summers in the valley. Also the water quality here seems good, and having access to lakes right in the town is nice.
Look into San Antonio. All the natural beauty of Austin (probably more) but much more reasonable real estate prices.
I’m not aware of many business closing for the summer?
Plenty of restaurants and food establishments do. Especially food trucks. There probably is a couple others but honestly I’m a bit tired, I’m not gonna dig for them. I work with the food industry in my job so I know this to be true off the top of my head.
Quote:
Originally Posted by locolife
Leaves don't fall here? Tell that to the giant tree in my backyard currently dumping leaves all over the yard, and countless others all of the city. The mountains aren't covered in changing leaves but this isn't Vermont, that's not happening anywhere out West.
Downtown Phoenix and Tempe are two pockets of energy that are growing massively in relative magnitude by the day. Compare that to Austin where you've just got 1 area, downtown, dominated by a University with no pro sports in town. I'll take Phoenix any day.
If you think Phoenix is dull ever, a city with 2x the population of Austin, you haven't spent much time in smaller cities. Yes, were not LA or NYC, but we pack a good punch especially because of that winter influx of visitors.
Ever been to Chicago in the middle of Winter? It's not exactly hopping, summer is a whole different story and we've got the same changeover here. Except I'd much rather adapt to a warm day then a freezing one.
OP doesn’t want an energetic city. I told OP that his view of Phoenix’s energy is being altered because of the winter time. To act like the city’s energy isn’t different during snowbird season and July is silly, there’s a lot of differences. There’s a reason why most people and most of our events are during certain times of year. Not a lot of people will visit or want to be outside in June.
You even acknowledge this “we pick a good punch especially because of the winter influx of visitors”. Our summers are quiet in comparison.
Loco you and I both live here and know there’s stuff to do here in Phoenix in the summer too. And Tempe and Phoenix are improving a lot. But they still don’t compare to other similarly sized metros and this is a pro to the OP. Being able to visit these pockets and not live in them is desirable to some people, not me but other people. I just wanted to clarify these pockets are more or less outliers compared to the majority of the land in the Phoenix metro. That’s a fact and it’s like that in most other cities even NYC. I’m suggesting OP visit in the summer and visit outside of the pockets.
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