SoCal Area VS. Phoenix Area (Scottsdale, Chandler: new house, find a job, buy)

[tai.natalie.thomas]

My boyfriend and I are considering moving from Oregon to either the southern California area or Phoenix area. He has just graduated and is looking to start his career. I am still in college and will be for the next couple years. We are both in our early 20's and are looking to relocate to a larger city with warm sunny weather year round. If I could please get some feed back on the pros and cons of these places it would greatly help in our decision! Thank you!

~Tai

[godismyjudge81]

Hey Natalie, I have lived in both places. I can tell you that everything will be cheaper in PHX but you will have fewer choices for school. So Cal is nice weatherwise (PHX can be SO hot) but you don't get much for your money. I think there are more job opportunities for you bf in So Cal, but if he doesnt find a job right away you may find yourself sinking quickly into debt. Overall, I loved PHX and am actually returning for school but currently I live in Anaheim and have loved my experience here. Money is a huge factor these days...and you'd probably be better off in AZ if your bf can get a job out there. hope that helps!

[YAZ]

Move to Hawaii...

[joninaz]

Originally Posted by godismyjudge81

Hey Natalie, I have lived in both places. I can tell you that everything will be cheaper in PHX but you will have fewer choices for school. So Cal is nice weatherwise (PHX can be SO hot) but you don't get much for your money. I think there are more job opportunities for you bf in So Cal, but if he doesnt find a job right away you may find yourself sinking quickly into debt. Overall, I loved PHX and am actually returning for school but currently I live in Anaheim and have loved my experience here. Money is a huge factor these days...and you'd probably be better off in AZ if your bf can get a job out there. hope that helps!

Best advice: go where your heart wants. You are young and relatively free, even though it might not feel so. Explore. Experience. Enjoy. You own little and have few obligations... use this time to travel and live wherever. It might be SoCal or AZ, or Australia or Europe. You'll find a way to make ends meet.

It's later on - when you want to plant roots - that the minute differences matter. Best schools, resell values, yada yada. Reserve that for the rest of your life. For now, finish up school and spend another 5 years being mobile and carefree. Live in LA, AZ, NY - but also Spain and New Zealand. Or Shanghi and Istanbul. Why not?

[ArizonaBear]

Originally Posted by joninaz

Best advice: go where your heart wants. You are young and relatively free, even though it might not feel so. Explore. Experience. Enjoy. You own little and have few obligations... use this time to travel and live wherever. It might be SoCal or AZ, or Australia or Europe. You'll find a way to make ends meet.

It's later on - when you want to plant roots - that the minute differences matter. Best schools, resell values, yada yada. Reserve that for the rest of your life. For now, finish up school and spend another 5 years being mobile and carefree. Live in LA, AZ, NY - but also Spain and New Zealand. Or Shanghi and Istanbul. Why not?

NY obviously would not qualify: the OP specifically stated warm weather.

[Howard Roark]

I work in Los Angeles and live in Phoenix. I've been working in LA for a total of 3 and a half years since 2003. If you can work out a way to have short commuting and live near the beach, it beats living in Phoenix. The South Bay part of LA has the coolest temperatures. South Bay includes Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Torrance, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, and places a little further inland. I feel like a spoiled kid, with high temperatures between 60 and 80 all year around. There are two weeks when temps above 80 near the beach occur. Further inland, temps climb up faster. Downtown LA is about five to ten degrees hotter than the South Bay. Pasadena even hotter. And the smog is significantly worse the further from the beach.

I have a sister who lived in Phoenix for two years and could not take the heat anymore, so she moved up to Hillsboro, Oregon and loves it. The summer heat of Phoenix may be a drag. I suggest you take a one week trip to Phoenix in late July to see if you can handle it. Stay at a resort because they have off season sales. I certainly like the sunshine, down-to-earth people of Phoenix, and lower costs, and I have some favorite restaurants in the areas of Scottsdale, Chandler, and Phoenix. I love the Scottsdale greenbelt. There are many good things about Phoenix. If you get a place with good air conditioning and make sure your car has good air conditioning, you can handle it. But don't have a dark-colored car. You will want to get your windows tinted or use a reflective sunscreen when you park your car.

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

I work in Los Angeles and live in Phoenix.

What??? How the heck does one do that?

Or you mean you live in LA but own weekend/vacation getaway property in Phoenix?

[vegaspilgrim]

Originally Posted by joninaz

Best advice: go where your heart wants. You are young and relatively free, even though it might not feel so. Explore. Experience. Enjoy. You own little and have few obligations... use this time to travel and live wherever. It might be SoCal or AZ, or Australia or Europe. You'll find a way to make ends meet.

It's later on - when you want to plant roots - that the minute differences matter. Best schools, resell values, yada yada. Reserve that for the rest of your life. For now, finish up school and spend another 5 years being mobile and carefree. Live in LA, AZ, NY - but also Spain and New Zealand. Or Shanghi and Istanbul. Why not?

Is that what you did when you were in your 20s?

The problem is, coming out of college, is being a drifter, living easy and free, just taking jobs to make ends meet, is that going to permanently damage your career? It sounds like a very romantic lifestyle. But it seems to fly in the face of the common wisdom of "graduate from college, move to either NYC, LA, or Chicago, immediately go to work for a Fortune 500 company working 60 hours a week in a cubicle and start climbing up the career ladder as fast as possible, no taking time off for traveling or fun unless it's on company business trips."

I ask because I'm about to graduate (with no job offer yet) myself.

[ibarrio]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Is that what you did when you were in your 20s?

The problem is, coming out of college, is being a drifter, living easy and free, just taking jobs to make ends meet, is that going to permanently damage your career? It sounds like a very romantic lifestyle. But it seems to fly in the face of the common wisdom of "graduate from college, move to either NYC, LA, or Chicago, immediately go to work for a Fortune 500 company working 60 hours a week in a cubicle and start climbing up the career ladder as fast as possible, no taking time off for traveling or fun unless it's on company business trips."

I ask because I'm about to graduate (with no job offer yet) myself.

You can go to college in other countries. I regret turning down a chance to study in Spain in favor of graduating early.

[vegaspilgrim]

Hey, btw, ibarrio, I remember reading on the forums way back that you used to live in Palmdale? I actually went there a few weeks ago to see what it was like (no joke). I love the desert, especially high desert environments. I took a photo tour: Palmdale, Acton, Vasquez Rocks photo tour. Right now you can buy a brand new house in Palmdale or Lancaster for no more than what it costs to live in the outskirts of Phoenix-- prices have come WAY down. Commuting from there to anywhere has got to be stupid, however from what I gather the 14 to 5 to 210 to 2 to 5 is one of the few freeway routes in southern California that is almost always moving at full freeway speeds, even at rush hour-- you should be able to get from Palmdale to downtown LA in about an hour and a half. Thus, no more stupid than having a 1:30 hour bumper to bumper commute within the LA basin. I know it's a tangent, and I'm NOT planning on moving there-- no way) but just wondering what your opinion is of the Antelope Valley vs Phoenix area since you've lived in both.