Newbie -- Some Questions -- (buy, university, income)

[Paintchip]

I'm jumping in here to say that we are in a similar boat on the retirement side. Both retired now. Looking to relocate to same general area as what's listed in above postings. We are currently in Cheyenne, WY and our weather is similar to yours - except we get more snow and wind. Two things we are looking forward to experiencing less of.

I'm following this thread and am very appreciative of those sharing their personal insights. It is so very helpful to those of us in research mode!

Cheers to All!

[tomchard]

Originally Posted by Paintchip

I'm jumping in here to say that we are in a similar boat on the retirement side. Both retired now. Looking to relocate to same general area as what's listed in above postings. We are currently in Cheyenne, WY and our weather is similar to yours - except we get more snow and wind. Two things we are looking forward to experiencing less of.

I'm following this thread and am very appreciative of those sharing their personal insights. It is so very helpful to those of us in research mode!

Cheers to All!

... Feel Free to jump in here any time, Paintchip! ...

DW & I talked (albeit very-briefly) about the Southern Wyoming area, too. For me though, "s-n-o-w" is a 4-letter-word, and I simply refuse to deal with it like I had to, as a youngster.

Anyway ... It's good to know that there aren't just Californians wanting to relocate to the Reno/Sparks area ... Real People want to live there, too! or
...

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by RFF

Dear Tom,

Airport travel costs are quite average here in Reno. You can catch flights to SJC for under 100 bucks. PHX can be almost as cheap. You'd just have to buy during a sale or in advanced. I've never traveled to DFW or AUS from RNO so I can't tell you.
Weather varies a lot here. It can be near 0 degrees in winter. Dec of 2013 it was near 0 for the majority of that month from what I remember. Most of the winter can be lows of 30's to highs of 50's. There has not been a lot snow that has reached the valley floor for the last few years but this winter may be a big one too. The summer can easily reach 100 and we can have our afternoon thunderstorms. The average is low 90's. Depending on where you decide to live in Reno/Sparks, it may be windier.

That got my attention. Which areas are less windy?

[braindead0]

Originally Posted by wolfdog

That got my attention. Which areas are less windy?

Depends on the wind direction and other factors. The hilly nature of the area can create localized areas of higher speed. However getting accurate facts is difficult.. 'windy' being a highly subjective term. I used to live in southern California where we'd have yearly santa ana winds, usually a week or more of that. The wind here is nothing compared to that IMO... I used to live in Northeast Ohio where tornado's are fairly common.. again.. Reno is nowhere near as windy as that.

So in my opinion we get some gusty winds, occasionally some that might be damaging if you have trees that are on their last legs or already iffy roofing.... Personally I enjoy the breeze..

Oh yeah, and running joke with me and the Wife.. we purchased stunt kites some time ago after moving here... that's when you really discover that Reno isn't hardly windy at all.. when you want it!

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by braindead0

Depends on the wind direction and other factors. The hilly nature of the area can create localized areas of higher speed. However getting accurate facts is difficult.. 'windy' being a highly subjective term. I used to live in southern California where we'd have yearly santa ana winds, usually a week or more of that. The wind here is nothing compared to that IMO... I used to live in Northeast Ohio where tornado's are fairly common.. again.. Reno is nowhere near as windy as that.

So in my opinion we get some gusty winds, occasionally some that might be damaging if you have trees that are on their last legs or already iffy roofing.... Personally I enjoy the breeze..

Oh yeah, and running joke with me and the Wife.. we purchased stunt kites some time ago after moving here... that's when you really discover that Reno isn't hardly windy at all.. when you want it!

Seems places like Hidden Valley or Golden Valley would be a bit protected.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by wolfdog

That got my attention. Which areas are less windy?

To be perfectly honest, if wind bothers you- don't move to Reno, or if you do make sure you get a yard that is protected from the wind which almost always comes from the West. We had a west facing deck and when the weather was pleasant enough for us to entertain outside the wind would kick up in the early afternoon it would force us back inside. Another poster suggested Golden Valley, it gets real windy there, and because it's still fairly rural the wind picks up a lot of dust and makes it even more miserable. I don't know about Hidden Valley it's a real pretty area but I don't have any personal knowledge of how windy it is.

[Paintchip]

Link to another weather related posting that you may find helpful: http://www.city-data.com/forum/40370235-post11.html

[wolfdog]

Originally Posted by 2sleepy

To be perfectly honest, if wind bothers you- don't move to Reno, or if you do make sure you get a yard that is protected from the wind which almost always comes from the West. We had a west facing deck and when the weather was pleasant enough for us to entertain outside the wind would kick up in the early afternoon it would force us back inside. Another poster suggested Golden Valley, it gets real windy there, and because it's still fairly rural the wind picks up a lot of dust and makes it even more miserable. I don't know about Hidden Valley it's a real pretty area but I don't have any personal knowledge of how windy it is.

Naw, I have wind where I am now, and it doesn't "bother" me. Just looking for areas that may be a little less windy. Just one factor in making the best decision where to reside, in the Reno/Sparks area. But you make a good point about dust. Once it's in the air, it stays in the air, and picks up more as it moves along. That might make SW Reno desirable, as an area where the wind originates, before picking up all the dust.
Someone posted a primary wind pattern map awhile back. I need to find it.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by wolfdog

Naw, I have wind where I am now, and it doesn't "bother" me. Just looking for areas that may be a little less windy. Just one factor in making the best decision where to reside, in the Reno/Sparks area. But you make a good point about dust. Once it's in the air, it stays in the air, and picks up more as it moves along. That might make SW Reno desirable, as an area where the wind originates, before picking up all the dust.
Someone posted a primary wind pattern map awhile back. I need to find it.

SW Reno has more vegetation except for some of the undeveloped parts of Somersett so it would probably work out better for you. Just make sure that before you buy you go out to the backyard and stand facing west, if there is nothing to break the wind (like your house) your BBQ's will either happen inside or in the front yard lol. The wind is from the west 90% of the time and where I lived (Caughlin Ranch) it would not blow straight across us, but across and down so even a fence wouldn't provide much relief from the wind. A few of my neighbors installed glass panels on their deck one of them shattered from the wind while two others said it wasn't worth the money, they only broke the wind for the area about 10' inside of the panels, the rest of the yard was as windy as without the panels.

[Hotfeet]

Originally Posted by braindead0

When we started our move to Reno (not retiring though), I started by evaluating states considering many factors:

* moocher index
.....

Attached out of state evaluation spreadsheet will give you more information, I haven't updated the data since we moved, though I believe I left URL's for source data.

Might be useful in choosing NV or AZ, figured more information can't hurt.

Good luck... take time and choose well

Thanks for posting your spreadsheet! Can you describe the 'moocher' index? I can envision that this might relate to either the number of panhandlers, useless governmental bodies or tendencies of neighbors, but I'm not sure.