Hello Tucson! (Tempe, Oro Valley: sales, crime, new home)

[flipflopper]

I'm new to this forum, and have a love for arizona. Actually I am thinking of moving there next year. I'm from the east coast so its a toss up between tucson and florida.

Does anyone on this forum have experience with both? I love the laid back vibe tucson offers (i visited last year). Would you recommend it for a single woman in her 40's and her 18 year old son? Would it be to much of a culture shock coming from the east coast?

Seems my fav state is getting slammed on these posts. WHAT GIVES!

[Amybear]

Hi Flipflopper,
I saw your post, and just had to reply.
I currently live in New York City, but am going to be relocating to Tucson next February.
Personally, I adore Tucson. It's an under rated gem of a town.
Gorgeous weather (o.k. so the summers are a little rough, and of course there is monsoon season)
but coming from where I live now (ny is like living in an expensive cespool) I think Tucson is lovely.
The people are nice, laid back, low stress. Better quality of life than alot of places.
Don't move to Florida...it's hot (WITH the humidity- which you don't get in Tucson, by the way) - and what about hurricaines?
I'll take Tucson any day!
Can't wait to get out there. Is it a hub of nightlife and excitement?
No, but if you want a lovely climate, affordable housing, and room to breathe and beautiful terrain to explore by bike or hiking...Tucson is the place.
Well, I hope this helps in your decision making.
I think some people bash Tucson either because they don't know how good they've got it compared to some cities...or maybe because they don't want more people moving down there and want to keep it for themselves-
Amy

[Roundtruck]

You must be joking! I lived in Tucson for many years and visit there often, I don't really want to live there again, but I have spent some time in Florida. They don't compare! Of all the places I have been, Florida is probably last on the list of where I would want to live. I would pick Tucson any day if those were my only choices. There are certainly some negatives in the Tucson area, but there are positives too. I am not sure I have found any up-side of Florida yet.

[azbec]

Anything but. I have lived here all my life and traveled many places, Tucson is not a friendly city. Maybe a few years back, not anymore. Crime is high, ILLEGALS making it worse, traffic always bad, the air quality is reduced to a brown cloud, and garbage littering the deserts. All this crappy stuff makes for what was once a beautiful place, now is turning into a nightmare. What on earth would you think we would have to be friendly about?

[Ang1963]

Roundtruck: visiting a place and then living in that place is not the same !! You move to tucson, you are in for a BIG surprice ! As AZBEC pointed out, -ANYTHING BUT - Go to Fla, its a better move -
Peace

[Ang1963]

Originally Posted by Amybear

Hi Flipflopper,
I saw your post, and just had to reply.
I currently live in New York City, but am going to be relocating to Tucson next February.
Personally, I adore Tucson. It's an under rated gem of a town.
Gorgeous weather (o.k. so the summers are a little rough, and of course there is monsoon season)
but coming from where I live now (ny is like living in an expensive cespool) I think Tucson is lovely.
The people are nice, laid back, low stress. Better quality of life than alot of places.
Don't move to Florida...it's hot (WITH the humidity- which you don't get in Tucson, by the way) - and what about hurricaines?
I'll take Tucson any day!
Can't wait to get out there. Is it a hub of nightlife and excitement?
No, but if you want a lovely climate, affordable housing, and room to breathe and beautiful terrain to explore by bike or hiking...Tucson is the place.
Well, I hope this helps in your decision making.
I think some people bash Tucson either because they don't know how good they've got it compared to some cities...or maybe because they don't want more people moving down there and want to keep it for themselves-
Amy

Hey amybear
erad my post just added. I know its funny, but its also TRUE for you to find out -- Cheers --
- ang1963

[Ang1963]

====== To anybody who is moving to Arizona, please read =======
Subject: FW: Living (?) in Arizona
Just moved to Arizona! Now this is a state that knows how to live!!
Beautiful sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! It is beautiful.
I've finally found my home. I love it here.
June 14th:
Really heating up. Got to 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an
air-conditioned home, drive an air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see
the sun everyday like this. I'm turning into a sun worshipper.
June 30th:
Had the backyard landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus
and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing lawn for me.
Another scorcher today, but I love it here.
July 10th:
The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used
to this kind of heat? At least, it's kind of windy though. But getting
used to the heat is taking longer than I expected.
July 15th:
Fell asleep by the community pool. (Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my
body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do. I learned my
lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.
July 20th:
I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this
morning. By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and
swollen up to the size of a shopping bag, then popped like a water
balloon. The car now smells like Kibbles and ****s. I learned my lesson
though. No more pets in this heat. Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.
July 25th:
The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!! And it's
hot as hell. The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repairman
charged $200 just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.
July 30th:
Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now, $225,000 house and
I can't even go inside. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come here?
Aug. 4th:
It's 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost
$500 and gets the temperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.
Aug. 8th:
If another wise ass cracks, 'Hot enough for you today?' I'm going to
strangle him. **** heat. By the time I get to work, the radiator is
boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell like baked cat!!
Aug. 9th:
Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts and when I sat on the seats
in the car, I thought my ass was on fire. My skin melted to the seat.
I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and ass..
Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried ass, and baked cat.
Aug 10th:
The weather report might as well be a **** recording. Hot and sunny.
Hot and sunny. Hot and sunny. It's been too hot to do **** for 2 ****
months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week.
Doesn't it ever rain in this **** desert? Water rationing will be next,
so my $1700 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over. Even the
cactus can't live in this **** heat.
Aug. 14th:
Welcome to HELL! Temperature got to 115 today. Cactus are dead. Forgot
to crack the window and blew the **** windshield out of the car. The
installer came to fix it and said, "Hot enough for you today?"
My sister had to spend $1,500 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Arizona.
What kind of a sick demented idiot would want to live here??
Will write later to let you know how the trial goes

[tucsondesertdweller]

Found paradise and they put up a parking lot. Folks it has changed too fast and not for the better. I would say its the best place to visit, but am starting to think its not the best place to live.
You know that dry heat they tell you about, guess what? We get humidity and high temperatures in the summer, and that summer lasts from May until some time in October!!
Just be realistic about your expectations.
Jobs? lol, if you are a medical professional or engineer, etc, you will do fine, but wages are pathetic out here.
construction is terrible. If you are buying, please please please, have somebody check the zoning, don't believe what a realtor or sales person for the development tells you!

[milliebfit]

Originally Posted by tucsondesertdweller

Found paradise and they put up a parking lot. Folks it has changed too fast and not for the better. I would say its the best place to visit, but am starting to think its not the best place to live.
You know that dry heat they tell you about, guess what? We get humidity and high temperatures in the summer, and that summer lasts from May until some time in October!!
Just be realistic about your expectations.
Jobs? lol, if you are a medical professional or engineer, etc, you will do fine, but wages are pathetic out here.
construction is terrible. If you are buying, please please please, have somebody check the zoning, don't believe what a realtor or sales person for the development tells you!

Who is the someone your talking about, to ask about zoning. My husband and I are coming to Tucson in a few weeks. We are looking to have a new home built in oro valley. We are told it takes 8 months to build a home. Any help about this would be great.

[tucsondesertdweller]

Milliebflit. Please Please take your time. If you can go down to the town of oro valley and ask to talk to a planner on duty. If there are certain area's you have narrowed down your search to, get copies of the zoning, its not free but to me a house was our biggest investment.
Developers lie or should we say they avoid telling you things about say whats going to be built on that empty parcel. Also depending on what development you are looking at the zoning could be say #zoned xxx, but you still need to look further because xxx could also mean its zoned for yyyzzz.
Not to scare you but to caution you. If we had to do it over we would have moved here first, rented and then either build or look for a resale.
We were not here when our house was built and please trust me , big mistake, so many problems our life was he ll for a year. Sure they will tell you "no problem" we will honor our work, but let me ask you this, If you are working, are you willing to take days and days off of work to be home for them to arrive or not arrive, in a nutshell, most get worn down and give up.
Also be aware that right now Oro Valley has no property tax, you will pay tax to the county, the town is happy for development and the impact fees they pay, so you figure it out, do you think they are too rough on developers, not in my opnion. I could write you a small book about the shoddy contractors and the poor work
Just be careful, take your time. Plus its a buyers market.