The truth about the Az from easterners midwesterners and southners (Phoenix: house, neighborhood)

[newglyph312]

I am creating this post as a truthful aid to all of our neighbors from our states of origin. Me I am from Illinois originally and I would like people from the midwest the east and the south to tell the nation about their good or bad experiences in arizona specifically the phoenix area.

[Bridgett]

I am from MI and retired to Phoenix and after a year moved back to MI. Now I will admit that the main reason for leaving was a family illness BUT I don't know how long we would have stayed anyways.
We are in our mid 50's, retired and bought a home in a family neighborhood (Ahwatukee). We didn't want an Active Adult Community because we felt they were too confining. The neighborhood we moved to was nice but we quickly found that everyone hibernates in the summer. Of course that's what we do in the midwest but even when people did come out at night (in PHX) they just smiled and maybe waved. We also found that the people our age were retired military and were very conservative. We almost had to whisper that we were liberal thinking individuals.
Then there was the issue of immigration, immigration, immigration. That's all you hear about. The hatred for Hispanic's was unbelievable.
Next was the cost of living. Yes the property taxes are low but the price of a nice sized home is quite high. Four years ago you could get a great deal but prices have gone up.
Education is horrible. I am a retired teacher and looked into their system and told my grown daughter who lives in PHX to put her kids in private school. The teachers are grossly underpaid and the curriculums are inadequate.
There is no feeling of community and we felt very alone. We got so tired of the endless heat of the summer and even when you went out to restaurants (during the summer) they were very quiet and empty. The winters were not as warm as we thought they would be and even though you have endless blue skies, sun, and mountains to look at you do miss seasonal changes.
Yes there are jobs there but the pay does not equal the cost of living.

[BillyBaroo]

I moved from Springfield, Illinois to Phoenix in 1985 and it was one of the best things I ever did. I hate the weather in Illinois, especially the high humidity in the summer. If I want to see snow, I go skiing in the mountains. I like to go camping and there's so many more interesting places to explore here in Arizona. I'm closer to the ocean here and can be on a Mexican beach in less than four hours. Golf is seasonal in Illinois but year round in Arizona. My porch is an extension of my house that can be used all year and I don't get attacked by insects when I'm out there. The swimming pool is never closed. There are a lot fewer Cub fans in Arizona.
Illinois does have good corn though.

[and the]

My wife and I are taking as many vacations as we can to AZ to try to decide if it's somewhere we want to live. I hate MI winters and want to get away from them. I don't mind the snow, it's the months of gray skies and slush flying up on my windshield. The rust too.....So far, I'm about 51% sure I'd rather live in Arizona, somewhere north of PHX, maybe Prescott.

I like the conservative nature of the people there. I'm a little worried about schools, but the schools here aren't that great, relatively speaking, either. After 4 or 5 trips out there, my wife is more enthusiastic about moving there than I am. She didn't start out that way. I haven't had real good luck with restaurants out there. They're either way overpriced or they serve crap, or both. Maybe I just don't know where to go yet. It's probably in the nature of any booming area to have crappy and/or overpriced restaurants.

[sablebaby]

Originally Posted by and the

My wife and I are taking as many vacations as we can to AZ to try to decide if it's somewhere we want to live. I hate MI winters and want to get away from them. I don't mind the snow, it's the months of gray skies and slush flying up on my windshield. The rust too.....So far, I'm about 51% sure I'd rather live in Arizona, somewhere north of PHX, maybe Prescott.

I like the conservative nature of the people there. I'm a little worried about schools, but the schools here aren't that great, relatively speaking, either. After 4 or 5 trips out there, my wife is more enthusiastic about moving there than I am. She didn't start out that way. I haven't had real good luck with restaurants out there. They're either way overpriced or they serve crap, or both. Maybe I just don't know where to go yet. It's probably in the nature of any booming area to have crappy and/or overpriced restaurants.

Sorry, don't want to interrupt the follow of this thread, but I agree with this comment. I can hardly find a GOOD place to eat here, so it's not just you.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by and the

I haven't had real good luck with restaurants out there. They're either way overpriced or they serve crap, or both. Maybe I just don't know where to go yet. It's probably in the nature of any booming area to have crappy and/or overpriced restaurants.

This is a surprising statement to me. Because of its large tourism industry, the Phoenix area is home to many well regarded and nationally known restaurants. Just look at Beau MacMillan and Mark Tarbell, two locals featured on Iron Chef. Look at the numerous Arizona winners of the James Beard Award. At a more accessible price levels, there are strip-mall gems serving interesting food from around the world. I can think of dozens of restaurants in the Phoenix area that I think compare favorably to the best I've eaten at elsewhere in the country, and I've barely scratched the surface of what's out there. Even in Prescott, there are some good, unique choices these days. The only explanation I can think of is that it may depend on the part of town. Newer areas on the outskirts of town tend to be dominated by chains. More interesting and unique choices are more likely to be in established areas. Some sites you might want to check out for good discussion about restaurants in the area:

Southwest - Chowhound
Feasting in Phoenix — “When Zagat meets Sex and the City…”

[and the]

This is a surprising statement to me. Because of its large tourism industry, the Phoenix area is home to many well regarded and nationally known restaurants. Just look at Beau MacMillan and Mark Tarbell, two locals featured on Iron Chef. Look at the numerous Arizona winners of the James Beard Award. At a more accessible price levels, there are strip-mall gems serving interesting food from around the world. I can think of dozens of restaurants in the Phoenix area that I think compare favorably to the best I've eaten at elsewhere in the country, and I've barely scratched the surface of what's out there. Even in Prescott, there are some good, unique choices these days. The only explanation I can think of is that it may depend on the part of town. Newer areas on the outskirts of town tend to be dominated by chains. More interesting and unique choices are more likely to be in established areas. Some sites you might want to check out for good discussion about restaurants in the area:

Southwest - Chowhound
Feasting in Phoenix — “When Zagat meets Sex and the City…”

I was thinking more along the lines of Prescott, Show Low, Greer areas. I'm sure there are some great places that are easy to find in Phoenix, but still, I was thinking more of the regular family owned places where you can eat GOOD Italian or Polish or Mediterranean food or even just regular American type food that won't cost you an arm and a leg. As soon as we got home, I fed all 5 of us for less than thirty bucks with Italian food that wasn't just tomato sauce out of a can on dried pasta.

Most of the places I went to really were crap. We went to an Italian place in or near Prescott where they obviously put a ton of money into the building and fixtures to attract the "touro-suckers" and I KNOW the food was frozen! The crust of the pizza tasted exactly like, and had the same texture as the frozen pizza crust on the pizzas my wife swills to the kids when we don't have time to cook anything, and it took forever to get to us! And this was supposedly the best place in town. I'm no gourmet, but I could easily have made better and more authentic food than they were serving there. We did go to one place in Prescott where my wife thought the pizza was decent, but I think it was because she lowered her standards. I'm a pretty rabid pizza type and the stuff was better than the "nice" restaurant pizza, but it was the quality of Little Caesar's.

I don't really want trendy, nationally known places where an entre is $40.00. I just want a regular family owned place that's a few notches above Denny's. I keep telling my wife we should open such a place, but she says she doesn't want to work that hard when we retire.

Maybe I'll open a place in my house like in the prohibition days with Italian food and wine a couple days a month.....

I'll check out the sites you gave for my next trip, or better yet, I'll ask you for some suggestions next time I go.

[newglyph312]

Yes the food isn't that great it seems that it is always dry and almost flavorless. I have been here two years and it is bland overall here. However like the illinois person said mexico is close, california is close and vegas is close. If people can afford to take trips to go to cali or vegas then living here isn't that bad.

[artyst]

i'm from milwaukee, wi. i've lived in phoenix since 1985 and i hate it. i never liked it and would not have stayed except for circumstances beyond my control. i will be moving in 2009 to upstate ny. i love the change of seasons, the green grass and green lush trees, the parks and lakes. none of which you will find in phoenix. and people drive terrible (or they're just rude) in phoenix, very fast, they cut you off, ride your bumper, run red lights and don't signal for turns. people aren't friendly in phoenix. i've lived in my house for 10 years and i only know one of my neighbors slightly. people don't say hello when they see you and if you say hello to them they look at you like, "why are you talking to me." i've had the worst experience with home repair people. tilers who can't grout, workers who stole all the tools out of my garage, a plumber who installed my tub wrong. the summers are unbearable and are in no way comparable to winters up north. you can go out in the winter, not so here in the summer. it's dirty here. i have to wash my patio and patio furniture every time i want to use it and the dust gets in the house too, the furniture is always dusty. and there isn't anything to do here unless you just like going to movies and the mall, climbing dirt mountains and getting heatstroke, eating at chain restaurants and sitting in traffic with your air conditioner blasting (did i mention there are too many people in phoenix also?) yuck, can't wait to get out of here.

[azkylady]

I am from Kentucky. and no I have not made any real friends here as of yet, inspite of my natural instinct to speak to people, I make comments to people all the time, in stores, where ever, sure is uncomfortable when they just look at you like you have two heads, or they make a tiny effort to reply. yes,, they come home, garage door goes down and thats about it., its dusty, you will never finish cleaning your house, and i have already posted replies about the driving conditions, So now for what i have learned from Arizona, mind your own business, learn to enjoy your own company, live with the dust, like mexican food, and for sure put down your garage when you come home, oh and don't forget to shut all the blinds!