SE Arizona, Pearce, Portal, Chirachua Mtns. (Phoenix, Tucson: for sale, real estate, houses)

[willietwo]

My husband and I are considering retiring to SE Arizona, specifically somewhere around the Chiracahua Mtns. I know it's remote. I've searched the forum but can find little about it (probably because no one goes there!). Does anyone know anything about it first-hand? What is it like to live there year-round? Any and all comments welcome and appreciated!!

[curly5759]

Can't tell you much, I've only been there a few times with my Jeep club. Beautiful area but very rural. Not much out there. Portal wasn't much at all, I only remember a few buildings and no businesses. Pearce is a one time ghost town that has homes and small developments springing up around it.

Curly

[azdr0710]

Portal is in a spectacular setting and has a bit of an artsy vibe....very small, as said, and you'll need to entertain yourself.....gateway to the Chiricahuas....will need to drive a ways to get supplies beyond the very small store/gift shop there.....

Pearce (the PO name) could be considered part of a very large land development there called Sunsites....lots of cheap land in an OK setting near the Dragoon Mts....a few little businesses, but mostly retired-people feeling.....go there to live cheaply, not invest in real estate....

Bisbee and Sierra Vista are other choices among other towns in SE Arizona.....lots of options....

[Steve Pickering]

Portal is where Tim O'Leary's commune was. It is very close to Rodeo New Mexico with Douglas to the south. You have to be going there to get there. Not much there though. Sunsites is a full service little community with a lot of cheap undeveloped plated land. I have a place there and it is our winter retreat. Short drive to Douglas, Bisbee, Tombstone, and Wilcox.

As far as site seeing there is something to do in all directions. We love it. Do a little gold mining, explore Cochise Stronghold, Etc. There are a lot of decent houses for sale and the golf course was just returffed. It is a retirement community with library, clinic, a few restaurant/bars, a store, school, etc.

[willietwo]

Ahh . . . OK. Very helpful replies. Thank you.

[maverick974]

My brother has property just two miles north of Sunsites in an area called Richland Estates or something along those lines.
Anyway, they are 5 acre lots surrounded by fantastic views of the mountains. The "Cochise Stronghold" is just west of where his property is and is actually his view from his kitchen window and back porch.
While that area is a bit desolate for my taste, I must admit it is a beautiful area.
The elevation of that area is around 4200 feet so the summers are much more tolerable, it gets quite a bit more rain than the Phoenix and Tucson areas and the property is certainly affordable.
Sunsites is a cool little town with some basic amenities but Willcox is about 20 minutes away and has most of anything you might need or want. Tombstone, Sierra Vista, Benson, Bisbee and Douglas are not very far away so there are things to do and see in the area.
While I wouldn't prefer to live in that area, I can see the draw for people like my brother that want privacy or perhaps a snowbird that doesn't want to live in a highly populated area like Phoenix.
The weather is much milder because of the elevation with cooler temps but hardly any snow.
If the slower lifestyle of that area was something I was looking for, I could easily see myself taking a serious look at this area.

[chazk14]

the chiricahuas were torched last year, i believe horseshoe fire,over 200,000 acres. i have not been there since.

[509]

I would hardly call the area remote. Is just less populated than most of Arizona.

It is on the main transportation route from Mexico. I had friends working the Horseshoe Fire and they said there were illegal aliens moving through the fire while it was burning at night!! Lots of Border Patrol and Deputies patrolling the area at all times.

We have spent two winters in the area. We have not been there in summer.

My choice would be Portal as a place to live. Check the communities carefully. My sense is that they are very different from each other in the type of people they attract.

I did see a fire intensity map of the Horseshoe Fire and it should recover fairly quickly.

Not sure where you live now, but that will definitely color your perception of the area. If you want to move there I would definitely spend some time looking around and talking to people.

It is one of those places that people either love or hate. There is not much in between.

[Steve Pickering]

As far as the USA goes, (Travel to and from Mexico, legal or otherwise, excluded) it doesn't get much more remote. It is not on the way to anywhere other than there.

[ali-n]

Just curious -- did you find a place and move/retire there?

I know that this query is around four years old, but I thought I'd add my two cents anyway:

My wife and I retired and bought a home (built in 2002) on 40 acres, with a private well, four miles southeast of the "town" Portal/AZ and two miles northwest of the town Rodeo/NM, where we now spend around half our time (I am ready for full-time, but the wife still likes/needs to do some "big-city stuff"). As others have stated, it's quite isolated, which is one of the reasons we wanted live there. We're birdwatchers/amateur naturalists and have been visiting the area for over 30 years so the decision was somewhat natural for us. We would have bought closer to Portal, but those properties were all out our price range, not to mention most of those homes were much older, needing a lot of work.

Very interesting community and surrounding area, to say the least. Many of the people here are retired scientists/naturalist, authors, or astronomers. In fact just to the northeast of Portal is a growing "sky village" where a dozen or so astronomers have purpose-built or retrofitted homes with little observatories for their telescopes. They have even formed a home-owners association to govern stuff like the types of property lights which might affect the view of the night skies. Off-grid and survivalists types of course are also all around.