Lake Havasu is AWESOME (Phoenix, Flagstaff: spring break, sales, real estate)

[keithskye]

LOVE Arizona and especially my town of Lake Havasu City! I am an outdoors lover and having such easy and low-restriction access to the mountains, the desert and the lake is wonderful. I love the desert, the clear blue skies 300+ days a year, unlimited visibility, perfect (for me) temperatures the majority of the year, and the low cost of living compared to most major urban areas in the country.

Does it get hot? You bet it does! From June through September, it is easily one of the hottest areas in the country, but so are Phoenix, Palm Springs and Las Vegas. A very large part of the population of our town are snowbirds and leave to go back up north during those hot months. Many of us spend a lot of our free time enjoying our pool at home or being out on the lake or up in the mountains in the Flagstaff area during the summer. So if you can't stand the heat, or don't like the beauty of the desert and huge mountains everywhere, then this place is definitely not for you.

I've seen some complain about the cost of housing. Seriously? I just got back from a trip to Dallas and was looking around at the local housing market, and I also looked at Reno, NV, where I have a possible job opportunity that I won't be able to turn down. My house that I built for $275K five years ago is now worth almost $500K. In Reno or Dallas, my house would be worth well in excess of $1M, and in Phoenix or Las Vegas, at least $750K. There are no cheap tract homes in Havasu, and that's what I love about it. You buy your lot and you build your home, completely custom. That's how it's done if you want a brand new house. Where else in the country or the world for that matter do you find a town where the average home has a two or three car garage AND a big RV garage? And the average lot size of any home here is a lot larger than any place you'll find in a major city! There are good deals on homes below $200K, and at the other extreme, there are homes or home sites that will put you into the million dollar range.

And if you are an athlete and love outdoor sports, or you like off-road toys and sports, or love boating and jet-skiing, or flying of any kind, then Havasu is awesome! There are several golf courses for you golf lovers, too. If you are not athletic or into the outdoors, then you may as well be somewhere else, because all of the best attributes of living here are wasted on you.

The other thing I love about Havasu is that it's a small, rural town. We're small enough to not have any real traffic problems, and big enough to have a Walmart, a CVS and Walgreens, several banks, more than one movie theater and the usual mix of all the fast food restaurants. What many who don't live here know is that we also have several world class restaurants. As a professional pilot that travels the world all the time in my job, and spends half his life eating in restaurants all over the planet, I can make that statement with authority.

The problem with a small town like this where a major part of the population is not here full time is that the job market is very limited for those who would live here full time and are a long way from retirement. If you are highly experienced in the boat manufacturing or service industry, you'll be at an advantage. Same goes for folks in the automotive industry. Havasu is home to more than one major boat manufacturer, and many shops that specialize in custom boats. Havasu arguably has the largest concentration of classic cars and hot rods (per capita) of any town in America, so if you are skilled with custom work on cars, you'll probably find work here.

I don't have kids, but speaking with friends who do, they have few complaints about the school system. Remember, this is actually a very small town. We even now have a small extension campus of ASU here, so the availability of a good education is not bad.

As for crime, we are way below the state and the national average statistics across the board. Keep in mind that we have a lot of tourists come here, too, especially during the holidays, and our town is famous as a Spring Break destination for the younger crowd, so you can imagine that crime and accidents likely go up during those times.

My wife and I moved to Lake Havasu 10 years ago from Allentown, PA, and we love it here!

[tomchard]

... Great testimonial, Keithskye! ...

One of my exes & I got to see Havasu, shortly after the London Bridge was rebuilt there; the "town" wasn't much more than the McCullough campus, a (sort-of) main street with what appeared to be large sheds & outbuildings, a golf course which was the only greenery anywhere within 50 miles, and lots & lots of bulldozed gravel "roads". The McCullough real estate arm was trying to sell undeveloped lots to us, a group of lookee-loos from back East. They even took us out on the river in a long boat, and one of the sales folks dipped water out of the river and drank it 🤪 ... It was supposed to be that clean!

Since then, I've been past that area one other time, in the later 1990s, and it was a lot more built-up than when we first visited in the early-70s.

Your post was very interesting to me; so much so, that we're going to have to swing through that area to get a good look at it, as we check out different areas of the Southwest to relocate to for retirement.
Thanks for the good information!

[Hoonose]

Been here since '81. My wife hates the summers, so she'll probably move when I croak.

lol

[kttam186290]

Lake Havasu: Land of the Sun-baked, Alcoholic, Chain-Smoking "Eternally in Midlife Crisis Mode" class....

It's where barely-Middle Class, vapid, uneducated, 55+ year olds go to live like they're 21 year olds again.

Ugh!

No thanks.

[keithskye]

Wow! I have lots of friends here and none of them fit your description! Also, none of my many friends and acquaintances smoke, do drugs or drink alcohol and all are highly educated. You definitely hang with the wrong crowd.

[NJ Brazen_3133]

But it is not humid there right?

[teddyearp]

Come on folks, we all know that Arizona is a terrible placeâ„¢️. This guy just has to be lying.

lol.

[vfrpilot]

LOVE Arizona and especially my town of Lake Havasu City

!
I am happy for you. LHC is in a beautiful area of Arizona. I lived there a while back and my wife pretty much grew up there it the late 60's. We have a lot of great memories> met and married my wife in the Domes, 3 of our kids were born at the hospital (Havasu Regional back then), got my start in aviation (A&P, Pilot) at Havasu Airlines (when airport was on the Island), participated in sand drag races on the north side of town (Havasu Off Road Racing Assciation), and built a couple of houses. Our first house was up the hill, off of McCullogh Blvd, which was still dirt. There were just a few houses back then, mostly open desert.
We moved to San Diego in 1990 after the population of Havasu started a serious growth spurt, and lost it's small town charm for us (all relative I suppose). We never regretted leaving, due to the amazing weather and greater opportunities for the kids in San Diego. We would vacation in Havasu occasionally, and our kids were sooo happy that we moved them out of there
We still have good friends there and are amazed at the growth. It's still beautiful and a great place to live. Just a lot different place from the 70's and 80's. I guess if it wasn't desireable, it would not have grown so fast

[Hoonose]

Originally Posted by kttam186290

Lake Havasu: Land of the Sun-baked, Alcoholic, Chain-Smoking "Eternally in Midlife Crisis Mode" class....

It's where barely-Middle Class, vapid, uneducated, 55+ year olds go to live like they're 21 year olds again.

Ugh!

No thanks.

Not in my long term experience. When gas prices soared around 2007, boating and fishing went to hell, along with vast quantities of your above creatures. Now replaced by relatively well to do 21 y/o visiting Californian boaters. Drinkers for sure, not so much cigarette smokers.

lol

[Hoonose]

Originally Posted by NJ Brazen_3133

But it is not humid there right?

Not like the Midwest, but after July 4th it gets uncomfortable with monsoon moisture for the next few bad months.