AZ vs. The Pacific Northwest? (Phoenix, Tucson: real estate market, renting, vacation home)

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by meo92953

If you could start out in the PNW, build up a reputation then try for positions where you could work at home, you could have the benefit of both places.

I'm one of those old retired folks so don't know all the procedures involved. Look at the moving forum to see what folks have to say. I know some say they work at home, find out how they are doing it.

Good luck. It's got to be exciting to start out and plan your life.

Yeah I love this site for that. I can listen to tons of opinions about moving procedures for particular locations!

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by potanta

That is true. PNW is stereotypically loaded with IT jobs and other tech savvy jobs. Wages are higher there and COL is higher too, but wages usually pay enough there to live, while I heard AZ's pay can suck to even afford living in AZ.

I don’t know that I’d say that’s true. A middle class lifestyle in Phoenix is easier than a middle class lifestyle in WA. You appear to have skills, so you’d probably earn above median wage. In Phoenix, that’s usually good for a starter 3b2ba home in a decent area with some space. That’s not necessarily true in many/most large cities.

However by reading your OP, AZ is just not for you. In terms of population, Arizona is heavily concentrated between Tucson and Phoenix. The rest of the state is extremely rural or just straight up nature.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by johnp292

I’m in IT. I’m also originally from NJ.

If you want to live in AZ and work in IT, your only realistic option is Phoenix. Especially at entry level and frankly this is not an area I’d move to if I were looking for entry level IT jobs. There’s not that many of them (compared to other areas) and the pay is below average.

If you are going to limit yourself to those two choices I’d recommend PNW. Not cheap to live there though.

I 100% get not wanting to stay in NJ, but if I were you I’d get a few years of experience there first and then look to move. Ideally try to find work with a company that will let you transfer somewhere else. Or gain experience in a field where you can work remotely. I never recommend to anyone moving without a job.

Based on what other people said on this site, jobs opportunities suck in AZ unless you want a far commute from a neighborhood with a nice AZ climate to the hot Phoenix AZ climate. PNW sounds better than AZ. And no, after college, I really have no desire to stay in NJ for a few more years. I had ENOUGH of living here and I feel like I am just "deteriorating" living here, but yeah I get what you're saying. I'd rather go somewhere as soon as I land a job. Compared to other people my age, I have a lot of money saved up under my name.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by goolsbyjazz

I have to echo whatsome of the others have said. I reccomend giving the PNW a try first, especiallyif you're just starting out. Unless you have some money stashed away I wouldn't think about buying a house right away, especiallyin the PNW! Pay is likely to be a bit higher than in AZ but so is housing.

You will have to deal with rain...lots of it in the PNW. Having said that, AZ is not a bad place to land and Phoenixis the job center so you would have to come to grips with that. Summers are brutally hot at times, but you can still do outdoorsy stuff early morning or when the sun sets so it isn't all bad. Housing, for now, is also cheaper but that is rapidly changing.

I would not buy a house right away, because I'll probably want to consider saving even more, and also mainly because, I don't have enough experience anywhere out West outside of CA. I would take a one or two week long vacation to the PNW. I did visit the Seattle area and Mount Rainier in August 2016 for a week, but I felt that was not long enough for me. I need to visit it more, especially during their gloomy winter time.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by agorski

If you don't mind going where the jobs take you, specialize in something. In my case, I had an engineering degree and then programmed flight simulators, which later got me a sweet job at Johnson Space Center.

If you prefer to settle in one place, then you probably want to be a generalist.

Sadly, you'll eventually get replaced by younger folk who get paid less, so look for an exit strategy like management.

Yeah the company you worked for is probably too cheap to pay well to a person who isn't so young, so they end up hiring a super young person so they can have an excuse to spend less money on paying employees. It's funny that you mentioned that, because my brother is going into pharmacy where that is common. He is worried that once he is no longer considered "young", he will be laid off and replaced by somebody who young. He said he knows a pharmacist in her 40s that got laid off due to a scenario like that.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by kitty61

I am attracted equally by both AZ and WA. Never thought about anywhere else actually
Maybe Ontario, Canada. I love desert scenery but the heat is not for me. I'd rather live where temperatures are milder both winter and summer and a place where there is no shortage of water. WA has that in abundance and with it plenty of lush vegetation like you mentioned.

Check out Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site and indeed.com .

The lush greenery in the West is gorgeous and the East Coast scenery is damn ugly. I like how the PNW has water, but I hate how the desert has to get its water through transporting it through canals. I like AZ and WA, but WA offered more of a nice Cali vibe when I visited the Seattle area.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

Eastern Washington like Spokane is really similar to Flagstaff and 80% of Arizona lives in the Phoenix-like climates of Southern Arizona (Tucson being 5 degrees cooler doesn't change anything). You automatically dislike more than 80% of the state's climate and yet you still are considering living here? Eastern Washington is basically high desert with is a lot of Northern Arizona.

The places that aren't like those two climates are Prescott and Sedona and BOTH are full of retirees and new age hippies (Sedona) and retirees and staunch conservative libertarians (Prescott) none would match your concerns.

Arizona clearly is not for you.

How much snow does eastern Washington get? i heard they get a lot of snow even though that's a desert. Not sure how true that is. I don't want anything beyond 2 inches of snow per snowstorm. Something about living in the desert excites me, but I loved the western PNW when I visited western WA.

Yeah I guess I should cross Arizona off on my list and not make it my secondary choice at all. I heard Oregon has a lot of young. Utah has a lot of young people considering the Mormon population there.

[take57]

Originally Posted by potanta

I am a junior in college as an IT major and I live in New Jersey. I plan on moving somewhere out West when I graduate college. I had the Pacific Northwest in my mind as a primary thing (not sure if either Oregon or Washington is better), but I had AZ in my mind as a secondary choice. For some reason, this week, I am starting to feel obsessed with AZ something makes feel like I want to live there. Both places have nice climates (except the eastern PNW and except Phoenix) and both have equally beautiful and dramatic scenery that this country is blessed with. in my opinion. I love the gorgeous evergreen trees of the PNW, the smell of it, the mountains, etc. It looks completely different than the ugly greenery of the East Coast. Arizona has a beautiful blend of colors, beautiful desert plants, and beautiful terrains like the Grand Canyon and the terrains in the general scenery. Both places look like they suit my outdoorsy lifestyle.

I visited Seattle and Mount Rainier in August 2016, I visited AZ back in middle school, which was probably around 2009 time. I wouldn't remember much about it, except for visiting the huge crater, Grand Canyon, and seeing the general scenery.

This week, there is something that makes want to live in AZ. I explored AZ on Google Earth and looking at neighborhoods that don't get very hot (and don't get too much snow I don't mind getting mild snowstorms that are only 2 inches) such as Prescott/Prescott Valley and Chino Valley area. I like how spaced out the homes were in certain streets in AZ (not the kind of the streets that are still being developed). I would love to have a home that's a little spaced out from the neighbors, especially in the desert, where you don't have to mow grass. I hate landscaping and that's one of the benefits of living in the desert. I wouldn't mind putting some rocks to make my front lawn look nice and neat. The downfall of the Pacific Northwest, is that I can't find streets where are homes are spaced apart and where I can get very little land, greenery would be a pain on the ass to take care of. I wish I can get turf grass, I can't see how millions of people enjoy landscaping and taking care of a huge ass lawn every week.

Anyways, I heard bad things about living in AZ. I heard that only Phoenix really has job opportunities and you would have to end up living somewhere brutally hot. I heard that jobs don't even pay well to even afford the cheap living of AZ. Also, I am worried that AZ will have too many old people since it's a warm climate. I feel that NJ has an aging population and somewhat a lack of young people even though NJ isn't a warm climate.

I know this forum isn't the right forum to post a comparison, but Arizonans, how do you like AZ compared to the PNW? There's just something about AZ that is exciting me.

I wish I could pull the link for you but I recall reading a story in Portland's Oregonian newspaper recently that oddly enough indicated the brewing, winery and cannabis industries were a greater economic factor in terms of jobs and growth than IT in the area.

To be sure, without the article in hand they may have included entry level positions, seasonal or retail work in the findings but as someone who splits their time between Phoenix and Portland I can say unless you consider going to Seattle, I think you're going to find an ultra competitive job market in Oregon. Perhaps more so than AZ. Best of luck, but I think you're going to have to make some tough decisions and come to terms with what is really important with respect to lifestyle/career growth/income.

Again, best of luck.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

I don’t know that I’d say that’s true. A middle class lifestyle in Phoenix is easier than a middle class lifestyle in WA. You appear to have skills, so you’d probably earn above median wage. In Phoenix, that’s usually good for a starter 3b2ba home in a decent area with some space. That’s not necessarily true in many/most large cities.

However by reading your OP, AZ is just not for you. In terms of population, Arizona is heavily concentrated between Tucson and Phoenix. The rest of the state is extremely rural or just straight up nature.

And the one thing that sucks about living outside of Phoenix and Tuscon is that AZ is full of retirees in the best neighborhoods like Sedona or Prescott. Bleh, then AZ should be off my list after all the answers I am reading from posting this thread. I hate cities and the extreme heat is bad.

[moshywilly]

Originally Posted by take57

I wish I could pull the link for you but I recall reading a story in Portland's Oregonian newspaper recently that oddly enough indicated the brewing, winery and cannabis industries were a greater economic factor in terms of jobs and growth than IT in the area.

To be sure, without the article in hand they may have included entry level positions, seasonal or retail work in the findings but as someone who splits their time between Phoenix and Portland I can say unless you consider going to Seattle, I think you're going to find an ultra competitive job market in Oregon. Perhaps more so than AZ. Best of luck, but I think you're going to have to make some tough decisions and come to terms with what is really important with respect to lifestyle/career growth/income.

Again, best of luck.

The Seattle area's gotta be the hotspot for jobs.