Bullhead City area (Phoenix, Tucson, Yuma: for sale, hotels, houses)
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I paid 26k for a furnished 700 sf condo at 1190 Ramar Dr. in late 1999. A snowbird passed, and I bought it from his heirs in California. Laughlin is actually cleaner and more civilized. Kind of counterintuitive, but some of the best climates are in Southern Arizona. It is all about the elevation, not the latitude. Sierra Vista might check a lot of boxes for you. Smaller towns worth a look include Patagonia, Elgin, Sonoita Creek. I had a house about 6 miles east of I19, in Rio Rico, and you could see Patagonia Lake from the hill. At 4300 feet, I did fine with evap for four years. Home Depot and Super Wal in Nogales, and lots of stuff across the border, but the ease of walking in and out of Mexico varies a lot from year to year.
Absolutely with regards to the climate.
The only issue with Patagonia, Elgin, Sonoita Creek, Sierra Vista is whether someone would be comfortable living that close to the border? Obviously some don't mind, other's not so much. The other issue with small towns if you want to call them that is how far do you want to drive for your everyday needs or to run small errands? How far are you away from the nearest hospital and emergency services?
There are a lot of small towns in Arizona with only a few hundred people living there and you have to drive for miles until you get to the next one. Some have less than 100 residents.
Other options would be either Mesquite, NV or St. George, UT, north of Las Vegas. I think that the housing stock and the total vibe would be a lot better.
The only issue with Patagonia, Elgin, Sonoita Creek, Sierra Vista is whether someone would be comfortable living that close to the border? Obviously some don't mind, other's not so much. The other issue with small towns if you want to call them that is how far do you want to drive for your everyday needs or to run small errands? How far are you away from the nearest hospital and emergency services?
There are a lot of small towns in Arizona with only a few hundred people living there and you have to drive for miles until you get to the next one. Some have less than 100 residents.
Even if you lived in downtown Nogales, 85621, crime is much lower than Tucson. I actually dreaded the change of address from BHC to Rio Rico for insurance purposes, but surprisingly, rates were lower ten miles from Mexico than they were in BHC.
Look at property values in San Diego.. then come back and talk about living near the border.
Even if you lived in downtown Nogales, 85621, crime is much lower than Tucson. I actually dreaded the change of address from BHC to Rio Rico for insurance purposes, but surprisingly, rates were lower ten miles from Mexico than they were in BHC.
Look at property values in San Diego.. then come back and talk about living near the border.
All I said was: "Obviously some don't mind, other's not so much." I didn't say whether I would or not? Different strokes for different folks. But if I was looking for something closer to the border I'd probably look into Sierra Vista, as it has a lower poverty rate and a lot more amenities as can be expected. You also stand a better chance of finding a nicer home there too. As there are more homes to choose from. Obviously that would also depend on an individuals budget.
As for California as beautiful as it is for a state landscape wise. You couldn't pay me enough money to live there. I could have moved anywhere in the country and moved to Arizona for a reason. To be away from all that crap and a love for the Great American Southwest. The only difference between New York and California is the weather and the landscape.
Quote:
14.2% Poverty Rate in Sierra Vista, Arizona www.welfareinfo.org/poverty-rate/arizona/sierra...
The Poverty Rate of white residents in Sierra Vista, Arizona is the same as than the national ...
29.4% Poverty Rate in Nogales, Arizona - Welfare Info www.welfareinfo.org/poverty-rate/arizona/nogales
The Poverty Rate of hispanic residents in Nogales, Arizona is dramatically higher than the
24.1% Poverty Rate in Tucson, Arizona - Welfare Info https://www.welfareinfo.org/poverty-rate/arizona/tucson
The poverty rate in Tucson is 24.1%. One out of every 4.2 residents of Tucson lives in poverty. How many people in Tucson, Arizona live in poverty? 121,994 of 506,446 Tucson residents reported income levels below the poverty line in the last year.
Location: When you take flak it means you are on target
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DON'T DO IT! You will ruin your life. I once extolled the virtues of Bull excrement City, nice mountain views, the wonderful weather in January, the... uh, well... that's about it.
A canadian owned strip mine is destroying the former nice mountain views while sucking up our gold. And the local crooks in government think it's just dandy. The bikers someone mentioned are pretty much gone since the big shootout at (gun free) Harrahs. They killed the famous river run a couple years ago with heavy handed policing and exhorbitant prices. Water is a serious issue.
It is still a drug and crime infested dung hole. Has some of the slummiest areas west of the Mississippi river, and the city will not take action to clean it up. Homelessness is up. Crime is a constant thanks to gang bangers from Vegas and LA and the local scumbags who are far worse. Shootings are common, robberies are up - they just issued a public warning about gas station saftey and robberies - but you won't see it in the statistics. Last summer saw multiple gang fights in the city river/park The govt doesn't report to avoid scaring the tourists. Especially in the Laughlin casino crime zone.
The schools are beyond horrible and the school boards are worse. They saddled property owners with a 40 million dollar indoor stadium for high school sports. The kids don't even play in the summer. Along with the $17,000 monthly electric bill - in a city of 40,000...
Only two kinds of people move here. CA retirees who cashed out their McMansion, bought a cheap desert house, some off road toys and can live on what's left over and spend summers in their RV in Oregon. The other is those at the end of the line who can't make it anywhere else.
From May to October it is untenable. See picture, that is the reflected heat off the block wall in my yard. Yes 190 degrees. That day it was about 124 in the shade! The official temps are always 5 deg under the reality. The wind can blow 20-30 mph for days or weeks at a time. You can't go outside for more than 20 minutes, you will die! Winters are nice. Except for the freezing wind that never stops. We just went 10 months without rain. Then we got a foot of snow in the mountains.
This is the very end of the Grand Canyon. There are 6,000 ft mountains on either side and the valley is 500 ft high. This creates a venturi effect of wind and dust. The famous "Santa Ana" winds that cause fires and damage in Southern Ca are born here.
The area is infested with white nationalists - remember the Borat spoof that Sasha Cohen did over building the world's largest mosque in Bullhead? That was Bullhead and Kingman's finest bigots that were freaking out. If you are a member of the Trump Maga army or a covid denier and anti-masker, you will fit right in here.
Perkins and Denny's are considered fine dining. Last time I checked Yelp the #1 restaurant was... In N Out burger. Seriously. They are building the first new hotel in nearly 30 years - on the site of the old sewage plant...
Medical care is a cross between sucks and non-existant. In ten years I've had six different GPs. The hospital got a D rating. If you stub your toe they air lift you to Vegas! I had cancer a couple years ago. I had to go to Tucson for treatment, a 14 hour round trip drive that I still have to make multiple times a year. There is virtually no covid treatment available.
Bullhead is a great place to live if you want leather skin, love to breathe dust - or toxic smoke from the indians burning their fields every time the wind stops blowing. Worse air quality than LA much of the time. The beautiful mountains are obscurred by smoke or in summer, smog from LA, 350 miles away.
Speaking of kids. If you have kids, for the love of gawd PLEASE don't destroy their lives by forcing them to live here. If you ARE a kid and your parents insist on moving here, save every penny until you are 18 and can escape, even if you have to walk across hundreds of miles of desert to do it! You will thank me later.
In short there is absolutely no redeeming quality here. I got stuck, don't let it happen to you!
Welcome to Arizona, buy a gun.
Disclaimer: Please consider my comments as entertainment, I admit to being a little biased, and don't make decisions based on anything I say. The local Chamber has a fatwah on me I'm sure.
Kingman isn't much better. I'd consider looking into St George Utah instead, its a better location all around.
It's absolutely beautiful there. We considered moving there too. But after doing a fair amount of research the feedback that we got is that if you're not a Mormon or LDS they may not take too kindly to you? Whether that's true or not I really don't know but at least for us we just didn't want to take that chance. We also looked into Hurricane and Leeds, same story.
When you're planning on moving all the way across country to a place where you know absolutely no one it pays to do as much research as possible. But you really have to know what your needs are and what you want out of life. Otherwise it could be the worst decision you'll ever make. Everyone's needs and lifestyle choices are different. One man's s**t is another man's meat. As for us moving to Arizona was thee best decision we ever made. My only regret is not moving out here sooner. This is where we truly belong.
We were surprised at how easy it was to meet new people and make new friends. It's almost as if we were born and raised here. For us Arizona is an absolute paradise, thee greatest state in the country. We wouldn't want to or could imagine living anywhere else.
It was really tough to get my wife to want to leave. After all you're leaving all of your family, long time friends and every place that you are familiar with to move to some strange place where you don't know anyone. But she knew how much I hated New York and since we work remotely on a computer there was no reason to stay there. Now that we're here you couldn't pay either of one of us enough money to move back.
All I said was: "Obviously some don't mind, other's not so much." I didn't say whether I would or not? Different strokes for different folks. But if I was looking for something closer to the border I'd probably look into Sierra Vista, as it has a lower poverty rate and a lot more amenities as can be expected. You also stand a better chance of finding a nicer home there too. As there are more homes to choose from. Obviously that would also depend on an individuals budget.
As for California as beautiful as it is for a state landscape wise. You couldn't pay me enough money to live there. I could have moved anywhere in the country and moved to Arizona for a reason. To be away from all that crap and a love for the Great American Southwest. The only difference between New York and California is the weather and the landscape.
I think San Diego is one of the most overrated places on the planet, but there is massive real estate wealth. The top two out of state places for grads from my university are San Diego and Dallas. The difference is that after five years almost none are still in SD, but most stay in Dallas... even though most were east coast Cowboy haters. The poverty problems go hand in hand with the general vibe of underachievement that is far too common in AZ. That's why after buying homes in AZ in 1995, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010 my latest purchase is in Wyoming, and looking at the map from the site you linked, I feel good about it. Cold? Yes, it is cold in the AC today in my Bangkok condominium. Hopefully, will warm up when my 24 years younger GF comes over. We are going to take the bus out for duck noodle soup and DQ for dessert. That will be five dollars well spent.
I think San Diego is one of the most overrated places on the planet, but there is massive real estate wealth. The top two out of state places for grads from my university are San Diego and Dallas. The difference is that after five years almost none are still in SD, but most stay in Dallas... even though most were east coast Cowboy haters. The poverty problems go hand in hand with the general vibe of underachievement that is far too common in AZ. That's why after buying homes in AZ in 1995, 1999, 2001, 2009, 2010 my latest purchase is in Wyoming, and looking at the map from the site you linked, I feel good about it. Cold? Yes, it is cold in the AC today in my Bangkok condominium. Hopefully, will warm up when my 24 years younger GF comes over. We are going to take the bus out for duck noodle soup and DQ for dessert. That will be five dollars well spent.
Man, you sure moved around a lot!!!
Yeah, I feel the same way about New York City and it's metro area. Try finding a decent home for under $300,000. Then there's the issue of property taxes. We sold our 3 bedroom 1 bath 1,100 sq. ft. home with a 3 car garage for $285,000 that was over 10 years ago. At that time our property taxes were around $12,000 in the semi run down City of Peekskill. In Arizona we bought a 4 bedroom 2 bath 2,000 sq. ft. home with a 3 car garage for $250,000 our property taxes were around $1,800. We live in what would be considered in New York as an upscale neighborhood. So I guess it's no wonder that so many people are leaving places like New York and California?
Although there are some nice places in New York State. It just can't compare to California's landscape then there's the issue of the weather. I would think that that alone would make it hard to leave California? I know a lot of people from California that have moved here. Every single one of them that were born and raised there are sad as to what has become of that state. The only part of California that I've been through was Needles on the way back from the Hoover Dam on 95 south.
New York was okay growing up along the Hudson River. My family had 17 ft. boat and I had my own power boat at age 14. We also had a summer home on a real nice lake upstate that my grandparents, father and uncle built. But once you're out on your own and unless you've got a real good job you need two incomes and then some in order to achieve some semblance of living.
My wife and I both just love Arizona, and every aspect of living here. Especially it's desert landscape. I could live just about anywhere in the state. The only issue I have with some places is the relentless intense summer heat. But we love just hopping in our truck for day trips to those places and just wandering around the desert do a little target shooting, take some pictures and then be home for dinner. No, I do not leave any trash behind when out target shooting. I've seen enough of that strewn all over the place when I lived in New York. I also have antique cars and can use them practically year round even though we live at an elevation of around 5,500 ft. Winters here are nothing compared to the Northeast. Except for maybe Flagstaff, Show Low and the White Mountains.
Again, thanks to all for the input. One thing I have noticed by looking at realtor.com, is the large number of houses in Nevada and Arizona that have sales "pending". Some are snowbirds heading to the SW for full time residence, many others are Californians escaping. Happening everywhere, even in PA. Go to rural Northcentral PA and see all the NY license plates. Go to Southcentral PA and hear about realtors in that area advertising PA properties in Baltimore and Washington. Everyone looking for something "better."
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