Bullhead City area (Tucson, Yuma, Lake Havasu City: 2013, hotel, homes)

[Hschlick84]

I'd even check out Grand Junction, CO or somewhere along the western slope. They barely get any snow during the winter, probably 4-8" and it melts fairly quickly. Their summers are warm and its by the CO river.

[DAXhound]

Originally Posted by denny52

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."

Taxes are crazy in PA. I have browsed in Pittsburgh over the years. The 5% transfer tax alone is enough to stop me from investing there. Way too much legacy debt and obligations. The high fees and taxes you pay often go to debt interest. Same with Md/Baltimore, without even addressing the personal safety issues. As far as the climate in New York... yes, pretty darn brutal. I was trying to gage the climate at my Wyoming house compared to some other places known for being cold. I compared it to Syracuse.. Syracuse is slightly warmer, but Syracuse gets twice the snowfall and three times the rain.

[jlawrence01]

OP,

if you are serious about relocating from PA to Bullhead City or any town in AZ, I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you come down for a month or two and actually spend some time in the town you are interested in. Preferably, do it in April and May when the snowbirds leave. In that period, you can get a room in any of the Laughlin hotels for about $25/ night or a hotel in Tucson or Phoenix for $60 per night. This will give you plenty of time to really think things out and to look at the housing situation. It will give you the chance to endure two very hot months.

BHC is NOT my cup of tea but neither is any of the other small Arizona towns, even the one that I live in. The one advantage of BHC is that you are only 90 minutes out of Las Vegas should you need the services of a large city.

If you live on the Nevada side, you have the advantage of no income tax. However, many of your costs are higher than the AZ, especially gasoline.

[DAXhound]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

OP,

if you are serious about relocating from PA to Bullhead City or any town in AZ, I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you come down for a month or two and actually spend some time in the town you are interested in. Preferably, do it in April and May when the snowbirds leave. In that period, you can get a room in any of the Laughlin hotels for about $25/ night or a hotel in Tucson or Phoenix for $60 per night. This will give you plenty of time to really think things out and to look at the housing situation. It will give you the chance to endure two very hot months.

BHC is NOT my cup of tea but neither is any of the other small Arizona towns, even the one that I live in. The one advantage of BHC is that you are only 90 minutes out of Las Vegas should you need the services of a large city.

If you live on the Nevada side, you have the advantage of no income tax. However, many of your costs are higher than the AZ, especially gasoline.

Those in Laughlin can easily cross the bridge for gas, HD, Sam's.. without having to live next to something out of Madmax.

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by denny52

Go to Southcentral PA and hear about realtors in that area advertising PA properties in Baltimore and Washington. Everyone looking for something "better."

My wife is a federal employee and her pre-Covid telework agreement was that she had to live within 120 miles of her work station. Then report to the office twice in a pay period, so she would drive up to Phoenix and spend the night at in a coworkers guest room to fulfill the requirement. Being 120 miles away from the office affords us a house that is $150-$200,000 less than a comparable house in the Phoenix area.

Guessing that there are a lot of federal employees with similar telework agreements that live in MD and DC. Probably a huge difference between a $400,000 house in DC vs a $400,000 house in Gettysburg.

[denny52]

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

OP,

if you are serious about relocating from PA to Bullhead City or any town in AZ, I would STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you come down for a month or two and actually spend some time in the town you are interested in. Preferably, do it in April and May when the snowbirds leave. In that period, you can get a room in any of the Laughlin hotels for about $25/ night or a hotel in Tucson or Phoenix for $60 per night. This will give you plenty of time to really think things out and to look at the housing situation. It will give you the chance to endure two very hot months.

BHC is NOT my cup of tea but neither is any of the other small Arizona towns, even the one that I live in. The one advantage of BHC is that you are only 90 minutes out of Las Vegas should you need the services of a large city.

If you live on the Nevada side, you have the advantage of no income tax. However, many of your costs are higher than the AZ, especially gasoline.

Sounds like good advise.

[gemstone1]

"STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you come down for a month or two and actually spend some time in the town you are interested in. Preferably, do it in April and May"
Those are the pretty months (if pretty could somehow be misconstrued to apply to BHC)....better yet try July thru September to test your heat tolerance. There won't be any snowbirds there then either....and all the boaters from SoCal will be in LHC.

Regards
Gemstone1

[Sockeye66]

Originally Posted by Ex New Yorker

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.

Started looking in that area a few years ago, bought a house for my mother in Rio Rico.

Very safe area and her in her mid 70's was even comfortable walking across the border. It is very much a Hispanic young family area though.


There is a newer, decent hospital about 35 minutes just South of Green Valley then lot's of healthcare services in Green Valley. Major surgery maybe 15 more minutes into Tucson.
Lot's of good homes for sale, some in planned neighborhoods, others with acreage in the hills.

The 2 best advantages? Cost of living and weather. The COL last I checked sat at 82, with median being 100 you can buy a hellofa home for what will get in many places.

Altitude is at 3600-3800 feet, lots of sun coming up and setting behind the mountains but the temps are comfortable. 90's in summer, 60's in the winter. The highs and lows differ about 25-30 degrees so if it's 85 that day, it'll be dropping to 60 that night.

For a few dollars more look at Tubac and there is some beautiful home and country going up hwy 82 to Patagonia but that adds a bit more distance to many amenities.

[Ex New Yorker]

Originally Posted by Sockeye66

Started looking in that area a few years ago, bought a house for my mother in Rio Rico.

Very safe area and her in her mid 70's was even comfortable walking across the border. It is very much a Hispanic young family area though.


There is a newer, decent hospital about 35 minutes just South of Green Valley then lot's of healthcare services in Green Valley. Major surgery maybe 15 more minutes into Tucson.
Lot's of good homes for sale, some in planned neighborhoods, others with acreage in the hills.

The 2 best advantages? Cost of living and weather. The COL last I checked sat at 82, with median being 100 you can buy a hellofa home for what will get in many places.

Altitude is at 3600-3800 feet, lots of sun coming up and setting behind the mountains but the temps are comfortable. 90's in summer, 60's in the winter. The highs and lows differ about 25-30 degrees so if it's 85 that day, it'll be dropping to 60 that night.

For a few dollars more look at Tubac and there is some beautiful home and country going up hwy 82 to Patagonia but that adds a bit more distance to many amenities.

When I lived in New York one of my co-workers was from Tucson and was born and raised there. I've always been fascinated with the Great American Southwest and we used to talk about what it was like in Arizona. This was well before we even considered moving here. He never had anything good to say about anyplace that was close to or on the border especially Nogales and Douglas. He called them "seedy little border towns". So we pretty much crossed all of those places off of our list, with the exception of Sierra Vista.

As I've stated in one of my previous posts:

"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".

One of my friends here is from Yuma, he was born, raised and grew up there. He once told me that whatever you do stay out of Yuma. I asked him: "why is it that bad?" He replied: "Indeed it is that bad". My next door neighbor was from there too. Her mother still lives there and she dreads every time she goes back there.

When moving to a different state everything has to be taken into consideration. Arizona is the sixth largest state in area and there's a lot of places to choose from the cost of living and weather is just one aspect. Now that we've lived here and know people that were both born and raised here and lived here for a long time. There's not too many of them that speak positively about those area's. I can only go by their opinions.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by Hschlick84

I'd even check out Grand Junction, CO or somewhere along the western slope. They barely get any snow during the winter, probably 4-8" and it melts fairly quickly. Their summers are warm and its by the CO river.

Not really true, GJ gets quite cold in the winter and 25-30 inches of snow a year. Very different vibe than Bullhead area.

I think the negativity is a bit overdone as long as you stay out of Bullhead City itself. Everything south of it is newer and has plenty of amenities around so you don't even have to go into Bullhead much. Lots of retirees and work from home people in modern subdivisions that look a lot like being in Vegas, but you can have a pool and much bigger lots for less. Of course the weather is a potential issue, but if you don't like heat you probably won't find Vegas or anywhere in the southwestern deserts acceptable.