Cheap Retirement in AZ

[Adamson865]

Trailer park? I don't mind the heat (heck, I lived in Palm Springs for a few years and that's up there with Yuma heat) but I don't think I'd want to live where it's in the one-teens or more without central air.

[Katera]

We have saved THOUSANDS per year by moving from Texas to Arizona to retire. It's not even close how much less expensive it is to live here then in DFW. 2 years in AZ and LOVING it.

[davdaven]

Update time... Lots has gone down since the start of the year. The recently retired sister sold the house in San Diego. At the same time, their father passed away. The last sister to retire did so a couple weeks ago. They were very stressed since everything happened at once, and I went down to sort out some conflict, help prep for the sale, and get everybody focused on what needed to be done over their final few weeks in San Diego.

During my visit, I took the retired and newly retired sisters to Yuma to look around. None of us liked Wellton, sorry. They opted to rent in a 55+ park on the northwest side of town to be near family. Both moved to Yuma about 2 weeks ago, taking their mother with them. They've secured one trailer so far and a second will be ready for move-in in a couple weeks. While I would have liked to keep them together, they are at least in the same park. Seems like all the stress has cemented their desire to live separately, at least for now. C'est la vie.

The recently retired sister followed through with her plan to move to her house near Pahrump. Once the other two sisters (plus mom) are settled into their new homes, I will visit to see how everything is going. I know one of the two sisters is inclined to move closer to Pahrump, or change it up in New Mexico or elsewhere in Arizona with better weather. The other sister will probably not venture outside of any structure that doesn't have a/c since she doesn't like hot weather. So we'll see how a summer in Yuma and proximity to other family pans out and go from there.

Looks like I could increase my budget to $250K or maybe even $300K without too much trouble, but with them wanting to live separately, it'll be trickier to find the right house layout if I do end up buying and having them rent from me. My partner and I have talked about touring around the Southwest (I am more familiar with it than she is) to get a feel for where we might want a rental property that could ultimately become a retirement home for us many years down the line.

[Woody01]

If they don't mind a little snow, check up in NE Arizona around Show Low. I had a buddy move there and for $150k he got 40 acres with a big double-wide, incl. well and septic...

[Caladan]

For the sister that is thinking about elsewhere in AZ -- she and you should consider the Green Valley area, which is just south of Tucson. It is far enough away from Tucson to escape the traffic, but close enough to make it very easy to get to Tucson when the need/want arises. GV sits right on I-19, so extremely easy to get somewhere else. There are lots of retirees there as there are a great number of age-restricted communities, but there are also families too as GV is located right next to the small but growing town of Sahuarita.

The nice thing about GV is that there are many types of communities, with a huge range of home prices. Condos, townhomes, manufactured home communities, and regular homes that range from under $200k to over $1m. Something for almost everyone there. The people that live there take pride in their homes and their community, so most house are kept up quite nicely.

Lots of outdoor recreational opportunities there too. Madera Canyon is just a short drive away, and many places in or near Tucson are just a slightly longer drive away. As for temperature, GV is pretty much always a few degrees cooler than Tucson, which itself is usually cooler than the Phoenix area. And BTW, Sierra Vista is even cooler still, but has even less housing inventory than the Tucson area or the GV area.

Also consider the small communities that sit on I-19 between Tucson and Nogales. Tubac and Rio Rico are also great places to live, and are just a very short drive to either GV or Nogales. This is where we ended up, and we love it here. Essentially no issues at all living fairly close to the border. Sonoita and Patagonia are also very nice areas, but comes with extremely limited shopping.

The only downside to buying something in this area is low inventory. There are places for sale, but not a lot. Nonetheless, IMO it would still be worth your time to investigate. No - I am not attached to the Chamber of Commerce. We just love it here.....