Not going to do it! (Phoenix, Tucson: how much, home, neighborhoods)

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by BillyBobJoeBobWilly

Outside of insurance, there's still the HOA and Matchbox house issues.

True. Still I can't imagine what you can get in Florida, unless it is in some redneck backwater swampland, for the money you were talking about. Florida used to be more expensive than here. When I visited there (central) it seemed as if every square inch was developed and crawling with humanity. Not too many large acreages with tiny houses on them. As for HOAs, well I think most people live with it and I never heard of anyone wanting to leave because of HOAs. Also, with all those old blue hairs moving to Florida from New York and worried about their home values, you don't have HOAs? Find that hard to believe too. Anyhow, good luck in your decision.

[ElizaTeal]

Enjoy Florida, you couldn't pay me to live in that humid petri dish.

[kdog]

Originally Posted by BillyBobJoeBobWilly

Sorry Kdog.

What I meant to say was "anyone else want to list where they would not have these problems in Arizona.

BB

Outside of insurance, there's still the HOA and Matchbox house issues.

No sweat. I was probably a bit short myself. I've been spending too much time on this forum rather than working.

Why don't you tell us a bit more about you? Will you need work? Have kids? Want to live in an urban area, or in isolation? HOA and matchbox homes aren't an issue in the middle of the desert, but power and water could be.

We're in a small town in northern AZ. Nearest big city is Las Vegas, about 100 miles away. I would call our town quaint in a lot of ways. We're on the old Rt66, but also on I40, and 93 towards Vegas. So it's very centrally located. Lot's of history here. No HOA in my fairly new neighborhood, but there are CC&Rs set by the builder. I actually like the CCRs because among other things, it restricts the homes to single story. That's awesome because it preserves the great views we have here. There are other areas with HOAs too. You can find matchbook homes here, but you can also find homes on multiple acre lots. You can buy a big non-matchbook home if you want to live a few miles out into the county. So Kingman here is just one example. Sky's the limit really. Depends on what you want. Whatever it is, you have to be comfortable in the desert. Think extremes of hot and cold, and generally sandy and sometimes windy conditions. Frankly we love it.

[BillyBobJoeBobWilly]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

True. Still I can't imagine what you can get in Florida, unless it is in some redneck backwater swampland, for the money you were talking about. Florida used to be more expensive than here. When I visited there (central) it seemed as if every square inch was developed and crawling with humanity. Not too many large acreages with tiny houses on them. As for HOAs, well I think most people live with it and I never heard of anyone wanting to leave because of HOAs. Also, with all those old blue hairs moving to Florida from New York and worried about their home values, you don't have HOAs? Find that hard to believe too. Anyhow, good luck in your decision.

You must have visited Orlando. I'm about 2 hours from there and yes, there are NO HOAs where I am and YES, I've heard of ppl wanting to leave because of HOAs. Just go to the Phoenix forum and look.. ppl coming from other areas (Motorcyclegirl, and others) who have had the bad end of the stick from HOAs. In my opinion they are evil.

[BillyBobJoeBobWilly]

BTW, I'm buying a foreclosure at that price. It sold in 05 for 345k (very over priced) so it just yo-yo'd back down.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by BillyBobJoeBobWilly

You must have visited Orlando. I'm about 2 hours from there and yes, there are NO HOAs where I am and YES, I've heard of ppl wanting to leave because of HOAs. Just go to the Phoenix forum and look.. ppl coming from other areas (Motorcyclegirl, and others) who have had the bad end of the stick from HOAs. In my opinion they are evil.

Yeah, we were just doing the tourist thing. I sometimes think "Gee, I'd like to live here" in places I go to - probably most of them - but never had that about the swatch of Florida I went to. I've got to have ToPoGrapHY. Having lived in the west for so long, I feel like a fish out of water without a mountain nearby. I'll even take steep green hills, but Florida has to be about the flattest place I have ever seen. Nice ocean though.

[BillyBobJoeBobWilly]

yeah, we try to stay as far away from Orlando as possible. I lived there in the 80s and 90s and it was ok.

I really like the west. I lived in California for 7 years and visited Arizona (Phoenix and Sedona). I would like to live out there but this is what I'm looking for:

Wide open spaces. California, while nice, was expensive and crowded. I grew up in Florida with nothing but woods around me. Went horseback riding nearly everywhere. Went camping, hiking, all outdoor things.

I want to see the night sky and not have to listen to my neighbor's dog's Incessant barking. I would like to see wildlife (animials, not bars). Nature Nature Nature. I need to work. I currently work as a computer programer with hardware experience (all around abilities). I also have nearly 20 years as a pastry chef. My wife will want to do something in accounting. And we have a 6 year old son.

Oh, and I'm an avid 4 wheeler (Jeep CJ8/Scrambler)

BB

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by BillyBobJoeBobWilly

yeah, we try to stay as far away from Orlando as possible. I lived there in the 80s and 90s and it was ok.

I really like the west. I lived in California for 7 years and visited Arizona (Phoenix and Sedona). I would like to live out there but this is what I'm looking for:

Wide open spaces. California, while nice, was expensive and crowded. I grew up in Florida with nothing but woods around me. Went horseback riding nearly everywhere. Went camping, hiking, all outdoor things.

I want to see the night sky and not have to listen to my neighbor's dog's Incessant barking. I would like to see wildlife (animials, not bars). Nature Nature Nature. I need to work. I currently work as a computer programer with hardware experience (all around abilities). I also have nearly 20 years as a pastry chef. My wife will want to do something in accounting. And we have a 6 year old son.

Oh, and I'm an avid 4 wheeler (Jeep CJ8/Scrambler)

BB

That's the paradox of the west: millions of acres of public land for recreation and everyone packed into cities where the jobs are. I have a friend I went to high school with. He lives in northern Wisconsin in the middle of several wooded acres. He told me one time, "I just want to be able to walk out my front door and take a pi55". I can relate to that.

[MotleyCrew]

We entertained moving to FL before the last huricane blew our realtor to the moon and it took us 5 months to find her again. We decided to get out of the Phoenix airport and take a drive around and boy and I glad we did. I love the ecology of Florida but you can keep your property taxes and your homeowner's insurance rates there. I agree that Florida has that tourist kind of attraction to it, especially around Disneyworld, which we would have been sick of by now. I love AZ and the HOA's do not bother us, we have a great one in Vistancia. Besides, I am confident that AZ will recover economically far sooner than Florida or CA. To each his own!!!

[kdog]

Originally Posted by BillyBobJoeBobWilly

I want to see the night sky and not have to listen to my neighbor's dog's Incessant barking. I would like to see wildlife (animials, not bars). Nature Nature Nature. I need to work. I currently work as a computer programer with hardware experience (all around abilities). I also have nearly 20 years as a pastry chef. My wife will want to do something in accounting. And we have a 6 year old son.

Oh, and I'm an avid 4 wheeler (Jeep CJ8/Scrambler)

BB

Wow, you sound like me. Except for the pastry chef thing, but I have my own creative side, woodworking. You have Arizona written all over you. Wildlife, off-road, exploring, hiking, we have it all here. I'm a software engineer as well (sounds better than computer programmer ), but I work remotely for a company in CA. Your wife could work anywhere. You ought to open up a computer/IT shop in a small AZ town somewhere.