Relocate to..Arizona or Florida...opinions? (Phoenix, Glendale: real estate, health insurance, condo)

[SirenSong71]

Originally Posted by spoole1

I am a transplant from Northeastern PA. Weather and idiotic school taxes drove me out of the Poconos.
When I decided to move I considered two states: Florida and Arizona.
My son lives in FL, so we spent some time with him and looked at the cost of living, etc. I was sorta convinced to move to the Sunshine State, then they were hit by four hurricanes in a row. Well, that was the end of that!
I then did some finger-walking on the Internet, looking at cost of living, etc, in Arizona. Decided to visit for a month in 2005. We stayed in Laughlin, NV, and looked at the Bullhead City, AZ area. Too crowded and too hot. We took a drive up to the Kingman, AZ area and loved it from the start. About 10-15 delgrees cooler than Bullhead City or any of the cities to the south. Drove out to Golden Valley, (just west of Kingman) and decided this was the place. Beautiful views of mountains on all sides, and very rural!
We moved out here in Novmeber of 2006 and have not regretted it once. Especially at tax time. Our taxes in PA averaged around $8000 a year with local, state and school taxes. Taxes in Golden Valley look to be about $800 a year for everything. Plus, (if you've ever lived in Northeastern PA near New York), the people out here are actually friendly and helpful! (Imagnine that!) Almost reminds me of folks in the south, congenial, friendly and warm. One more thing...it was really humid here yesterday - the weather guy on TV said it was up to 19 percent!
Try Arizona - Try Northwest Arizona - Try the Kingman area - you WILL love it!

Thank you so much for your advice. My hubby and I will be visiting your beautiful state in June. My brother has yet to meet his new nephew and we're dying to see the area they live in. They live in Queen Creek. They absolutely love it.
So do you miss the seasons at all? I've heard someone say that Florida is basically all green land and blue sky and Arizona is all brown dirt and blue sky. IS this true? I know it's a desert but my sister-in0-law insists that I'd be surprised to see how green it is.

[exlexisnexis]

I found a few pics from a hurricane that hit us.

Richard

[MotleyCrew]

We just came back from TX which was very humid that week. I think we made the right choice when coming to AZ instead of FL. This air is really hard to beat. You should stay in both places during different times of the year to make the right choice for you.

[BabyBlue2]

I have lived in FL for 8 years. I always wanted to live here, because I love the beach and the ocean. The summers here are pretty brutal though. Especially, if you are not used to the heat and humidity. Arizona is even hotter, but easier to take, because it's a dry heat.
I am right now thinking about moving to AZ, mostly, because, SFLA becomes way too crowded, and the people down here are not half as nice as they are in AZ. The living expenses are off the hook. You work like crazy just to be able to cover rents or mortgages that are becoming more and more unreasonable.
I don't know how the prices are in Az, but they can't be as bad.

[britter17]

Hi Sirensong,
I grew up in Tampa/St. Pete Florida for 20 years, then lived in Boston and am now moving to AZ. Florida is very humid and you will want to stay in your pool or inside from June to Sept. If you are concerned about school systems, you should check out Pinellas County. Overall, Floridians are very nice. South Florida is a lot hotter and more humid than central florida. I would research WinterHaven or Winterpark over Lakeland. It depends what you are looking for. Also...green. Will you miss all of the green trees and water? That is one thing I am going to miss very much about Florida and Boston as I take a job in the valley of the sun. Although I have been lucky in the Tampa St. Pete area, I never once had sever hurricane damage like the Panhandle or Southern Florida. You might want to research East and North of Tampa. Cheaper housing, more pool options, younger families and off the coast for less sever Hurricane damage. If you want sunshine, I feel that AZ has more sunshine days. Hope this helps a little.

[carecare7]

"In AZ what are the real natural disasters other than some woods burning in North Arizona?"


"Some" woods? My guess is that the families that lost everything in the Rodeo-Chedesky (sp?) fire and the many other fires (one came very close to Tucson in 2004) would argue that point with you. People have lost everything they owned and then some in these terriblle fires. There are flash floods that have wiped out whole towns! That being said, I would still say Arizona is a better bet than Florida if you want to avoid huge natural disasters. Hurricanes do kill far more people and wreak far more damage than the natural disasters we have had in Arizona. If it were me (and I have been to Florida and now live in Flagstaff, AZ) I would choose AZ if natural disasters are something you fear. That is if drought doesn't bother you.

[deangek]

Yes, I'll agree that the weather in the tri-city area ( Prescott, Prescott Valley, Chino Valley) is very nice.

However, you have to deal with the idiots that live in that area. If it wasn't for them, I'd still be living there.

[anikobell]

The public school system is good here. Can you handle 115 degree dry heat and sun beating down on you everyday of your life while you are here? If so then you will be happy here.

Crime is pretty mild here considering what it could be and is in other cities. There isn't much to do in the city and if you dont mind long drives in the hot sun to find some fun you'll be OK. 6 hours to Sandiego, LA and Vegas

[MotleyCrew]

Regarding crime here, I don't think AZ is as bad as some other bigger cities we have gotten lost in. My husband and I just returned from going to downtown Phoenix and took some surface streets. We got a little lost and went down some very questionable streets. It was not bad at all...just some young men exchanging some hubcaps and they waved at us. I am really enjoying life here and from what we read, Florida's crime is far worse.

[yukon]

Lakeland is about half way between Orlando and Tampa, and has a very nice small town atmosphere. Winter Haven is a little closer to Orlando, about 15 miles east of Lakeland. Lakeland is closer to I-4 than Winter Haven, and probably more accessible to Tampa & Orlando. These two areas aren't usually hit by hurricanes - 2004 was a fluke. I'm in Tampa/St Pete, we're probably hit the least of any area in Florida (last major hit was 1921, but of course now I've hexed us).

Major taxes in Florida will be property taxes and sales tax (7% in most areas), there is no state income tax; car registration fees are low. In AZ, you will have a state income tax on all income regardless of source, sales tax (7.95% for most places I shopped at last week), and property taxes (lower than FL, I think). Car registration fees were high (I thought).

I can compare Tampa/St Pete to Phoenix, if that will help any.

Gas last week in Phoenix was about the same as here ($2.93 to $3.09 gal depending on where in the city you were). Food prices were higher in Phoenix. I rent, and so far, it appears that rental prices are similar in Phoenix and Tampa, depending on what part of town you want to live in. We might be a tad lower priced in some areas, but only because we have more older construction in those areas.

I found the people in the Phoenix area to be quite friendly. Lakeland, the Panhandle area, Tampa/St Pete and most of the Gulf Coast side of Florida are the friendly areas of Florida. The rudest area is Hollywood/Ft Lauderdale/Miami, in my opinion (and yes, I've live in all these areas of Florida).

I found traffic to be less a problem in Phoenix, mainly due to the various loops/freeways and the fact that many surface streets go from one end of the city to the other, both north/south and east/west, so there are alternatives to the freeways. We have worse gridlock in Tampa and traffic in Orlando is horrid. If most of your activities will be within Lakeland, you'll have some moderate rush hour traffic but nothing outrageous. I also found the drivers in Phoenix to be nicer, on the whole, than here in Tampa (which really surprised me).

Both states have their good points, so it really just boils down to what you prefer. Here in Tampa/St Pete, things are more casual and move a tad slower at times. Phoenix was a bit busier, but I think saying it was more engergized is a better way of putting it. I had the feeling that in Phoenix, like Dallas, I could set my own pace if I wanted to.

Obviously, things are lusher and greener here in Florida. Parts of the state do have cooler winters (panhandle down to central Fl/Tampa), southern tip of the state has no winter to speak of. I think the west side of the state (gulf side) is a tad less humid than the east side, southern part, and inland areas of the state. Phoenix, of course, has very little humidity but is considerably hotter. Then again, as hot as it was out there last week, there was a nice breeze almost every day that helped.

Both areas have great golf courses.

One important thing to note: you may have difficulty getting homeowner insurance here in Florida. On the other hand, my car insurance will go down by about 50% if I move to Phoenix.