Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 01-25-2010, 02:31 AM
 
12 posts, read 43,907 times
Reputation: 18

Advertisements

Need some help! My family is moving to AZ in the next 6 months from Southern NJ. Problem is, we don't know where to go. We have 3 small children, one in Kindergarden and one in 1st grade so good schools are a must. We want to have lots of land (for our 3 dogs to run) with some horses, chickens and maybe a pig. I DO NOT want to be in a city but I don't want to be too far from a hospital or grocery store either. I realize that this is a huge lifestyle change but we are ready and my mom and dad have been staying in Quartzsite for the last 2 winters and they love it. It is much cheaper to live there than in NJ so this is what we need to do to survive. I am very excited and nervous at the same time. I am flying out there in Feb to start looking for land so any advice or tips on location would be great!! Thanks!!

PS. We were looking in SE AZ. Not too hot, not too cold. We don't like snow but we don't want 115 degree days in the summer.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-25-2010, 09:36 AM
 
4,235 posts, read 13,998,765 times
Reputation: 4252
can you give us an idea of your budget for a house and land?.....thanks

if you don't want real hot summers, nor snow, you may have to budge a bit one way or the other, as you can guess...with the low humidity here, things will cool off a lot at night if the day was hot, though.....SE Az is a good choice, but can be remote from Tucson, the largest city in the area...look at the Sunsites/Pearce threads here in the Az forum....other areas, too

keep in mind that July and August are our humid, rainy months (big afternoon storms)....

lots of choices out here and lower prices now..land nearer to cities will be more expensive...make sure utilities/sewer/septic are already in....soil is usually rocky....
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 11:01 AM
 
13,152 posts, read 21,692,045 times
Reputation: 14029
Kingman. Good schools, affordable land, and mild weather. Land would be even cheaper in Golden Valley next door. However, then the schools aren't as good. Cheap land, and good schools don't usually go together (think about it). But, if you don't mind paying a bit more for acreage, then you can have what you want. In particular, the Kingman neighborhood called Lazy YU would be perfect for you. Minimum acreage is 5 acres I believe. 15 minutes into town. Plus, you're in the Hualapai school district there which is excellent by AZ standards. There are things for kids to do here as well. We have one kid in gymnastics, and another in karate, for example. BTW, we moved here from Rockland County, NY.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 11:42 AM
 
2,942 posts, read 6,490,960 times
Reputation: 1214
Sierra Vista (or, perhaps, Hereford, just to the south of Sierra Vista). You can have a large lot. The weather is just about perfect (although it can be a bit wet in the summer). And you'd be close to plenty of shopping/dining/entertainment/outdoor-activities/hospitals and medical care.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 12:01 PM
 
1,326 posts, read 2,564,660 times
Reputation: 1862
Depending on your budget, I would suggest looking into Prescott/Chino Valley/Prescott Valley. Finding land that is affordable and close to good schools will most likely be your biggest problem. Remember, Arizona is a very dry state compared to the East Coast. You will need to supply ALL feed (i.e. grazing prospects are almost nill) for any horses or any other livestock you will have unless you move to southeast or northeast Arizona. Aside from the good schools (have you thought about homeschooling?), I would suggest St. Johns or St. David. You have not mentioned if you will need to find work. If so, that will severly limit where you might be able to look.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 03:47 PM
 
Location: Gilbert, AZ
1,384 posts, read 4,280,693 times
Reputation: 1037
Quote:
Originally Posted by threeps View Post
PS. We were looking in SE AZ. Not too hot, not too cold. We don't like snow but we don't want 115 degree days in the summer.
Safford, AZ
Thatcher, AZ
Willcox, AZ
Sierra Vista, AZ
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 04:08 PM
 
Location: arizona on the border
687 posts, read 2,939,538 times
Reputation: 395
Sierra Vista
St David
Benson
Sonoita
Patagonia
The last 2 will be about 25 miles from alot of shopping. Sonoita will give you the wide open expanses experience.
Patagonia will remind you of some little New England hamlet
Benson will be inexpensive land, but on the interstate
St David the same, just a couple miles from Benson
Sierra Vista....outlying areas. Right now you can buy 4 acres with a nice late model single wide manufactured home for less than 45,000. Pigs, horses, dogs, whatever your little heart desires. Go to realtor dot you know what and put in zip code 85650 for areas around Sierra Vista in the boonies a little.
Areas around Tombstone are good prospects.
Douglas and Nogales will get you into crime rates similar to the cities, same with areas due south of Tucson.
But again the questions...........jobs? are you working or $$$ or retired?
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 05:21 PM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix, AZ USA
17,914 posts, read 43,197,031 times
Reputation: 10719
Quote:
Originally Posted by drb85650 View Post
Sierra Vista
St David
Benson
Sonoita
Patagonia
The last 2 will be about 25 miles from alot of shopping. Sonoita will give you the wide open expanses experience.
Patagonia will remind you of some little New England hamlet
Benson will be inexpensive land, but on the interstate
St David the same, just a couple miles from Benson
Sierra Vista....outlying areas. Right now you can buy 4 acres with a nice late model single wide manufactured home for less than 45,000. Pigs, horses, dogs, whatever your little heart desires. Go to realtor dot you know what and put in zip code 85650 for areas around Sierra Vista in the boonies a little.
Areas around Tombstone are good prospects.
Douglas and Nogales will get you into crime rates similar to the cities, same with areas due south of Tucson.
But again the questions...........jobs? are you working or $$$ or retired?
Not sure of distance to a hospital from these places.

You don't say anything about employment. The more rural the area, the harder it is going to be to find a job. As far as "good" schools, that varies a great deal, too. Generally, the rural schools have a smaller tax base and less money. State funding for schools is in a world of hurt right now, and was never very good.

That doesn't mean they don't do a good job with what they have; you can research schools on sites like greatschools.com
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 05:44 PM
 
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
17,531 posts, read 24,598,622 times
Reputation: 9975
Quote:
Originally Posted by threeps View Post
Need some help! My family is moving to AZ in the next 6 months from Southern NJ. Problem is, we don't know where to go. We have 3 small children, one in Kindergarden and one in 1st grade so good schools are a must. We want to have lots of land (for our 3 dogs to run) with some horses, chickens and maybe a pig. I DO NOT want to be in a city but I don't want to be too far from a hospital or grocery store either. I realize that this is a huge lifestyle change but we are ready and my mom and dad have been staying in Quartzsite for the last 2 winters and they love it. It is much cheaper to live there than in NJ so this is what we need to do to survive. I am very excited and nervous at the same time. I am flying out there in Feb to start looking for land so any advice or tips on location would be great!! Thanks!!

PS. We were looking in SE AZ. Not too hot, not too cold. We don't like snow but we don't want 115 degree days in the summer.
Sierra Vista near Fort Huachuca, Hereford or Tombstone area, cooler and less populated. Not in town but between the towns
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-25-2010, 07:55 PM
 
12 posts, read 43,907 times
Reputation: 18
I am not retired (25 with 3 little girls) and by no means $$$ (again, 3 little girls LOL). I wish. We are more like $$. I receive an inheritance from a family business but my husband still needs to work to make the ends meet. This is one of the main reasons we are moving away from the east coast. My parents are in Quartzsite now and they are going to buy a 20 to 40 acre piece of land (any where that I choose in Southern AZ) and let me put a modular home on it that we will pay about $100k for. I was hoping that we could live off of the land. Maybe breed dogs or sell chicks and chicken eggs or something of that nature. Also, I am a free lance photographer so I kind of just work at my own pace and for myself, plus with my inheritance, I was hoping that we could do something with our land so that my husband wouldn't need to worry about finding a job in the city, he could just work from home. I don't mind driving 20 - 30 mins to a Walmart or grocery store. I don't mind a little snow but would want it to melt once the sun came up. My parents are buying the land and they wouldn't want to sacrifice the kids education for a cheaper piece of land (They are retired). I hope I answered your ?'s. Thank you for all of your help so far. I will be looking into the above mentioned towns ASAP. I do have another question though.....why does all of the bigger pieces (20+ acres) have no electric? My parents will not buy a lot without utilities present. And is it true that the further south you are the more illegal border jumper BS you have to deal with? Thanks again!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top