Sedona for Early Retirement?

[greenehaven]

Originally Posted by Mikala43

Sedona is one of our top choices for retirement ... We are coming from a higher COL area ... We are still hoping to find an area we like with a lower cost of living, but we always end up returning to Sedona.

Sedona will be a VERY NICE choice Mikala

Traveling around the Great Circle of National Parks here is an everlasting adventure.

Good Luck - Page, AZ

[adventuregurl]

Originally Posted by LeoDaVinci

Going back to Sedona in July is an excellent idea. Its climate is moderate if compared to other locations in Arizona, but in summer you’ll find high temperatures averaging 97 degrees and relentless sunshine during the day. Some outdoor activities may not be as enjoyable as when you experience them at more northern latitudes.

Sedona has good restaurants for a town of its size, but their number is limited. Will there be enough of them to hold your interest, if you live there permanently? Again, that’s a personal call. It all depends on how often you dine out.

Above all, Sedona is isolated compared to most locations on either coast or in the Midwest. The longer you live there, the more this may become crucial. You mentioned Flagstaff, which is a college town whose downtown area can be crossed on foot in 30 minutes. Other parts of Flagstaff are mainly pleasant residential neighborhoods. The total population is less than 70,000 people. Phoenix is two hours away, but it’s often scorching hot and you won’t want to be there. Everything else will be far when you travel by car. So be prepared to drive a lot (which becomes old quickly) to vacation in another state, or use Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport often, which will add ground transportation time to any quick getaway. Flagstaff has its own airport, but it’s serviced by one airline only. They basically fly you to Phoenix.

Leo makes some good points above - I'm a local and love many things about the area but find it too small at times. Many here feel that way but if you get away enough it's not as bad. If you hike here in July I would imagine you'd be going out at about 6 AM and be done by 8:30 AM at the latest.

[43north87west]

If you love the outdoors, then Sedona will never bore you. It's an outdoors person's mecca. Coming from Phoenix, Sedona's summer temps don't deter me at all. In fact, Sedona in the summer is perfect because the tourists and the snowbirds are gone, and all of the trails and local roads are empty. When the out of state plates go away, it reverts to its laid back self, and seems to attract the people who value the laid back outdoorsy Sedona in all of its forms, cold or hot.

Flagstaff is convenient. I have a house there right now, I think to enjoy it before it gets wrecked and prices go out of touch with reality, but maybe that won't happen. Flagstaff has enough "stuff" so you can get what you need, plus it's nice and cool in summer, so if you get too hot in Sedona, take a nice drive up the canyon. It's not convenient in winter because of weather. There are major big box stores, plus a small mall. It has more amenities than most cities of its size due to the lack of population center anywhere else in Northern AZ. You get the option to play in the snow without having to live in it.

The previously mentioned proximity to major airports to Sedona is a potential issue, though. This keeps me from living there. Sedona doesn't have passenger service that I know of. You can either drive to Prescott and fly to LAX (daily) or DEN (twice a week), or drive to Flagstaff and fly to PHX for a connection. You can also take a shuttle. If you get around a lot, this might not work for you because driving to Phoenix is a 2+ hour addition to your trip in each direction. If you don't leave that often, this might be no problem at all. Obviously you can check out a map and see that driving anywhere from Sedona is not a quick endeavor.