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Name a place in this country that you think would be a nice place to own a 2nd home. I am going to pick Palm Desert, California. Palm Desert would also be a nice place to retire to. As a sports fan Scottsdale, Arizona would be nice too because you have an NFL, NBA, MLB, and Pac-12 teams there. However, in Palm Desert you can drive to Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego to watch all the sports that you want.
Palm Desert is also a great size. Not too big and not too small. The year-round weather is great with the exception of hot summers although it's a dry heat. The mountains around there are beautiful. Especially in the winter when they are covered in snow. Nothing like playing golf in 75 degree weather surrounded by snow covered mountains. It's pretty cool. I also love the fresh air there. The air quality there is great unlike the Phoenix / Scottsdale area.
In Palm Desert you are only about 2 hours away from the beaches of San Diego, Los Angeles, and Orange County. That is a major bonus which would also be an advantage over the Phoenix / Scottsdale area. The drive to Scottsdale from Palm Desert is about 4 hours so it's about double the drive to the California Coast. The drive to Las Vegas is about 4 1/2 hours so it's about the same. Flying would take about 25 minutes.
Palm Desert has lots of great shopping and many good restaurants. If you like golf there are plenty of good golf courses.
Palm Desert is mostly older people although it is becoming younger as well as becoming more of a year-round place. So there is not much night life for younger people. The crime there is very low. Everytime I go there it's like an episode of "Leave it to Beaver" or an episode of "The Brady Brunch". I always forget about crime when I am there.
Palm Desert is definitely not a big rat race town so most people can't live there because they would not be able to get a job there or not be able to make any money there. That is one of the things that I love there is that when you are there it feels like almost everyone is retired and not working. So you don't have the young rat race work vibe that you get from life in the big city.
There are definitely lots of rich people with 2nd homes and vacation homes there. I could go on and on about that. Regardless of all the wealth there it's still a very layed back and relaxed place.
Palm Desert seems to be more of a conservative Republican town. Although people there are so friendly, relaxed, and layed back that politics really doesn't matter too much. I always laugh though because here in Seattle it seems like every other car has an Obama sticker on it while down there you don't see any Obama stickers on cars. I have seen a few McCain stickers though. Normally though people are so classy and layed back down there that they would rather not rub there politics in your face. Although Palm Desert has more of a conservative vibe, Palm Springs has more of a liberal vibe. Palm Springs is popular place for gay men. Palm Springs definitely has a different vibe and feeling compared to Palm Desert. Both are nice but are just different. Palm Desert has more of a newer suburb vibe and Palm Springs has more of a older city vibe with all the older homes and history there.
Many people from all over North America live there. My parents have a home there and they have neighbors from upstate New York, Pittsburgh, Rhode Island, Atlanta, Kansas City, Canada, Seattle, Los Angeles, and many other places living in the same gated community as them.
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