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Old 11-01-2010, 11:40 AM
 
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Hi All,
As a potential relocator to Phoenix in 2011...I have been doing my homework and this site has been a tremendous help....However, while doing my due diligence, can't help but wonder what the way of life will be like in Phoenix/Pace of things/Everyday living vs. Charlotte, NC...I do know that it will not be the same..but how so? If you give me a more intimate view of day to day life for "Phoenicians".
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Old 11-01-2010, 11:55 AM
 
Location: Sonoran Desert
39,108 posts, read 51,313,080 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by westcoastbabe View Post
Hi All,
As a potential relocator to Phoenix in 2011...I have been doing my homework and this site has been a tremendous help....However, while doing my due diligence, can't help but wonder what the way of life will be like in Phoenix/Pace of things/Everyday living vs. Charlotte, NC...I do know that it will not be the same..but how so? If you give me a more intimate view of day to day life for "Phoenicians".
Don't know much about NC, but if you are like many in PHX your life will be spent sitting - either in the car waiting at lights or in traffic jams or on the couch waiting for it to cool off. Though there is much to do, you probably won't take the trouble to find out about it much less take advantage of it. You will go to a couple big events like Tempe New Year or ride downtown on the light rail. You might even hike a mountain or two, go to Westgate or Scottsdale for a night of fun, and take a trip up north before the heat, the distance, and/or the crowds break your spirit and the PHX lethargy sets in. Eventually you will stop going anywhere but to work and start complaining about the city and state being a bore. You will spend hours complaining in City Data about all the perceived failures of the place. You will decide it would have been better to move to NC and, if you can sell your house, you might just do that.

I'm not meaning to discourage you. It takes effort to be happy in this big sprawling city. Many people just can't get it together and find themselves pretty much like described. Others though manage to find the energy or whatever to discover and pursue what is out there and live life to the fullest - traffic or no traffic, heat or no heat, whether near or far away. Those people seem to be the ones that think PHX is paradise on earth. I know plenty of people like this. They truly amaze me.

Last edited by Ponderosa; 11-01-2010 at 12:03 PM..
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Old 11-01-2010, 11:57 AM
 
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Where is the love Ponderosa.....geesh.
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Old 11-01-2010, 12:31 PM
 
Location: Sonoran Desert
39,108 posts, read 51,313,080 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by westcoastbabe View Post
Where is the love Ponderosa.....geesh.
LOL! I spend way too much time on City-Data. I was at a couple of Halloween parties over the weekend with neighbors. It was interesting. I was moaning to whomever would listen about how bad it was here in PHX and did not get even one person who agreed with anything I said. It seems that in my small sample size, there is a great deal of satisfaction with life here. People liked the schools, they love the weather (while everyone is happy to see the heat go, they wouldn't trade for humidity or cold where they came from). These people talked about what they had been doing recently- family camping, shopping in Sedona, hunting for elk in the mountains, Disneyland and San Diego. It just struck me that these people who seem satisfied are doing things.

Then we were out trick or treat last night. So many homes were so done up with decorations. It took a lot of work and showed a lot of pride of ownership and sense of community to do that. People were out in front having little parties. Some blocks had shared set ups with multiple families in the same place. Kids were playing in the streets. Folks at the door passing out candies seemed genuinely pleased to see their neighbors and the kids and the costumes. They chatted easily and everyone seemed happy.

So my dour post is more to the notion that life here is wonderful for many. But for some, like me, it has become a drudgery of the things I mentioned. I think it is easy to fall into the hole I am in. But clearly many, many people live life here to the fullest they can and are very, very happy with the decision to move here. I hope you are one of them if that is your choice as well.
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Old 11-01-2010, 12:49 PM
 
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Quote:
It just struck me that these people who seem satisfied are doing things.
I agree with this, and think it is a key observation that folks relocating should think about. There is so much to do, but you have to get off the couch and out the door first.

Quote:
Then we were out trick or treat last night. So many homes were so done up with decorations. It took a lot of work and showed a lot of pride of ownership and sense of community to do that. People were out in front having little parties. Some blocks had shared set ups with multiple families in the same place. Kids were playing in the streets. Folks at the door passing out candies seemed genuinely pleased to see their neighbors and the kids and the costumes. They chatted easily and everyone seemed happy.
I didn't venture outside my little "village" (or neighborhood within the community), but for every home that was dark and silent, there were two lit with decorations. We started early with the kids and it took as an hour just to go around the block (we didn't even stop at every house, as we did not intend to be gone so long). When we got home we set up chairs outside and handed out candy for another hour... until we were all out. Met several neighbors I'd never spoken to before. It was a good time for us and the kids.
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Old 11-01-2010, 01:24 PM
 
Location: Wisconsin
570 posts, read 1,754,679 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by westcoastbabe View Post
Hi All,
As a potential relocator to Phoenix in 2011...I have been doing my homework and this site has been a tremendous help....However, while doing my due diligence, can't help but wonder what the way of life will be like in Phoenix/Pace of things/Everyday living vs. Charlotte, NC...I do know that it will not be the same..but how so? If you give me a more intimate view of day to day life for "Phoenicians".
You will have great weather from December - March.
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Old 11-01-2010, 01:28 PM
 
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how about lifestyle?
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Old 11-01-2010, 02:49 PM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix, AZ USA
17,915 posts, read 43,462,871 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by westcoastbabe View Post
how about lifestyle?
That's too broad a question. It depends on the lifestyle YOU want, but there are all kinds of "lifestyles" that are successfully pursued here. There's no one kind of "day to day life for Phoenicians". The only one that would definitely be a work in progress is a big city urban downtown lifestyle, although there is a LOT more leaning that way than even ten years ago. Generally speaking, you have to MAKE your life and your lifestyle, anywhere you go. It doesn't just knock on the door with a welcome basket and say hello!

If you have more specific questions, ask away. I hope you will like it here!
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Old 11-01-2010, 03:12 PM
 
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Ponderosa and observer both hit it on the spot.

I moved here from Michigan 5 years ago for school with full intentions of moving back. Yet now thanks to my now wife, im stuck here

The heat here makes you hate life from june to october. You'll complain everyday about living here, but with the weather it is now, you will all of a sudden love life and this place.

I live out in the West Valley and in my opinion, it is the boring side of phoenix. Not a whole lot to do being the west valley is all new. There for sure is stuff to do, but once you do it, unless its a hobby, your done with that and its on to the next thing to find. If your wanting a constant active lifestyle, move to downtown PHX or tempe, there is always something going on, mainly due to ASU. Fun things i do is mountain biking (LOTs of trails), dirt bike riding, and horseback riding.

Take in mind also the culture here, i loved from Michigan with absolutely no hispanic influence to Phoenix where there is spanish billboards and walmarts decked out in spanish wording only. Not a bad thing, just something that throws you off. I was use to everyone knowing each other and neighbors were actually friends who you enjoyed having as a neighbor. With two houses ive owned out here, I have yet to meet a friendly neighbor who i would be ok with walking over asking to borrow sugar. Everyone kind of ignores each other.
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Old 11-01-2010, 03:25 PM
 
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The heat here makes you hate life from june to october. You'll complain everyday about living here
I wouldn't generalize it and say "makes you hate" and "you'll complain everyday". That is true for some people. For others, the heat is not a huge deal. It depends on who you are and what you are used to.
For me, I'm not a big fan of the heat when it hits 105+. Even that is not bad if it is not a humid (monsoon) day. But less than 105 doesn't really bother me. 85-95 is in the "perfect" temperature range (for me). So the heat is only bad (for me) from late June until early September. But I don't hate it. I also don't complain about it.
Will the OP hate it and complain about it? Who knows? But not everbody hates and complains about the summer heat.
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