California transplant has forgotten what it's like to live somewhere else (Phoenix: 2015, rent)

[Burkmere]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Guess what turned California from somewhat swing state to deep deep blue? Your peers leaving. The 4 million middle class Californians who left were overwhelming Republican.

And California is only going to get worse. They have hit the point of no return. I took my money and left along with millions of others.

Good luck Jerry Brownians.

[49erfan916]

Originally Posted by Burkmere

And California is only going to get worse. They have hit the point of no return. I took my money and left along with millions of others.

Good luck Jerry Brownians.

I'm on the hunt too. I have visited Phoenix and I loved it, but I am going to visit Nashville and Raleigh this summer.

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by Potential_Landlord

Guess what turned California from somewhat swing state to deep deep blue? Your peers leaving. The 4 million middle class Californians who left were overwhelming Republican.

I have to disagree. Most Californian transplants moved to Washington and Oregon in the 80's and 90's. Those states are now solid blue states in part due to Californians transplants. In the last 10 years Californians started moving to states like Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. Of those three, Colorado and Nevada are now blue states, again, thanks to California transplants. And I predict that Arizona will join the western wall of blue states in the very near future thanks to California transplants.

[AzScorpion12]

Originally Posted by Angelino19

I have to disagree. Most Californian transplants moved to Washington and Oregon in the 80's and 90's. Those states are now solid blue states in part due to Californians transplants. In the last 10 years Californians started moving to states like Nevada, Colorado, and Arizona. Of those three, Colorado and Nevada are now blue states, again, thanks to California transplants. And I predict that Arizona will join the western wall of blue states in the very near future thanks to California transplants.

Thanks for what? Ruining your state then leaving and trying to ruin others? If California is such a utopia then why are most leaving? Why leave a place then complain the next place isn't the same as the same hole you're leaving? I deal with many people who have moved here from CA and I say most are middle class conservatives or right leaning independents who left because the left there are completely insane.

OP,you should really come out here and spend time and get a good feel for the area. Don't come now but come in mid to late June and make sure you can deal with the heat as that's something not everyone can deal with. You'll get a lot more house for your money here and most things are cheaper but if you can't stand the heat and you're going to lock yourself inside for 4-6 months you'll be miserable here. One plus is you can get away and head to Flagstaff and escape the heat in a little over 2 hour drive. I have a few customers who actually just head back to CA and visit family for long weekends and that helps them get away from the heat a few times throughout the summers.

[wase4711]

everything Gixxer1K posted is true
people are flocking out of the "land of fruits and nuts" because it NOT any sort of Utopia..

Cant imagine Arizona EVER being a Blue state..

And coming from the Midwest, last summer wasnt the nightmare everyone says it is; although I dont have to work and live a "normal" schedule anymore, getting my stuff done in the am, or after the sun goes down was simple; plus, if you remember to try and stay out of the sun, the heat is less intense..
And, as others have said, its a short drive to cooler weather, and a gorgeous drive as well!

I've felt like I am on vacation from the first day we moved here, and I still do..

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by MuscleCar

I grew up in the Midwest and took a job in California 15 years ago.

You don't really begin to know what's going on with the world until sometime in your late teen years. By that account I figure I've spent more conscious time in California then in the Midwest.

I have a lot of friends and I know a lot of people from the Midwest move to Phoenix.

I know that California is a tough place to live, but I've been doing it so long now I think I have tunnel vision. I tell people I would like to leave but they just tell me I'm going to make less wages in another state and it doesn't make much difference. But I also see some people leave California and they say they love their new home, and never look back.

I make 70K year in aerospace, and have a $2000 mortgage. So that being said any other discussion about living in Phoenix is on the table. Thanks

I'm a third generation native Californian, and moved to Oklahoma ten years ago. There are times when I miss it, but mostly people I haven't seen for a while. And I'm standing firm on my politics. But then I lived in a county where the general run of it didn't match me either. But I moved for a lot of reasons. Smog was a huge one. I ran out of breath on a summer day. A doctor told me I had about two thirds normal lung capacity which was common for people in heavily smoggy areas. No breathing problems here. But the thing which really ties it is that people are not in a hurry, and I've never been good at rushing. When I was a kid in the fifties and sixties, the west coast was faster paced than the middle states, but it wasn't so obsessed with rushing. Its the rushing which drives me nutty out there. Nobody here is hurrying along just to get there faster here. I'd love to move somewhere out of the city, maybe in norcal, (one place in particular, called Shingletown, where we tried to sell so we could move there, sigh...).

You can't move away from a place without having the warm memories of places not yours anymore, but its easy to forget that they change too, and that dreamland might not be the same place as your happy memories.

And its not until you really do let go of that illusion, for its really true you can't go home again, that you can really adopt your new place as *home* and allow yourself to BE a part of it. This doesn't mean that you love everything about it. But it means that you can *find* things which you do love, and it becomes something which is home enough that you have connected.

Life is a journey, not a one way ride, and as we grow and travel, we discover new places we've never let ourselves go ever before. That's what keeps us from growing old and regretful and lonely.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by wase4711

everything Gixxer1K posted is true
people are flocking out of the "land of fruits and nuts" because it NOT any sort of Utopia..

Cant imagine Arizona EVER being a Blue state..

And coming from the Midwest, last summer wasnt the nightmare everyone says it is; although I dont have to work and live a "normal" schedule anymore, getting my stuff done in the am, or after the sun goes down was simple; plus, if you remember to try and stay out of the sun, the heat is less intense..
And, as others have said, its a short drive to cooler weather, and a gorgeous drive as well!

I've felt like I am on vacation from the first day we moved here, and I still do..

People are flocking out of California? Based on what data? Sounds like something you’re parroting without solid insight.

“The land of fruits and nuts” is also such a childish, foolish thing to say. As if you can possibly put 40 million people into the same myopic box.

[fluffythewondercat]

Originally Posted by Angelino19

You stated "Arizonans generally don't believe in restricting other peoples' rights." All I have to say to that is Sheriff Arpaio. That alone is enough reason not to move to a place like Arizona, Mississippi, or Alabama.

Good. That means more of Arizona for me.

Please do stay in the mess you've helped create.

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by Gixxer1K

Thanks for what? Ruining your state then leaving and trying to ruin others? If California is such a utopia then why are most leaving? Why leave a place then complain the next place isn't the same as the same hole you're leaving? I deal with many people who have moved here from CA and I say most are middle class conservatives or right leaning independents who left because the left there are completely insane.

OP,you should really come out here and spend time and get a good feel for the area. Don't come now but come in mid to late June and make sure you can deal with the heat as that's something not everyone can deal with. You'll get a lot more house for your money here and most things are cheaper but if you can't stand the heat and you're going to lock yourself inside for 4-6 months you'll be miserable here. One plus is you can get away and head to Flagstaff and escape the heat in a little over 2 hour drive. I have a few customers who actually just head back to CA and visit family for long weekends and that helps them get away from the heat a few times throughout the summers.

I know Arizona very well. I have relatives in the Phoenix area and Tucson. My parents were both born in Arizona and moved to California in the 50's. As a child and an adult I visited Arizona countless times. Although my mother's family stayed there, all my aunts an uncles on my dad's side followed my father to California, and just like my parents they never considered moving back. I know all about the Arizona heat and torrential summer down pours in southern Arizona. Our Great Grand Mother, on my dad's side, was born in Arizona in 1872, before it became a state. She died in 1966 in California at the ripe old age of 94 having lived most of her life in California.

I loved visiting Arizona as a kid but as an adult there's nothing about Arizona that appeals to me. I'm a Californian through and through, and love my state, it's beautiful cities, it's incredible diversity, it's majestic mountains, beautiful coast line, etc.

[Angelino19]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

I'm a third generation native Californian, and moved to Oklahoma ten years ago. There are times when I miss it, but mostly people I haven't seen for a while. And I'm standing firm on my politics. But then I lived in a county where the general run of it didn't match me either. But I moved for a lot of reasons. Smog was a huge one. I ran out of breath on a summer day. A doctor told me I had about two thirds normal lung capacity which was common for people in heavily smoggy areas. No breathing problems here. But the thing which really ties it is that people are not in a hurry, and I've never been good at rushing. When I was a kid in the fifties and sixties, the west coast was faster paced than the middle states, but it wasn't so obsessed with rushing. Its the rushing which drives me nutty out there. Nobody here is hurrying along just to get there faster here. I'd love to move somewhere out of the city, maybe in norcal, (one place in particular, called Shingletown, where we tried to sell so we could move there, sigh...).

You can't move away from a place without having the warm memories of places not yours anymore, but its easy to forget that they change too, and that dreamland might not be the same place as your happy memories.

And its not until you really do let go of that illusion, for its really true you can't go home again, that you can really adopt your new place as *home* and allow yourself to BE a part of it. This doesn't mean that you love everything about it. But it means that you can *find* things which you do love, and it becomes something which is home enough that you have connected.

Life is a journey, not a one way ride, and as we grow and travel, we discover new places we've never let ourselves go ever before. That's what keeps us from growing old and regretful and lonely.

Well said !!