?-Possible move to the Phx area (advice & thoughts)

[ohyellowbug]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

I suggest that you also try "Glassdoor" for jobs. It is pretty good and gives a fair amount of info about the companies and what the jog pays.

https://www.glassdoor.com

I lived in Phoenix and it would definitely be my second choice to live after California, probably Gilbert or Chandler. I have lived in many places and Phoenix was definitely better than Texas, Florida, etc.

Thanks! I’ve used Glassdoor before, but haven’t checked it out for phx yet.

[ohyellowbug]

Originally Posted by Returning2USA

3 hours?

Sorry, off topic.

I used to live in DC. Where are you commuting to and from, if I may ask?

And if you come to Phoenix, welcome!

I can spend 1-1.5 hours in the AM depending on traffic and I was spending another 1-1.5 to get home, but I have found back way and I spend about 45 mins to an hour coming home. Still way to much time in my car.

[locolife]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

Seriously? Phoenix is notoriously one of the most sprawling metros in the nation. Dallas and Houston do have more sprawl overall, but they're also larger in population. When the Phoenix area grows to the current size of those 2 metros (and it will), you will definitely see more sprawl here. It's already happening. To make matters worse, a lot of our outward development is defined as "leapfrog sprawl". See Maricopa, Buckeye, and San Tan Valley for a few examples of this. As for traffic, I'm guessing you don't drive much during rush hour, but some of the freeways are fully congested in both directions now ... this was not the case just a few years ago. No, we're not quite as congested or sprawled out as Dallas or Houston, but saying that the sprawl & traffic in Houston & Dallas "are on levels Phoenix won't ever see" is untrue.

It's all personal preference as you stated ... and as for me, I don't see the appeal of living at the base of a mountain, especially the so called mountains around here. They're home to rattlesnakes and other creatures which I don't care to associate with, and they're brown & generally unattractive. As for all the hiking & horseback trails, it would be much more appealing to live in a rural area or a small town like Payson or Wickenburg (not the nation's 5th largest city) if a person wanted that lifestyle. You could have nature pretty much all to yourself, and not have to contend with all the amateurs who litter the preserves with their trash, or waste our tax money getting rescued.

I noticed you didn't address BCEagle's comments about the number of Fortune 500 companies in the Texas cities compared to here, as well as the fact that Texas has no state income tax. Both of which tend to go hand in hand because there's no need for an income tax there due to all the revenue generated by the industry ... and besides, I'm sure many Texans who are still pretty conservative wouldn't appreciate paying an income tax. Also, what few national/global HQs we have are often located in suburban office parks instead of downtown where they should be. Even a regional firm like Chase is moving out of the downtown tower into various other locations, including south Tempe! As a result of this, we're seeing much more congested traffic in the suburbs. All this does is lead to more sprawl, and reduces the appeal to live in the central core ... which if I recall, you're an advocate of.

Seriously? Yes.

1. Phoenix metro has geographic boundaries that prevent cities from growing forever, Scottsdale is pretty much capped, Tempe is capped, Chandler is just about there, Gilbert is just about there, and you're seeing the metro fill in. This growth spurt has been nothing like the others here. Unless buyers decisions suddenly flip back to loving life 30+ miles outside of town I don't see us ever catching up. The idea that were catching up is also incorrect, they're both growing faster then Phoenix. We'll never "catch up."

2. Phoenix has water limitations that don't exist there, we won't be able to grow forever, we aren't hitting limits yet but we have hit a point where water supplies are diminishing. Growing up uses less water than growing out, so we'll see more pressure on this in the future.

3. As for traffic, you're right, I don't drive a ton in it because I live close to work, something I always recommend newcomers do. I actually pedal in a fair amount because we've got an amazing network of bike paths that get me from home to work with limited street crossings. But I do drive at least 3 days a week and have places to go after work fairly regularly, which puts me in our afternoon rush every week. I also travel a lot for work, do you? Have you tried commuting around Houston lately? It's on a completely different level than anything we have here, the 2018 INRIX study shows in numbers how much more time is spent in car in Houston than Phoenix, it's not minor.

4. You may not like our preserves but millions of us do, I for one based my decision on where to live on access to one of the largest preserves in the area and know thousands of others that do. Sorry you're worried about snakes and other critters, I've been hiking/biking and volunteering my time in our preserves since I moved here 17 years ago and never had a problem. Most years I don't even see a snake despite spending 5-10 hours a week out on the trails and when I do, I simply let them move on and go on my way as I would any other animal I encounter. I see far more rabbits, squirrels and coyotes than I do snakes.

There's a lot of passionate people that support our trail systems, I love seeing that in the community. Again, if you need to live in a big city and you love the outdoors Phoenix is hard to beat. Living in Wickenburg is not even close to comparable, sorry.

5. The need for having a fortune HQs in your home city has never been less important for growing a career. I happen to work for one who is HQ here and we have offices all of the country with people who do very well in their career, not being at the home office. Every major company has regional offices in cities outside of their home office, State Farm is a great example here, HQ is in IL but the West Regional HQ is here, which has even been beneficial from job creation as well as selling the naming rights to the Cards stadium. There are countless others including Intel, Honeywell, GM, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, OpenDoor, Wells Fargo, Chase, American Express, and Boeing.

Fortune HQs are nice to haves, more than 99% of us will never be CXOs at fortune companies and will be able to do just fine even if we aren't based at a companies HQs.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by locolife

Seriously? Yes.

1. Phoenix metro has geographic boundaries that prevent cities from growing forever, Scottsdale is pretty much capped, Tempe is capped, Chandler is just about there, Gilbert is just about there, and you're seeing the metro fill in. This growth spurt has been nothing like the others here. Unless buyers decisions suddenly flip back to loving life 30+ miles outside of town I don't see us ever catching up. The idea that were catching up is also incorrect, they're both growing faster then Phoenix. We'll never "catch up."

2. Phoenix has water limitations that don't exist there, we won't be able to grow forever, we aren't hitting limits yet but we have hit a point where water supplies are diminishing. Growing up uses less water than growing out, so we'll see more pressure on this in the future.

3. As for traffic, you're right, I don't drive a ton in it because I live close to work, something I always recommend newcomers do. I actually pedal in a fair amount because we've got an amazing network of bike paths that get me from home to work with limited street crossings. But I do drive at least 3 days a week and have places to go after work fairly regularly, which puts me in our afternoon rush every week. I also travel a lot for work, do you? Have you tried commuting around Houston lately? It's on a completely different level than anything we have here, the 2018 INRIX study shows in numbers how much more time is spent in car in Houston than Phoenix, it's not minor.

4. You may not like our preserves but millions of us do, I for one based my decision on where to live on access to one of the largest preserves in the area and know thousands of others that do. Sorry you're worried about snakes and other critters, I've been hiking/biking and volunteering my time in our preserves since I moved here 17 years ago and never had a problem. Most years I don't even see a snake despite spending 5-10 hours a week out on the trails and when I do, I simply let them move on and go on my way as I would any other animal I encounter. I see far more rabbits, squirrels and coyotes than I do snakes.

There's a lot of passionate people that support our trail systems, I love seeing that in the community. Again, if you need to live in a big city and you love the outdoors Phoenix is hard to beat. Living in Wickenburg is not even close to comparable, sorry.

5. The need for having a fortune HQs in your home city has never been less important for growing a career. I happen to work for one who is HQ here and we have offices all of the country with people who do very well in their career, not being at the home office. Every major company has regional offices in cities outside of their home office, State Farm is a great example here, HQ is in IL but the West Regional HQ is here, which has even been beneficial from job creation as well as selling the naming rights to the Cards stadium. There are countless others including Intel, Honeywell, GM, Amazon, Microsoft, Uber, OpenDoor, Wells Fargo, Chase, American Express, and Boeing.

Fortune HQs are nice to haves, more than 99% of us will never be CXOs at fortune companies and will be able to do just fine even if we aren't based at a companies HQs.

+1

Excellent post.

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by KurtAZ

Hey...get it right...it is over 100F here 3-4 straight months out of the year. 2 months would be a mild summer.

Since the triple digits start in May and end in September, we're talking about FIVE months of triple digits.

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by timothyaw

Since the triple digits start in May and end in September, we're talking about FIVE months of triple digits.

Why are you people talking about 100 degree days. Everybody knows that Phoenix is hot. I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and the heat never bothered me. I like hot dry weather. I also lived in SE Florida for 8 years and I couldn't stand it because of the high humidity.

My point is that if you don't like hot weather then Phoenix is not for you. If you don't mind it then Phoenix is not a bad choice.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

Why are you people talking about 100 degree days. Everybody knows that Phoenix is hot. I lived in Phoenix for 5 years and the heat never bothered me. I like hot dry weather. I also lived in SE Florida for 8 years and I couldn't stand it because of the high humidity.

My point is that if you don't like hot weather then Phoenix is not for you. If you don't mind it then Phoenix is not a bad choice.

And 100 degrees here is not a big deal.