Phoenix, the most unaffordable "affordable" place to live (Mesa: condo, neighborhoods)

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

I lived near there. Glad it's still open. The Thrift Store didn't make it. Too much work, too much competition. I think the Teen Center will make it. It's pretty cool. I got a tour of it once. Great place.

Cooperstown is not still open as stated above.

[pathrunner]

I saw that. My post referred to Solid Rock.

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by pathrunner

I saw that. My post referred to The School of Rock.

Oh, my bad.

I just looked out of curiousity and Cooperstown is now a health center of some sort. Too bad as it was a really cool space that seemed so well suited for a restaurant or bar.

[pathrunner]

Yes, it's a shame. I'll check the health club out. Curious to see what it is.

[Justabystander]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Correct. Not mad about it either. Attracting bottom feeders that want nothing other than cheap wasn't serving us well.

Exactly. No city wants to be so affordable that the worst of the bunch from other cities is attracted to your city because they can afford to live there easily. Higher prices in Phoenix might be a good thing for Phoenix quality wise and education wise.

[pbenjamin]

Cooperstown was hard to get into the first couple of years, which made it popular. After that people realized what it was, just a place with overpriced bar food and a waitstaff with eye makeup.

[pathrunner]

What bar isn't?!

[grad_student200]

Originally Posted by jaredC

Granted, I cannot say much on the affordability scale in comparison with other cities similar to Phoenix, as I have lived the majority of my life here. But, as someone who has been living here for nearly 30 years, I can weigh in on how this city is starting to become unaffordable, and yet, we are lauded as a destination that offers inexpensive housing and cost of living.

It is actually a bit worrisome. One can actually have a very good income and yet struggle to find affordable housing. Ten years ago if you made $50K annually, you could go a long way. Buy a house, have a nice car and still have enough money left over for the finer things in life. But in today's Phoenix, $50K guarantees NOTHING. Forget about buying that house, you will be lucky to locate an apartment with 2 bedrooms in a half decent area for under $1500 a month.

It is quite depressing really. Just for the heck of it, I decided to look up some old apartments I lived at ten years ago.

The Renaissance Apartments on 43rd ave and Thunderbird
-I lived on the third floor. One bedroom, and paid around $700-$750/month.
Today that very same floor plan is going for nearly double the price! I was shocked to see it going for
nearly $1400!

Newport Landing, which is now Paseo Park on 52nd ave and Thunderbird
-I lived on the second floor. One bedroom. Around 11 years ago I was paying $600/month.
Today they are going for around $1000. Same floor plan.


All I know, is that I wish I had jumped at the opportunity to buy a house before they started inflating housing costs nearly double what they were two years ago.

I know what you mean. Relative to the local cost of living, I had a salary in software engineering that allowed me to buy a house with 3 bedrooms, a garage, and 1400+ square feet in Tallahassee, FL back over ten years ago. It was well under 200k when I got it. The value appreciated nicely for a few years but crashed. It was underwater. By 2017 it had recovered enough I could sell it at a minor profit.

So, I moved back to my home state of Phoenix. I make well over 100k but it's not enough to buy a home where I live in North Phoenix. Average home costs immediately down the street of my studio apartment (>1000/month) are about 600-700k. Most of them require a down payment of about 100k and an inspection waiver - unheard of in Tallahassee. So, the housing market here is horrible. I am a SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER with a COMPETITIVE SALARY for the market and can't even afford a home in North Phoenix. I guess it takes a JD/PhD in patent law with an annual salary of a million or more to buy a home in Cave Creek these days. Or maybe some lottery winner, dermatologist, or oral surgeon (provided they don't get cyberhacked).

The trick seems to move someplace affordable and get a remote job in the POST-PANDEMIC era where such positions are now widely available. A nice home in Rio Rancho, NM is still very affordable compared to Scottsdale or Cave Creek. There are similar housing markets throughout the country. With my salary I could easily get another home in Tallahassee. It's just not possible in Cave Creek or Scottsdale. This place is ridiculous.

I guess I'll just take advantage of those remote jobs and just find some place like Rio Rancho or a similar affordable town once I decide to settle down. Phoenix is just way too expensive for a modest home. The "front yard" also doesn't exist for a lot of these homes. Many homes have no yards but just driveways and are closely packed.

[CAHLUV]

Originally Posted by grad_student200

I know what you mean. Relative to the local cost of living, I had a salary in software engineering that allowed me to buy a house with 3 bedrooms, a garage, and 1400+ square feet in Tallahassee, FL back over ten years ago. It was well under 200k when I got it. The value appreciated nicely for a few years but crashed. It was underwater. By 2017 it had recovered enough I could sell it at a minor profit.

So, I moved back to my home state of Phoenix. I make well over 100k but it's not enough to buy a home where I live in North Phoenix. Average home costs immediately down the street of my studio apartment (>1000/month) are about 600-700k. Most of them require a down payment of about 100k and an inspection waiver - unheard of in Tallahassee. So, the housing market here is horrible. I am a SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER with a COMPETITIVE SALARY for the market and can't even afford a home in North Phoenix. I guess it takes a JD/PhD in patent law with an annual salary of a million or more to buy a home in Cave Creek these days. Or maybe some lottery winner, dermatologist, or oral surgeon (provided they don't get cyberhacked).

The trick seems to move someplace affordable and get a remote job in the POST-PANDEMIC era where such positions are now widely available. A nice home in Rio Rancho, NM is still very affordable compared to Scottsdale or Cave Creek. There are similar housing markets throughout the country. With my salary I could easily get another home in Tallahassee. It's just not possible in Cave Creek or Scottsdale. This place is ridiculous.

I guess I'll just take advantage of those remote jobs and just find some place like Rio Rancho or a similar affordable town once I decide to settle down. Phoenix is just way too expensive for a modest home. The "front yard" also doesn't exist for a lot of these homes. Many homes have no yards but just driveways and are closely packed.

Yes! Remote is the way to go if possible. I was able to get into a house before this market but if I want to move Im able to still make multiple streams of income regardless of where I decided to live. Not the norm but its definitely a blessing.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by grad_student200

So, I moved back to my home state of Phoenix. I make well over 100k but it's not enough to buy a home where I live in North Phoenix. Average home costs immediately down the street of my studio apartment (>1000/month) are about 600-700k. Most of them require a down payment of about 100k and an inspection waiver - unheard of in Tallahassee. So, the housing market here is horrible. I am a SENIOR SOFTWARE ENGINEER with a COMPETITIVE SALARY for the market and can't even afford a home in North Phoenix. I guess it takes a JD/PhD in patent law with an annual salary of a million or more to buy a home in Cave Creek these days. Or maybe some lottery winner, dermatologist, or oral surgeon (provided they don't get cyberhacked).

Welcome to the power of two incomes (spouse/ significant other). Single people get hammered on their taxes. Even if your spouse gets you a combining income of $210K, that helps a lot (better tax bracket plus more $$'s). Still, I feel for you. Our 29-year-old DD started is at a run rate of around $230K. Give her a year and that will be $50K-$100K more. Since she is single, she is paying $65K in taxes (FICA/Federal). And that is in WA (no WA income tax). That's sickening!

Or you need to be a "consultant". Now, you can write off a portion of your home office, miles, travel (make sure to go to conventions that are in amazing parts of the world, medical, use a KEOGH (up to 25% of income to dodge taxes), training write-off including advanced degrees, write off your computer, part of your phone bill, TP, cell phone, a portion of your utilities, coffee, anything to do with networking, office desk, storage, etc etc. I have a slew of other legitimate deductions on top of that.

Disclaimer: it's not fair for businesses to have all of these write-offs and not the individual. But until the laws are changed, I'm taking them. My free advice to my daughter is to buy into the practice. That's been discussed and will happen this year. As a consultant, expect to get close to a "free" house just with your tax savings. I have at least $40K of legitimate write-offs per year. Sometimes close to $60K (less marginal tax rate). That's not even including my (deffered tax) KEOGH plan.