What draws people to Arizona? (Phoenix, Tucson: for sale, real estate, rental)

[Steve-o]

Originally Posted by MotleyCrew

Be sure to take a shovel with you.

He can take the one he used in AZ to move his rocks (aka "yard") around with. Or do you use rakes for the rocks? I forget.

[HX_Guy]

Originally Posted by Steve-o

He can take the one he used in AZ to move his rocks (aka "yard") around with. Or do you use rakes for the rocks? I forget.

Or a lawnmower.

[Howard Roark]

Maverick974,

I moved to Arizona in the 1990s just for a better job and to leave a small desert community for a gamble of my career going from federal employee to private employee. I moved to Tucson originally. Met a beautiful middle eastern woman, and we lived together a few years. Then I turned my career up a notch and became a consultant. Moved to Phoenix. My permanent address has been in Phoenix ever since.

Back in the early days it felt great to be in Arizona. I felt mature. I could smoke (although I hate cigarrette smoke), carry a gun on my person (openly), ride a motorcycle without a helmet, and so on.

But that was long ago. Now laws have become more draconian. We have become more of a school marm and nanny state. It's less and less fun living in Arizona. For now I just use it as my base address and work in other states. I've been comparing states for several years. I am afraid all states are creating draconian laws like crazy. Over 40,000 new laws were implemented the Monday after New Years Day in the U.S. There are so many things forbidden to do or forced to do, I'm becoming afraid of going out my front door for fear of committing a felony and landing in the cesspool jail of Arpaio's.

[Howard Roark]

Number 4, I agree with. Even in summer when the snowbirds are gone, there are restaurants still giving incredible service and great tasting food.

Number 7: The lawmakers are conservative. the citizens tend to be libertarian. That is a big difference. I side with libertarian. More and more laws are being made against our harmless activities, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

What I love about Arizona


4. Great restaurants - there are some truly amazing places to eat here. Sure it's not New York, LA or SF but outside of those cities, I don't really feel like Phoenix is a loss when it comes to dining. We have all types of food. You can get haute cuisine or road side tacos. Every type of cuisine is here and growing


7. West coast/Libertarian attitude and politics - perfect blend of politics. Socially liberal (relatively speaking) and fiscally conservative (keep taxes low) Barry Goldwater was from here so we have a different type of conservative mindset as opposed to Texas and the South that is Evangelical Conservative. I think people are definitely friendly and feel liberal socially speaking but it's not crazy left wing liberal hippy like Portland either. You won't offend anyone if you said you voted for Bush here but you won't offend anyone if you said you voted for Obama either.

11

[Sarimn00]

As a Minnesotan, I would have to say: the weather. I have a back injury, and the weather changes are horrible. I'm sick of the cold. I'm sick of shoveling snow. I'm sick of driving in the snow. There are parts of this state I will miss, like the lakes in the summer (but not the severe weather), but I can easily get on a plane and visit relatives here in Minny. Hopefully, this is my last winter up here, and I can hardly wait just getting out of two weeks straight of subzero weather (when 20 degrees for a high is a heat wave). I've been to the area in the summer many times, and I would much rather have the heat then the cold.

[maverick974]

Originally Posted by Sarimn00

As a Minnesotan, I would have to say: the weather. I have a back injury, and the weather changes are horrible. I'm sick of the cold. I'm sick of shoveling snow. I'm sick of driving in the snow. There are parts of this state I will miss, like the lakes in the summer (but not the severe weather), but I can easily get on a plane and visit relatives here in Minny. Hopefully, this is my last winter up here, and I can hardly wait just getting out of two weeks straight of subzero weather (when 20 degrees for a high is a heat wave). I've been to the area in the summer many times, and I would much rather have the heat then the cold.

I agree 100%. That's the main reason I'm leaving Oregon. 9 to 10 months of rain and cold to get 2 months of great weather. I'll gladly take 3 or 4 months of hot, dry weather to get 8 or 9 months of beautiful weather and when I say beautiful, it's beautiful for me. 100 degrees is fine with me. I can do anything outside when it's 100 or 105. Not a problem at all. 115 might be a tad warm for my tastes but I can deal with that like everyone else does. Air conditioning, pools, lakes and the occasional trip to So. Cal or the mountains.
Sounds like a great thing compared to what I do now. Huddled in my home for 10 months of the year.
As an example, the weather today on the North Oregon coast is going to be highs in the low 50's, heavy rains with sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts up to 70.
In weather like this, it's an adventure just getting from your car to the doors of the grocery store. Would you want to go outside and play in that??? I highly doubt it.
I'll take the heat for a few months any day.

[Sarimn00]

Originally Posted by maverick974

I agree 100%. That's the main reason I'm leaving Oregon. 9 to 10 months of rain and cold to get 2 months of great weather. I'll gladly take 3 or 4 months of hot, dry weather to get 8 or 9 months of beautiful weather and when I say beautiful, it's beautiful for me. 100 degrees is fine with me. I can do anything outside when it's 100 or 105. Not a problem at all. 115 might be a tad warm for my tastes but I can deal with that like everyone else does. Air conditioning, pools, lakes and the occasional trip to So. Cal or the mountains.
Sounds like a great thing compared to what I do now. Huddled in my home for 10 months of the year.
As an example, the weather today on the North Oregon coast is going to be highs in the low 50's, heavy rains with sustained winds of 40 mph and gusts up to 70.
In weather like this, it's an adventure just getting from your car to the doors of the grocery store. Would you want to go outside and play in that??? I highly doubt it.
I'll take the heat for a few months any day.

Exactly. Minnesota only gets a few months of good weather a year.(and then it is humid) I've been down to Arizona in the dead of summer, and the heat is fine to me. On really hot days (115), we just didn't go outside as much or went outside earlier in the day I'll take it. If I need the snow, I'll go on a trip to Colorado.

[bluebelt1234]

Originally Posted by krock1dk

A fast growing city doesnt necessarily mean it is a good place to raise a family or to raise kids. Much of the Phoenix area's growth is due to lower housing costs, as Californians flock to the Valley to gobble up homes than are maybe half the price of southern CA. In fact, according to the Places Rated Almanac of 2008, the Phoenix Metro Area is the 2ND WORST metro area to live (after only Detroit). Phoenix, as well as the rest of Arizona, is highly overrated--pollution, overbuilt city, crime, horrendous summers, foreclosure central, no jobs anywhere, horrible education, mean people, etc. I used to live near Indianapolis, Detroit and Washington DC, and Phoenix area is bar none the WORST place I've ever lived. I will be getting outta here in about 6 weeks as I head for greener pastures in Wisconsin. I am not even going to look back. Phoenix is best viewed from the rear-view mirror, heading out of town!

Arizona doesn't have any jobs and neither does the midwest. I was looking in Indiana and the market there is bad. Try TX or leaving the U.S altogether. Maybe you should move to CHINA, INDIA, OR MEXICO because they have taken all of our jobs.

[maverick974]

Originally Posted by Sarimn00

Exactly. Minnesota only gets a few months of good weather a year.(and then it is humid) I've been down to Arizona in the dead of summer, and the heat is fine to me. On really hot days (115), we just didn't go outside as much or went outside earlier in the day I'll take it. If I need the snow, I'll go on a trip to Colorado.

Again, I agree.
While it doesn't get anywhere near as cold here, it's always, ALWAYS raining and windy from about mid September to late June. Sometimes later.
When you're wet and cold, nothing is fun.
I'm an avid fisherman but the only time I can fish is during summer. The fishing in Az may not be as good but at least you can dround a lure pretty much anytime of the year.
Just being out on the water, looking at the mountains and the desert landscape works for me. If I can't catch a fish, I'll snap a few pictures.
Sounds like fun to me.

[actinic]

Funny how AZ's weather trumps other important factors (like good jobs, education, etc) for so many people who post here.

Must be a large proportion of older folks posting here who love to complain about the weather they don't miss ... while many of the younger set go elsewhere for better opportunities and different priorities.

Not the best situation for AZ's long term prospects except for the boom in the geriatric sector like assisted living, doctors, drugs, and hospitals.