Monsoon season (Tucson, Sierra Vista, Green Valley: real estate, broker, house prices)

[Jukesgrrl]

brrrinmass,
I've lived here for 4 years in the NW suburb. My experience won't necessary hold true in older areas or very low-lying land. My house is in a development just shy of 10 years old. The Canada del Oro wash runs through here and we've had no problem with flooding in this community. Only in one of the summers I lived here did the wash collect enough water that it stuck around for a week and even then it was nowhere close to full. The wash is mostly a private pathway for the coyotes that rarely venture near moving autos. And in the afternoons I see local kids riding their dirt bikes in it.

This summer it only rained four different times in my neighborhood during the monsoon and no water collected in the wash. The road leading to the front entrance of our development drives right over the wash and the sheriff closes the road if the wash gathers water. Wasn't closed a single time this summer. In the "worst" monsoon since I've been here, the road was closed about four times. But the back entrance of the community leads to a hill that would never flood and we can go in/out that way. The developers/architects here are very cognizant of water runways and drainage. This year the county is going to begin construction on a bridge over "our" wash. The road is closed so seldom the construction will be more inconvenient to me than the flooding! Note that in Tucson monsoon rains can dump a load of water in one place and two miles away it doesn't rain a single drop, even though we might see wind and lightening.

Every lot in our development is banked to run the water away from the houses and the water goes right into storm drains in the streets. The houses don't even have gutters. When it does rain, it rains so hard a gutter couldn't hold the water; it would overflow anyway. The water just runs down the tiles on the roof equally all around the house and since the lot is banked, the water just continues off the property. Lots of us try to collect rainwater for water flowers, but we don't get enough that it lasts long! In my experience, the electricity going out during a monsoon storm is more inconvenient than the water.

I lived in Pittsburgh before coming here, so I know from floods. What they call a flood here is a flash thing and stupid people CAN get hurt in it (hence the Stupid Motorist law), but anyone smart enough to ask the questions you're asking is smart enough to obey the sheriff's roadblocks.

Sorry you have had such a terrible winter/spring in the northeast. If you're thinking of moving here, we had an extremely mild '09-10 winter. It did rain a lot (relatively speaking!) but I never even put my leather jacket on a single time. The extra rain we got this winter made up for the lack of summer monsoon, so we actually had wildflowers this spring. A first since I've lived here.

[Marcy1210]

I lived in Connecticut for all my junior high and high school days, and went to college in Rhode Island, so I have many friends who still live in the northeast, and I hear about the awful rains and flooding they've had. I spent the last 30 years in Colorado, on high ground, and now the last 2 years full time in Arizona and 15 years before that as a snowbird, and am still on high ground. We have landscaping that has water diversions on it so that if there were torrential downpours, or monsoon rains (yes, they get them frequently in Colorado, too) the water would be routed through the washes and away from our property. You do need to read and believe the road signs that warn you to watch for flooding, because as silly as it may seem, flash floods are not unusual during the summer. We made the mistake in Colorado of ignoring one of those signs and almost were swept away during a rainstorm.

Be aware of the weather, be aware of your surroundings, and be aware of the roadsigns. It's like anything else, if you're aware, you'll be fine.

[brrrinmass]

Originally Posted by rbohm

Are the Santa Cruz and Pantano rivers actual rivers? With water and everything, ha ha ha? or are they washes that are normally dry. Do you have actual rivers in the area? Is there any fishing in the local area? I have a small 12" Aluminum boat and was wondering if I should bring it out there when I move or if I should sell it before we get out there.

both were rivers many years ago. the santa cruz river dried up due to a dam built in mexico for irrigation down there. as for the pantano river, i have no idea why it dried up. bring your boat though as there are a number of lakes with in a couple hours drive that you can put the boat on if you choose.[/quote]


RB can you give me the names of any of the lakes so that I could look them up on Google and see what size they are. I am looking for smaller bodies of water that would not overwhelm my little aluminum boat. It is tough to be on a large body of water with a small boat when the winds kick up.

[brrrinmass]

Hey Juke I love to hear the fact that you never had to put on your leather jacket for the whole winter. That is what we are looking for ha ha ha. Tired of the snow. You mentioned wildflowers in the spring. Are you into gardening at all? Just wondering how the gardening is in the southwest. My wife has many flower beds here in Massachusetts. She loves to spend her summer days planting and enjoying the beautiful flowers. I hear that the roses are spectacular in Tucson. What types of flowers grow well in the desert?

[brrrinmass]

Originally Posted by rbohm

Are the Santa Cruz and Pantano rivers actual rivers? With water and everything, ha ha ha? or are they washes that are normally dry. Do you have actual rivers in the area? Is there any fishing in the local area? I have a small 12" Aluminum boat and was wondering if I should bring it out there when I move or if I should sell it before we get out there.

both were rivers many years ago. the santa cruz river dried up due to a dam built in mexico for irrigation down there. as for the pantano river, i have no idea why it dried up. bring your boat though as there are a number of lakes with in a couple hours drive that you can put the boat on if you choose.[/quote]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Well, you DO have to take the "don't drive through a flooded roadway" warnings SERIOUSLY.

When we where there a couple years back during a very substantial monsoon season in late July and early August three folks (in two cars) were all drown (2 different locations) when they foolishly chose to drive through flooded roadways and then were carried off by the current, trapped against some debris of some sort and then trapped in their cars as the water rose around them - and as I said, these two incidents both were the result of the same downpour - they CAN be very dangerous.

Having said that, if you use common sense and don't be an idiot you should be fine (as the vast majority of people are) - and these produce some TRULY SPECTACULAR lightning displays as well as cool and refresh the air.

I LOVE MONSOON SEASON.
Moving there (soon I hope) from cool, damp, gray Seattle - where (despite our famous reputation for rain) we hardly ever get such storms - I can hardly wait for our first monsoon season.



Ken

Lord,

So what is keeping you in Seattle? Is it the real estate market conditions?

[brrrinmass]

Originally Posted by Marcy1210

I lived in Connecticut for all my junior high and high school days, and went to college in Rhode Island, so I have many friends who still live in the northeast, and I hear about the awful rains and flooding they've had. I spent the last 30 years in Colorado, on high ground, and now the last 2 years full time in Arizona and 15 years before that as a snowbird, and am still on high ground. We have landscaping that has water diversions on it so that if there were torrential downpours, or monsoon rains (yes, they get them frequently in Colorado, too) the water would be routed through the washes and away from our property. You do need to read and believe the road signs that warn you to watch for flooding, because as silly as it may seem, flash floods are not unusual during the summer. We made the mistake in Colorado of ignoring one of those signs and almost were swept away during a rainstorm.

Be aware of the weather, be aware of your surroundings, and be aware of the roadsigns. It's like anything else, if you're aware, you'll be fine.

Marcy,

I see you live in Oro Valley. Do you like it there? We were thinking about Sahuarita because it is a shorter (maybe) commute to Raytheon than Oro Valley would be. We looked at some Lennar and Pulte homes while we were there in 2008 and really liked the area with the pecan trees and all. Seemed a little like around here with all the trees. I love the green around here just so tired of the 8 month winters..........

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by brrrinmass

both were rivers many years ago. the santa cruz river dried up due to a dam built in mexico for irrigation down there. as for the pantano river, i have no idea why it dried up. bring your boat though as there are a number of lakes with in a couple hours drive that you can put the boat on if you choose.

Lord,

So what is keeping you in Seattle? Is it the real estate market conditions?

No, we haven't put the house on the market yet. Right now we're doing some repairs and improvements to the house - and since we've lived in it for quite a while we've got quite a bit of decluttering etc to do first too. Hope to put it on the market some time in May. After that we'll have to see how fast it sells. The market IS slow of course, but a house nearby that's pretty similiar to ours had an offer in less than 2 weeks so houses ARE selling. How long it will take to sell OUR house - well I have no idea. If we can sell it by fall I'll be pleased.

Ken

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

No, we haven't put the house on the market yet. Right now we're doing some repairs and improvements to the house - and since we've lived in it for quite a while we've got quite a bit of decluttering etc to do first too. Hope to put it on the market some time in May. After that we'll have to see how fast it sells. The market IS slow of course, but a house nearby that's pretty similiar to ours had an offer in less than 2 weeks so houses ARE selling. How long it will take to sell OUR house - well I have no idea. If we can sell it by fall I'll be pleased.

Ken

Are you moving already? But you haven't built the house here, have you?

[LordBalfor]

Originally Posted by sierraAZ

Are you moving already? But you haven't built the house here, have you?

No, we haven't. We plan to make a trip down there in late spring or early summer, visit some friends in Chandler and start checking out the manufactured home dealerships. Timing and logistics may a be a bit tricky since I don't want to end up still paying for my mortgage up here while having the house sit empty so we're looking to sell the house here and THEN work the final details of putting up the house down there. That means we'll stay with family during the interim. Lots of "logistics" issues to work out, but we'll figure them out. Needless to say though, we want to "grease the skids" regarding the purchase down there so the "interim" is as short as possible.

Ken

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

No, we haven't. We plan to make a trip down there in late spring or early summer, visit some friends in Chandler and start checking out the manufactured home dealerships. Timing and logistics may a be a bit tricky since I don't want to end up still paying for my mortgage up here while having the house sit empty so we're looking to sell the house here and THEN work the final details of putting up the house down there. That means we'll stay with family during the interim. Lots of "logistics" issues to work out, but we'll figure them out. Needless to say though, we want to "grease the skids" regarding the purchase down there so the "interim" is as short as possible.

Ken

So, are you retiring, Ken...? Wow, lucky you! I thought this was looong ways away! Good luck!

There are some really nice manufactured homes - nicer than many regular houses, I'd say. I'm just not quite sure how heating/cooling works with those...