Edumucate Me On Phoenix

[legion]

Found out today that they are doing a massive reorg at work. Fortunately, I'm in an "understaffed" role, so that means I will get a job offer. The bad news is that they are reducing head count at my location. I can attempt to stay where I am or I may be reassigned to a new location. The possibilities are Atlanta, Dallas, or Phoenix.

I lived in Atlanta for a year, and the traffic was too much for me. It was also much more expensive to live there compared to my salary. I've been to Dallas enough to know that I feel the same about the traffic there (the office is in Richardson).

That leaves Phoenix. I haven't been to Phoenix since 1989. I've heard it's grown? The office is right by ASU. How's the traffic? What does a house cost? My current house, bought in 2015, I paid $227k for and is 3,000 sq. ft., 5 bedrooms, 3.5 bath with a three-car garage. How far away from ASU would I probably end up living and what would the drive be like?

[craigster59]

Phoenix is pretty well spread out. Not as bad as LA but lots of different areas. Gilbert is nice, traffic isn't as bad as ATL or LA. Lots of PHX Pelicans, I'm sure they'll chime in. Very "spoon" friendly.

[yellowperil]

and you hear the word Phoenix, you know you're not going to get paid and you should run for cover.

Canadians know what I'm talking about.

[icemann427]

The main ASU campus is in Tempe. If you want to live in the local area right around ASU so you have no commute, you will pay more for housing. To get what I consider a decent home in that local area, you are going to have to pay at least $350k for a home of approximately 2,200 sqft.

You can do a lot of investigating online using Zillow. Localize where your work is and then play with the map moving it around to different neighborhoods. You will be able to see all the MLS listings in any locale in which you are interested. Further, you can go to google maps, entering starting and ending commute addresses to see how long the commute takes. Make sure you do this during rush hour periods, as the rush hours in Phoenix can be a real pain...

[onewhippedpuppy]

I came pretty close to moving to the Mesa area several years ago, so I did a lot of research. The local PHX area Pelicans are awesome, there are many of them and they were a huge help for me. I loved the city and wish the job would have worked out, even though my kids would have been very sad to leave their friends. Phoenix and Dallas are probably my top two cities that I would relocate to after my kids are grown. Here's my outsider perspective from the research that I did:

Pros: beautiful if you like to be outside. Mountains all around, drive a few hours north to ski, great hiking, beautiful desert, gorgeous lakes. Yes it gets hot, but honestly I'll take 115 in Phoenix over 90 F in KS due to the dry air. You can be active outside all year, which I love. If you have kids you get to pick your own schools, you don't just get pushed into the mediocre school down the street because it is close. Because it has grown so much the atmosphere is welcoming because most people are transplants, you don't get the inbred feel that is common in many smaller midwestern cities (like Wichita). Great car scene that is year round because of the weather. Lower taxes than KS by a lot. Growing economy. Independent mindset and pro-second amendment government.

Cons: traffic can suck, though nothing like ATL or LA. Typical big city traffic in my opinion. For me housing would have been a 50% jump, but my pay wouldn't have jumped that much. $300k in Wichita is an easy $450k in PHX.

Really that's it, like I said I really liked the place. The job just didn't pan out the way that I wanted, but I would definitely consider living there in the future. Also don't write off Dallas, there are some very nice parts of the city and if you are smart, traffic is manageable. Again, nothing like ATL or LA. Really there are a lot of similarities between Dallas and Phoenix, I would give the edge to Phoenix for scenery and weather but the edge to Dallas for lower cost of living.

[KFC911]

No matter where ya land....the commute makes it or breaks it for me...YMMV.

edited: Most of my career, I had a 22 mile commute...30 min by interstate or 30 min on the backroads in the 911 . I don't like stoplights and congestion...

[legion]

I have a 10 minute commute currently. I could probably handle up to 45 minutes of traffic moving at or close to the speed limit. I don't consider stop and go with peaks of 15 mph to be "moving".

[onewhippedpuppy]

Commute is hard because it's so variable. Since you know where the office locations are, take iceman's advice. Use Google maps at rush hour to figure out an approximate acceptable radius in miles for where you would need to live. Then look at options within that radius. If your options are either the ghetto or multi-million dollar homes, your commute may be an issue. After that point start looking at things like the communities, schools, amenities, desired area of town, etc.

[JavaBrewer]

My BIL lives in Tempe and loves it. He spent 15 years in SLC Utah and moved to San Diego. His job took him to Tempe. The local housing is mostly the older track home communities and long time residents are growing frustrated with investors who are buying then renting to ASU students. Like any big city your location is critical. Just a couple streets either way could be good or bad. I agree with online tools for traffic patterns but also consider the family/kids and quality of life. I have been to the area 30+ times and if forced to move there I would rent for the first year to see if it works for me and to truly get a feel of the communities I would consider moving to.

I agree that dry+heat is preferable to humid+heat but you have to draw a line somewhere. Of course I am from SoCal so climate is a big deal to me (I'm paying huge $$$ for it) and would be a top concern. In the really hot months PHX gets crazy hot and even at night it stays in the 3 digits. There is no escape. I have been in a hotel at 1 AM with AC running and could feel the heat radiating from the walls and windows. That said ~ 8 months out of the year its livable and 6 months out of the year it's a glorious place to live if you like rugged/barren/majestic desert. I would live there for those times but can't afford a second home for the other months. Honestly if I were to make that move I would consider commuting from Prescott or similar a couple days a week and try to negotiate a remote worker deal, or worst case, commute 2x a week and find a cheap place to crash for 2 nights.

[masraum]

It's hot. Damn hot. Hot like nothing else you've ever experienced unless you've spent time in an oven. Did I mention it's hot. Yeah, it's a dry heat, like I said, so is an oven.

[ckelly78z]

At this point, I would take HOT, over OMG that cold wind is numbing all of my extremities every day for 3-4 months. PHX sounds like a good place to retire for the active person, or for the younger outdoor sports oriented. Good luck !

[vash]

I don’t think I’ve ever been to PHX in the middle of summer. How hot? 115?

That said I love that place. It is giant. The people seem really nice. Heck I even like Tucson.

Every time I go thru PHX we time is so we do not get caught in traffic. And it is my stop to grab a Whataburger.

[KNS]

I’ve lived in AZ for about 25ish years, much of that in the Phoenix area but also about seven years in Prescott and a couple of years at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Phoenix and most of the surrounding communities are great, with the weather you can do stuff year round and the scenery is gorgeous in areas. The one bad thing, as mentioned, are summertime temps, the worst thing is that it really doesn’t cool off much at night in the hottest months. It might be 90+ first thing in the morning and rise quickly. But... that’s about four months, June-Sept. May can be warm but nice. The rest of the year the weather is fantastic. I’ll take it any day over gulf coast sticky or upper Midwest freeze.

If you need an escape in the summer you can head up to Flagstaff, Prescott or Payson for respite. I wish there were more driving roads, there are some good ones but growing up in Cali there ought to be more.

[KNS]

Oh, and if you’ve lived anywhere with big, green trees it will take an adjustment to get used to the scrawny, desert trees. At least you don’t have to rake...