Might move to Phoenix... or Bay area. Thoughts on living there?

[Small_words]

Hey, for work I might be moving to Phoenix. I've been around Edwards AFB but never Phoenix, outside the airport at least. What are people's thoughts on the place?

-Edited title to include Cali. New job development

[Seanz0rz]

i was there for about 6 hours about a year and a half ago. i found the interchanges on the freeways confusing, other than that, looked pretty nice. im not real into the desert landscape thing, i really prefer trees and grass and stuff. even in november, it was hot in the evening.

bottom line: would I move there? probably not. is it a nice place, yes.

you being from oregon, you might not like it so much. you have the monsoons that come up in the summer, but thats about it for rain.

[JOSHH]

Weather wise, it's totally the opposite from where you are coming from. It's a big city, and spread out. We have our share of traffic because of it. Plenty of wheelin on the outskirts, lots of rocks. Houses are cheap right now. That's all I can think of right now.

[corax]

. . . . and if you get a ticket from the photo radar things on the 101 just ignore them. If you respond, you owe the money - otherwise after 90 days the ticket gets dismissed (by law :D )

[DHC6twinotter]

Last time I was in Phoenix was probably 15 years ago, but I remember thinking it was a pretty nice place back then. My aunt and uncle used to live there, and my aunt was a principle at a high school there. Not sure how it is now, but I've never heard anything bad about it (other than the heat). Personally, I'd probably never move there, but a visit would be nice. Flagstaff would be more ideal, IMHO. :D

All the little water mister deals throughout the city are neat, and the revolving restaurant on top one of the hotels is pretty cool too.

[4x4mike]

I visited in April a few years ago and it was hot. Even the pool was hot. I remember just as much smog as CA and going to sleep and waking up in the heat. My buddy's dad said they run their AC most hours of the day in the summer and tend to drink a lot because that's all there is to do to beat the heat. We did some mountain biking right out of town which was good, lot's of sharp shale. Another plus is open carry and just driving out to the desert to do some shoot'n and wheeling.

I hear my buddy's dad is getting a new car. I guess his old was one crushed when the suguro (sp?) next to his house fell over. Those suckers are huge and I hear, quite heavy.

[Robinhood4x4]

The most striking thing about phx is how brown everything is and how flat everything is. Traffic is a piece of cake compared to Los Angeles or the Bay area. The freeways are much easier than California because they don't have to follow the contours of the hills. The streets are on a grid and the freeways either run north and south or east and west.

The heat turns on around the end of april and finally cools off around oct or Nov. I think the rest of the year it's nicer here than northern or southern california. Our electrical bill can reach $250 in the hottest summer months because of the air conditioning, but we hardly use the heater in the winter.

People are friendlier here than Ca, the girls are pretty hot and they own guns. The firearms laws here are absolutely fantastic. Phx doesn't hold a candle to LA for smog. We have a brown haze sometimes that's supposedly from dust and cars. In LA you'd be lucky to see the mountains and certainly you can see the smog just by looking up the street some days.

[Small_words]

Thanks fellas. See, the problem is that I switched careers from being a pilot in the military to working for a big General Contractor in my hometown. The GC doesn't pay squat and I now have a child and my wife has to go back to work because...I don't get paid squat. PHX is attractive b/c I could get on with Southwest Airlines. After the first year, I'd work half what I do now, get paid almost 3x as much, and during my free time I'd be spending time with my family hiking and riding. Eventually we could get back to the Northwest maybe, but right now I don't earn enough to live outside the meth head neighborhoods in Portland and if my wife wants to see our little girl much, I've got to get a better job.

[4x4mike]

Would this effect you?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/02/24/controller-thought-hudson-river-landing-spelled-doom/

Looks like a streesful job but I have no idea what these pilots make.

[DHC6twinotter]

From what I gather, Southwest is one of the best airlines to work for. You looking at flying one of thier 737s?

PHX is also a hub for US Airways, but I'd much rather work for Southwest.

I hope you find some work. I know it's kinda tough out there right now. :(

[fustercluck]

I liked Phoenix.....don't bring any sweaters.

[Small_words]

Yeah Mike, he has a point, but US Airways has been living large and running poorly for quite a while. So, his pay has been cut 40%, but he's still making $150/hr at least and he's guaranteed 72 hrs of flying per month. So, he's still looking at $10,800 per month. He's doing fine. The job isn't stressful after you've done it a bit because you're used to the routine. You run checklist A, then checklist B at takeoff time minus X minutes, after takeoff checklists, then read your newspaper for 3 hrs before running checklists C, D, and E.

Thanks for the help fellas. The job hunting starts tomorrow. I'll keep you posted. If all goes well Fuster, I'll send my sweaters to you, including the one I made out of my back hair (It's a bit scratchy)

[X-Tool Pimp]

I vote for Tucson personally :thumbup:

[Small_words]

What's the difference between Tucson and Phoenix...other than the name.

[RunnerUp]

oh about an hour and 15 minutes

[2ndGen]

Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6848672&page=1

[Small_words]

For some reason that story :lol: made me think of the part in the movie "The Game" where the guy wakes up in a coffin in Mexico. Anyway, I went down last weekend for an informal interview and I liked it a lot. I came home to rain and 40 degree windy weather. Anyway, now I just have to sell the condo in Portland and we're good to go. Thanks for your help fellas.

[Robinhood4x4]

That's how we get you. We have interviews and show you around during the cool months and by the time you move here, it's the heart of the summer and you wonder what you were thinking.

:tongueout:

[Ric]

I was watching a thing on TV last night, about the Illegals, drugs and gangs, they mentioned Phoenix a couple times. I dont live there, never even been there, so I dont know if what was said on the show is true or not, just an FYI.

[Robinhood4x4]

As long as you don't live in the ghetto and you don't smuggle illegal aliens and use your house as a staging area, it's not a problem.

[Small_words]

Alright, it looks like the job search has expanded to include the Bay area, which quite honestly is a bit overwhelming. As mentioned before, my wife works for Southwest and would be based out of Oakland. I would be working in Fairfield for the AF Reserve. So, the issue is where within 45 mins of both to look. Any experience? I looked at house prices last night and they were insane. $500,000 for a piece of crap fixer-upper in pre-foreclosure on a 3,300 sf lot in Walnut Creek. Is that place just expensive and Concord or Martinez are reasonable? There are just too many options to look at and I would really appreciate everyone's two cents.

Phoenix isn't out, the wifey is just concerned about our baby daughter getting cooked in the desert heat and sun and ending up looking like the imported Italian leather handbags that the Scottsdale women carry and which ironically enough matches their skin color and texture.

[4runnerchevy]

Its expensive anywhere in the Bay Area, and the better the neighborhood/schools the more exspensive it is. Good news is, that house prices will go up some day, so buying now might be beneficial.

[4x4mike]

I have some friends that live in Vacaville. Husband works in Bencia area at the Valero refinery and the wife works in Sacramento. They both have some sort of commute thing they do and it cuts down on costs. They have a 1 year old son so he's in daycare a couple days a week. Vacaville seems nice. Before that they lived in Farfield.

[reggie 00]

Vacaville

My parents are closing hopefully soon on a house over by the newer high school. The got a newly remodeled ( the owner bought it and remodeled it to flip it) ranch style house for 219K.

I work mostly out of Oakland about 1 mile from the airport. Average morning/afternoon commute time 1:15. Leave around 7am,4-5pm.

I was born out at Travis moved around a lot and end up back here in 89, did the Navy thing and was back in 2000. Don't really have any intention of ever moving away.

1.5 hrs from most Bay area things, 2 hrs from most Tahoe/Reno things.

Pop's retired himself from out at Travis. Worked Civil Service on 141's and C5's.
Been to places worse to be stationed.

Gets hot in the summer, worst in Aug. cools back down in Sept early Oct for the most part. Air con from Jun-Sep hardly use the heater.

There are some bad parts in Vacaville and the surrounding areas. Nothing to bad.
School system is pretty good. The Dude is in 1st grade and doing really well.

Come on down I'll find someplace for you to crash, Pop's, Bro's 5th Wheel, My Couch.

Its all good here.

Would much rather have the freedoms of Az but i figure you have to give and take somethings, and push for the rest till you get it.

[2ndGen]

this happpened in Tucson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_rz2wBYin4

[calrockx]

on bay area housing: http://sfist.com/2009/04/17/sf_home_prices_fall_20_overall_bay.php

[Obi..]

If you move to the S.F. Bay Area have a place with a garage and lock it down or face the theft and smash and grab drama..there's places around Vacaville I wouldn't leave my truck parked.

Do like Reg's suggesting, be on the outskirts, the cost of living alone sucks, combine it with the market and the holding of of the influx of biotech funding to help with a second boom and you have a good reason if choosing things here to try to buy into property and plan on staying to get your R.O.I. There's places a little NW of the base where I lived for a while as a kid that are decent. Definitely consider Martinez and Antioch, both have grown and have some really nice places!

[Obi..]

**Bit of a haul, but there's some nice Victorians in Alameda coming up on the market also. IIRC the one we looked at was $363k but like the homes in S.F. it'd appreciate in value as Oakland is going through it's resurgence and renovations (Jack London Square even has some sick waterfront condos!)

Rumor is, as far as bases, that more of Alameda's going to be redone as are parts of the area around Travis, IE: (Reg, which streets was it that had the fires last summer?)

[Small_words]

Well, it's been over a year and a half since we first started trying to move and we finally did...to Phoenix. So, we're here in the heat of August and I like it a lot. It's pretty toasty but we've been swimming every day and it makes it just fine. Thank you everyone for the advice along the way. It was pretty stressful but we're finally at a hopefully permanent place.