Arizona/Nevada/Texas

[Holland]

mmmm 89a :D

In laws have a second home there - this is a frequent group drive destination....

One of my favorite drives! :)

You may not know of all of them.

I'd hardly call PV a slum, there are nasty areas but Prescott has those too. Prescott is about 1000 percent prettier, I'll give you that. Living in the county has advantages.

What some of you are missing is that the man wants a winter home. I don't think he wants to see snow at all. That makes Phoenix/Tucson or Vegas the best bets.

I might not have, but I have only seen one other around that belongs to an enthusiast, I always catch him going the other way though. :(

[der affe]

Maybe I will look around Scottsdale and have Greg hook me up with hot pool girls to take care of the pool

in scottsdale, you will have to look around middle to north scottsdale to get a decent sized property with a 3-4 car garage.

most of what is around me is going to be in the 2000 ish square foot 4 bedroom type, but with a 2 car garage max as they are older houses.
if you go north of say raintree or shea area, they are new houses, decent sized lots, usually with an RV gate and a 3 1/2 car garage, usually 4-5 bed room. they are also going to be 2 story though. most new construction in AZ is going to be 2 story on a larger house, you will also usually be dealing with an HMO, which can be good and bad depending.

if you are looking at forclosures, be aware that you may be responsable for back dues on the HMO also. one thing going on here is the HMO's are putting leans on houses that are forclosed on or where people have walked away from them because the numbers are so great that they have lost tons of revenue.

another thing is banks are camping on houses because they are getting subsidised by the government for the loss so they are not as willing to do a short sale or they price the house beyond market value.

stay away from outlying areas like Queen Creek, lots of BIG houses cheap.
but built on old farm land with emptied aquafers, and uncompacted soil.
the foundations are cracking as well as the actual walls and the builders are long gone. lots of section 8 housing too. bad news

Maricopa is also cheap, but in BFE, big houses built cheaply, old farm land, non compacted soil and empty aquafers. lots of section 8 housing.

both of these areas are concidered greater phoenix area though, just so you know it.

you need to be careful of realestate agents around here too. when housing was booming, EVERYONE jumped on the train. lots of those who are left in the business and were somewhat new at it are refusing to put low bids in on houses becuase it will cut into their comission or not be what they "feel" they deserve. this is their only skill in life so they feel entitled to the money they were accustomed to.

if you start getting interested on houses in certain areas aroun here lmk where they are and i will try to get you a heads up on the area and what it is like.

[NKRoberts]

I suggest vegas. You could get a lot of house for that price in vegas right now. Not having to pay state income tax is nice. Most necessities are close by. There is plenty to do nearby. Most of the people are cool. I would suggest the northwest side of town.

[TurboJake]

My advice is not to move to wisconsin.
And I know you'll heed it. Finally! Someone I said something to that fucking listens!

(Texas is no bueno, I'd pick nevada)

[Vtec?lol]

my aunt lives in Texas near Austin there's this lake called Lake Travis, great area i would highly recommend living anywhere near that lake!!!
it's very beautiful not too far off(50mins?) from an awesome city and the locals are pretty nice, no redneck's or wangsters, just people with good heads on there shoulders.

This is truth. Anywhere near that lake is amazing but the houses on it are in the 400k range and up

[mrsleeve]

Blunt. My family has wintered in AZ for 50 years, Tucson area to be exact. I have family thats there full time year round. Housing is much like what parker has expressed for his area, my bro just bought a decent place in town that needed the garage worked on and a the kitchen redone as well. Paid 105 and has put another 15ish in it.

Personaly I love snow and winter time, so I dont go there. But it is nice to go for a week or so in the dead of january and bitch about how hot it is to the locals that have the winter jackets out when its in the 60's.

[freeride53]

Move to the Memphis Area, Tennessee.
Gorgeous place, coming from someone who lives in the San Fran Bay area..

[giantkeeper]

And I can line you up with a Smoking Hot realtor in Phoenix - as in she is good at what she does....and GREAT to look at!

[z31maniac]

I'd say OK.

$350k will buy you a large ranch house, detached massive shop, on 10 acres within 1 hour of either major metro area.

Even TX can't touch the cost of living here and you'd be within spitting distance of one of the most Technically demanding road courses in the Midwest, and they have frequent and super cheap track days. http://www.hallettracing.net/

Hell this coming weekend James Clay will be at the BMW "No Excuses driving event." Eddie Hill is a regular with his Ariel Atom on HPDE's. etc etc

[giantkeeper]

I'd say OK.

$350k will buy you a large ranch house, detached massive shop, on 10 acres within 1 hour of either major metro area.

Even TX can't touch the cost of living here and you'd be within spitting distance of one of the most Technically demanding road courses in the Midwest, and they have frequent and super cheap track days. http://www.hallettracing.net/

Hell this coming weekend James Clay will be at the BMW "No Excuses driving event." Eddie Hill is a regular with his Ariel Atom on HPDE's. etc etc

I grew up in OK and love and miss it greatly!

[MR 325]

why no Cali?? you can get cheap houses in the I.E. pretty much anywhere not to close by the beach

Except the I.E. is a shit hole.

[blunttech]

All great advice and thank all of you. Im meeting with my banker this week.

[freeride53]

Except the I.E. is a shit hole.

this

[accident]

Poor bastard losing his home here. Come buy it. ;)

[j0oftheworld]

Arizona has 6 road courses and a quite a few just across its borders as well.. (SoCal, NewMex)