Quick visit - neighborhoods to explore (Phoenix, Flagstaff: townhomes, construction, living in)

[MuncherBier]

Hello,

As mentioned in some other threads, my wife and I are looking for a possible retirement location (10-15 years out.) The Flagstaff/Prescott/Sedona areas are on our short list, mostly due to weather, recreation, and geography.

Fortunately I had a quick business trip come up that's taking us to Phoenix in a few weeks so we're going to take a few days to run through the area to check it out. I'm looking for some recommendations for housing areas we can drive through to get a feel for the area. I have no doubt we'll love the recreational areas in the vicinity so I'm not looking for recommendations on activities to do while we're there. I'm looking for neighborhoods we should drive through to see what housing is like.

We don't like plain vanilla suburbs so something that's a little unique, maybe has character, or at least is geographically interesting (trees, etc). Definitely no McMansions. If possible, closer to local shopping/food options. It would be really great if the neighborhood was near either road biking paths or actual dirt trails. We could be happy in a denser neighborhood if it was walkable and interesting, and we could be just as happy in a more rustic setting as long as it's not too far from shopping and food.

Townhomes are an option. We're only looking for 2-3 bedrooms.

I'm planning on visiting Kachina Village, Mountainaire, and Williams so I need some recommendations for Flagstaff neighborhoods.

Are any of the newer developments, like Trails End up north, or Miramonte out west, worth looking at?

Price range is 300,000-400,000.

Thanks for your help.

[thedirtman]

Railroad Springs townhomes are 290K to 400K. It's two miles to downtown Flagstaff and 1.5 miles to NAU.

You will get some train noise, but rarely a whistle. You mentioned dense and close to town. The west side of Flagstaff is easy to get in and out, and has more Ponderosa Pines. The pines help to muffle the wind. The townhomes are not vanilla.

Did I hit all the points, or is someone going to jump in again and tell me I'm wrong?

Some downsides: Choose a south facing home. The ice takes forever to melt on the north faces. Also, parking can be a problem if you have extra vehicles.

[like-2-hike]

Not really my cup of tea, but I'd check out Bellemont for newer construction in your price range (both homes and townhomes) and Parks (further west, closer to Williams, and much more rural than any part of Flagstaff but has a good vibe to it). North (west) of town I'd hit Fort Valley - not sure you'd be able to afford much in there, but I've always loved that part of Flagstaff.

[MuncherBier]

Anything within the city limits (besides Railroad Springs) we should explore?

[MuncherBier]

We've returned from our quick trip to AZ. Had one evening in Prescott, a day in Sedona, and a day in Flagstaff. Have to say we were most impressed with Prescott as a possible retirement option. Sedona was, of course, beautiful. We hit a brewery outside of "uptown" and a restaurant. But the uptown area was a bit much. Way too touristy and if I lived there I don't think I'd see any need to ever spend time in this area.

Flagstaff reminded us of Fort Collins, CO, where we lived for a few years. The area around the city was beautiful, the downtown was great, but the areas outside of downtown didn't impress us much. We didn't really see a lot of great areas for housing. Everything seemed to be little developments stuck behind a truck stop or industrial area, bordering the railway, along the highway, etc. We obviously didn't see everything so I'm sure we missed something.

The downtown was great as far as restaurants and cool little shops. The meadery is great. But the scene is a bit young and busy. I don't see it as the type of place I'll want to go hang out and grab some coffee or a drink as a retiree someday. And outside of the downtown we just didn't see many places we'd want to go hand out.

[Kickinmule]

Pretty accurate take. Retirees like Prescott more than Flag. Flagstaff has some nice neighborhoods but they don't tend to be along the main drag.

[NC_Cpl]

What did you not appreciate about Sedona? We are retiring next year and Sedona and Prescott are on the list (although I have to say the homes in both places look "tired." Prescott homes look like they're out on the prairie with vast open spaces of nothingness, while Sedona homes look like the last remodel they're seen was during the Kennedy administration - but still listed for $700k.


Sounds like we're looking for something similar to the OP. No way a cookie cutter, mass suburban "land of the juice box" development will work for us at our ages (63 and 55). We are also likely to be sunbirds and head up north during the summers.

[thedirtman]

Originally Posted by NC_Cpl

What did you not appreciate about Sedona? We are retiring next year and Sedona and Prescott are on the list (although I have to say the homes in both places look "tired." Prescott homes look like they're out on the prairie with vast open spaces of nothingness, while Sedona homes look like the last remodel they're seen was during the Kennedy administration - but still listed for $700k.


Sounds like we're looking for something similar to the OP. No way a cookie cutter, mass suburban "land of the juice box" development will work for us at our ages (63 and 55). We are also likely to be sunbirds and head up north during the summers.

Careful of summer UV rays in Northern Arizona. High elevation and long sunny summer days make for extreme UV conditions.

[MuncherBier]

NC_Cpl,

Congrats on retirement at a young age. We'll be in a similar boat (fingers crossed) so are looking for an active area to retire with the great weather we used to enjoy in CO. We also do not want cookie cutter suburbs and franchises galore.

Sedona was gorgeous. We drove in through Village of Oak Creek and were quite impressed with this little area. I assumed it would be an ugly "suburb" of Sedona but it's actually a beautiful little area, surrounded by Red Rocks. We didn't spend a ton of time here but there seemed to be plenty of local restaurants and stores. We went to an outdoor market, it was mostly artwork, and in listening to the other customers I got the feeling they were locals, not tourists. This tells me its a livable area where the people you run into at the coffee shop are probably your neighbors, not tourists. It was maybe a 20 minute drive to Sedona so I think VOK could be a great option to experience the beauty of Sedona without having to be "in" Sedona. Although it probably fits the definition of a suburb, the geography, unique homes, and shopping options definitely make it not feel like a suburb.

Sedona was also beautiful. We went straight to the north side to hike "soldier's pass." The homes and property up there, along Soldier's Pass rode were really nice. It's like you're literally living in the canyon. After our hike we went to a brewery up in that area. This area seemed very livable. Then we went to what I think they call "Uptown" (89A north of the circle.) There was nothing wrong with this area, it was just mostly tourist trap stores. The kind of place you visit once and maybe take out of town visitors to but would never go back to. I could be totally wrong though. Picture jeeps full of people on tours getting dropped off to visit western themed stores.

Next we went to the Tlaquepaque area. This was very pretty and not as tacky touristy. High end stores and some nice restaurants. I could see coming here to eat as a local but I still think it caters to tourists. Just not as tacky.

So overall, I think VOK was nice and there's probably parts of Sedona that are liveable, you'd probably just avoid the tourist areas. But the whole Sedona area is out of our price range so we weren't really looking at it as an option. If you can afford it, definitely look at VOK.

Like you, I wasn't expecting to be impressed with Prescott. If you look at the same question I posted on the Prescott forum, you'll see a post by Like to Hike where he provided a route on Google Maps to drive. We started at the bottom and basically drove clockwise. We really liked the southern areas and out to Thumb Butte. These areas are wooded and rocky so you have unique geography and homes. Probably still "suburban" in the sense that it's not an urban, walkable area, but due to the hills, rocks, and other geographical features of the lots, it ends up being very pretty. We didn't spend a ton of time in Prescott but we visited the downtown square area and it was surprisingly less touristy then I expected. It wasn't tacky. We went to a great meadery and the other customers seemed to be either locals, or at least others from around the greater area - meaning it wasn't tour bus's full of people from Indiana wearing cowboy hats.