Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I personally think you are afraid. And everyone knows what fear can do to you. Makes you miss out on life.
So, why don't you plan a vacation out here to look around and try to quell some of these fears in your mind. While you are here, if you like what you see, then rent an apt so you have an address to go to when you come. Make it an apt with a storage locker, so you can use it temporarily. Ask for a short term lease. Then go home and make the trip back in your car with your stuff. At least you will have a place to call home right away. JMHO
Excellent idea.. I visited few times before knowing I want to move to Az. Actually after my first trip I was hooked and wanted to move ASAP. But need to get things in order first. My
GF and I are starting that now. She is cleared to tranfere w her job to Az and keep same pay. My next step is head to Az again look for house to build in Gilbert, then rent my home in Ma out..
Your in a goo situation, just do it. U have no house to sell or worry about. Your young and have a good savings. Trust me do it now while u want to or it will pass u by and it'll 4 years later and wishing u had.
Excellent idea.. I visited few times before knowing I want to move to Az. Actually after my first trip I was hooked and wanted to move ASAP. But need to get things in order first. My
GF and I are starting that now. She is cleared to tranfere w her job to Az and keep same pay. My next step is head to Az again look for house to build in Gilbert, then rent my home in Ma out..
Your in a goo situation, just do it. U have no house to sell or worry about. Your young and have a good savings. Trust me do it now while u want to or it will pass u by and it'll 4 years later and wishing u had.
Perhaps I should take a trip out there for maybe 4 days. But that's going to cost me about $1,400, now that plane tickets are $600 round-trip if I want to visit within the next month. In the holidays it will get even worse. Then, add four nights of staying in a hotel, plus food and a rental car. That's money that could instead be used toward moving expenses, you know? I mean, I had already visited Scottsdale for a business trip five years ago, but didnt get to see or do much, because I had no car and was basically trapped at the Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center. All I could do was take a few walks outside. Of course, I loved it and thought it was darn nice and beautiful weather. It was in January of 2007. I was there for 4 days. But yeah, it probably wasn't good enough of a trip to judge if I want to live there or not. But from what I saw, I was impressed. The whole area just looked very clean.
Holy crap. I just looked into quotes for moving service. I would do the packing myself, but I need to hire some guys to load my heavy furniture into the truck and drive it 2,500 miles from here to PHX and then unload my heavy furniture into a storage depot. That will all cost a whopping $4,800. Omg. I don't know if I can make this work now. That's MUCH highre than I thought. I would pay maybe $1,200, but that's outrageous. Not to mention, I would probably have to spend up to $2,000 on driving myself down there, staying at hotels along the way, and staying in a hotel while in PHX until I find an apartment. THEN, I have to hire another moving company to load, transport and unload my furniture and stuff from the storage depot to my new apartment. All of this, before I even start looking for a job
I would recommend ditching the big stuff especially since you don't know if your couch would fit through the door or you may decide on a different style. Putting your sentimentals in storage for a bit makes perfect sense while you figure out where to live and work.
Well, lately I've been a bit concerned if PHX might be too hot for me, even though I love heat and hate cold. Here in CT, throughout the year, our temperatures range anywhere from 0 to 100. Based on my experience, my tolerance level (if dressed properly) is in the 60 - 100 degree range. Anything under 60 is too cold and I've never exprienced much over 100 before. A few days per year, it will reach maybe 103 tops, but for some reason it doesn't feel much warmer than 93. I wonder why that is. But it's humid here, too, don't forget. What I'm saying is that I can tolerate 90s with humidity, no problem, as long as Im' wearing shorts. If I'm dressed in business long-sleeved clothing, then even 80s with humidity is uncomfortable for me. In my home, during the winter, I like to leave the heat temperature set at 77 or 78 in order to feel comfortable in the home. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, as most people leave it at 68. I was told that my heat bill here, if I owned a home, would be $600+ per month. Does it sound like I can tolerate PHX?
Have you considered moving next year? It will give you a chance to visit Phoenix in the heat and actually explore since you've only been here briefly for a conference. I say this because it seems like you have a lot of concerns still for your potential move being next month.
Everyone handles heat diffently, there are many, many, threads on the heat already. You should take a look at them.
You seem to be thinking up every excuse in the book to not move/visit, here! Makes me think you have some very serious reservations about the idea, in the back of your head.
A few days in Scottsdale is not really a good gauge for the entire Phoenix area, as it can vary quite a bit depending on where in the valley you end up. Yes, it will take a chunk out of your relocation budget, but you SHOULD visit and EXPLORE before you move. It's worth it. What's worse? Spending some money and finding out you really don't enjoy Phoenix as much as you thought you did, or moving here, hating it, and being stuck for the time being? I think that's a pretty clear choice.
You WILL probably have to go out of your comfort zone as far as employment is concerned, even if you don't want to. You need to keep an open mind about it. Completely ruling out certain things just because you don't like the work is a recipe for disaster. Though, I think in your field it will be pretty easy to secure a job without much issue.
You will probably not like the heat. Or the cold. The climate here goes beyond both ends of your preferred 60 to 100 degrees. Winter nights will often dip down to near-freezing, and daytime highs can linger right below 60 for days at a time. Have you ever experienced a week of the temperature not dropping below 90 degrees at all? It can be tough if you're not used to it. The heat can be dealt with, but it can still be unpleasant.
I can't speak much about the gay community here in Phoenix. Even as a gay man, I try to avoid the gay "crowd" here. :P
That said, there is a sizable community, though it does feel a bit small for a metro area of over four million people. Everyone knows everyone, it seems.
All things considered, you might really like Phoenix. Just bite the bullet and do your research. You'll be thankful you did. Be sure you keep an open mind, though.
You seem to be thinking up every excuse in the book to not move/visit, here! Makes me think you have some very serious reservations about the idea, in the back of your head.
A few days in Scottsdale is not really a good gauge for the entire Phoenix area, as it can vary quite a bit depending on where in the valley you end up. Yes, it will take a chunk out of your relocation budget, but you SHOULD visit and EXPLORE before you move. It's worth it. What's worse? Spending some money and finding out you really don't enjoy Phoenix as much as you thought you did, or moving here, hating it, and being stuck for the time being? I think that's a pretty clear choice.
You WILL probably have to go out of your comfort zone as far as employment is concerned, even if you don't want to. You need to keep an open mind about it. Completely ruling out certain things just because you don't like the work is a recipe for disaster. Though, I think in your field it will be pretty easy to secure a job without much issue.
You will probably not like the heat. Or the cold. The climate here goes beyond both ends of your preferred 60 to 100 degrees. Winter nights will often dip down to near-freezing, and daytime highs can linger right below 60 for days at a time. Have you ever experienced a week of the temperature not dropping below 90 degrees at all? It can be tough if you're not used to it. The heat can be dealt with, but it can still be unpleasant.
I can't speak much about the gay community here in Phoenix. Even as a gay man, I try to avoid the gay "crowd" here. :P
That said, there is a sizable community, though it does feel a bit small for a metro area of over four million people. Everyone knows everyone, it seems.
All things considered, you might really like Phoenix. Just bite the bullet and do your research. You'll be thankful you did. Be sure you keep an open mind, though.
Thanks for your response.
All I meant by my comfort zone of 60 - 100 degrees was that that is what's ideal for me. Of course, there will be times where the temperature goes below 60 or above 100. Trust me, I'm from Connecticut -- I can handle it lol.
I know, a few days in Scottsdale isn't enough to judge an entire metro area. But the experience was positive, nonetheless. Plus, I moved to NYC having only spent one weekend there, and ended up loving it. So, visiting a place for a short period of time doesn't mean that someone would not like living there. Likewise, someone could spend a few weeks visiting a place, and end up hating it when actually living there.
I'm not really into the gay scene either, but it is a fact that Phoenix metro has significantly more gay men than Connecticut. And even more than the Boston metro area. I just checked a certain internet website and searched for the number of gay men and divided it by the total metro population. I compared Hartford metro, Boston metro and Phoenix metro. Phoenix ranked #1 among those three, Boston was #2 and Hartford as #3. So I think the gay population situation in Phoenix is better than you may think...you just may not notice lol. But look, that's not my top priority or criteria for moving. Yes, I would like a sizeable gay population, and Phoenix is much better than Hartford, for sure. And it has more young people, too. But my main reasons for wanting to move to Phoenix is for much better housing, cost of living and just a completely new life experience in general. An enhanced gay social life is a plus, however. Hopefully PHX is a somewhat transient city and not too provincial. I would be a transplant, so it would be nice to see plenty of other Northeast transplants, so that I don't feel like the oddball lol.
But I have definitely researched Phoenix metro heavily. I looked into statistics such as age and race demographics, income levels by city, social structures (family vs. nonfamily households), crime data, weather data, etc. And, what really has helped me is to use Google Maps Street View in random places throughout the PHX area, to get a visual idea of what the place is like. I have also looked at homes for sale on the MLS to better understand the housing market and what it offers...and I'm impressed! Here, in CT homes are VERY expensive and generally outdated, with the typical starter home having $4,000 a year in property taxes! I have always wanted a home with an inground pool, and it seems MUCH easier to find that in AZ. In CT, forget it.
My only remaining hesitation at this point is if Phoenix metro will be too conservative for me. I don't get the impression that its as conservative as some of the southern states like Georgia or Tennessee. It doesn't seem like a very religious area, either. These are the things I'm trying to avoid. Here in CT, religion and church attendance isn't really important or discussed among people. And I am able to admit that I'm gay to other people and co-workers with no problem. It would be nice if Phoenix is similar. I just don't want to live near people who believe that I'm going to hell because of my sexual orientation. I'm not an obvious gay person though. I dress and act like a straight guy for the most part.
You know what....other peoples' political views shouldn't influence my decision to move to a place or not. Besides, I'm an independent who happens to be voting for Obama this time. In 2008 I voted for McCain. So, I'm not going to worry about these things. Plus, AZ isn't even that conservative, according to the polls. As of today, Romney has 50% in the polls and Obama has 43%. That means 43% of AZ voters are voting for Obama. So, I feel comfortable with that. Besides, the state has been evolving toward becoming more centrist, which is a good thing IMO. And if I move there, it will only further that cause lol.
The biggest church influence here always seems to be Mormon. Arizona has a very large Mormon population, right up there with the other mountain states. They are not the most predominant religion here, but are definitely the most vocal in day to day issues, it seems.
Politically, Arizona is a bit of a strange beast. In practice, the people here seem almost libertarian. They don't really care who you are or what you do as long as they're not harmed by it. Very much a live and let live type place, especially outside of the Phoenix area.
Phoenix, on the other hand, is a republican stronghold compared to the rest of the state. This is made even more complex by everyone who moves here, each carrying their own political views. As Phoenix dominates state elections, we always seem to end up with these far, FAR right wing politicians who try to take away state employee benefits for same sex partners, and make it okay for employers to deny insurance coverage of birth control.
As far as orientation is concerned, I've never been given any problems. It seems really rare that someone does have an issue, here. Arizona IS one of the states where you can be discriminated against based on orientation. LGBT workers have no workplace protection in the state of Arizona. Something to keep in mind, though. In practice, I've never seen or heard of this happening.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Unless it has sentimental value
