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Arizona ?

799 views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  eatdrinkride 
#1 ·
I was thinking about moving to Arizona I am tired of freezing my a$$ off every winter here in Michigan. What is a good area that is fairly cheap to live and how is the job market I do construction and building maintanance type work ? THANX!!!
 
#3 ·
yeti 575 said:
I was thinking about moving to Arizona I am tired of freezing my a$$ off every winter here in Michigan. What is a good area that is fairly cheap to live and how is the job market I do construction and building maintanance type work ? THANX!!!
If you're thinking of moving to Phoenix, bring your own Oxygen. You're gunna need it.
 
#5 ·
I got dragged out here for my wife's schooling(no I'm not complaning). There's more than enough construction work around here to keep you going. I'm a finish carpenter, took a job back in August, and I still get a couple of job offer calls a week. The best thing is every day I'm done by 2:30 so I'm on the trails pretty quick every afternoon(that is when my bikes going and I'm not sick). Well in short I'm loving it here and hopefully at residency time it wouldn't break my heart if we had to stay.
 
#6 ·
Very few places provide as much demand for construction type workers as the Phoenix area...

As far as fairly cheap to live, well thats relative to what you are used to... The problem over the past year or two is that the housing market is way out of whack, kinda like a mini California. I bought my house 5 years ago for $124k and its now goes for about $300K or more!!! WTF? its great if you want to sell and move to MI....?!!?

But the major plus side is you can ride year round (if you dare in the summer) and skiing and mountains are only 2hrs away :D
 
#7 ·
Sunny AZ is the best

Hey Yeti 575,
I moved here from Traverse City 4 yrs ago and i'm never going to move anywhere
else. I live in N. Phx. and love the Sunshine and yr round riding. The job market here
is awesome, but housing prices have gone way up. You can rent till things even out
and then buy a home. If you want to ride your bike all the time this is the place to be.

P.M. me if you have any more questions...
Later,
Johnny K
 
#8 ·
Thanks for the input guys I live in the Detriot area and it realy sucks I dont think Michigan is a very bike friendly state the roads are bad and the people arent very friendly. What do small one bedroom apts nothing fancy go for in the Phoenix area ? Is there sites online I could go to check out apts and want ads? THANX!!!
 
#9 ·
Try this site.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/

Its the local papers web site and it has a link to the classified section and I think one to an apartment locator type deal. Not sure how good it is but worth a try.

I agree with everyone when it come to the riding In PHX. Its hard to beat for year round rinding though the summers are a killer. The one thing to keep in mind though is that the building boom while still going, there are signs of things slowing down....pretty much had too. I know nothing about the construction biz, and there still does seem to be an abundance of work going on, just don't know for how much longer. Also, pay rates might be a shock. Being a right to work state and an abundance of migrant workers keep pay pretty low.

But, come on out and check it out for yourself. Its easy to keep a great attitude when you spend your down time on the trails.
 
#10 ·
Sierra Vista

yeti 575 said:
I was thinking about moving to Arizona I am tired of freezing my a$$ off every winter here in Michigan. What is a good area that is fairly cheap to live and how is the job market I do construction and building maintanance type work ? THANX!!!
Try Sierra Vista. Much cheaper than Phoenix, good mountainbiking, no traffic hassles/freeway commutes, and construction is going through the roof right now. It's a little colder than Phoenix/Tucson right now(still warmer than MI, I just did a 85 mi. road ride this morning), but it rarely gets hotter than the mid nineties in the summer(PHX=110+). Tucson is just 1.5 hrs away, and 2 hrs will get you to the big trees over in Silver City NM.
 
#11 ·
yeti 575 said:
Thanks for the input guys I live in the Detriot area and it realy sucks I dont think Michigan is a very bike friendly state the roads are bad and the people arent very friendly. What do small one bedroom apts nothing fancy go for in the Phoenix area ? Is there sites online I could go to check out apts and want ads? THANX!!!
My wife and I found our place on craig's list, brand new 4th floor condo 2 bed 2 bath 2 car garage just north of downtown for $835 per month. Search azcentral.com, craig's list, and jobbing.com for work. If you've got a truck and tools then there's a lot of money to be had around here, 40-50k per year easy for highly skilled carpenters. However if your looking for laborer work your going to be compeating with gobs of people that will work for peanuts and your going to be SOL.
 
#12 ·
If one can ride year round in 110°+ heat (only about 95° at the coldest time of the night/early day though), then you can ride year round anywhere.

One thing to consider. The air quality is horrible, causing medical problems, and it's only getting worse. The further you are from the center of Phoenix the better, but it's not going to get better, only worse.
 
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