Difficult place to live
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8/1/2018
I grew up in the Phoenix area, but lived away from the state for a long time. Moved back in 1998. This metro area is rich in culture, and there is a lot to do. The weather is great 8months out of the year. Air quality is almost constantly bad, making it difficult to enjoy the beautiful winters and springs outdoors. Housing is becoming more and more expensive, and if you are trying to buy a home under $300,000, you will heavily compete with property investors paying cash outright for houses. If you are buying a home make sure you don't buy from a person who had bought it for the purpose of flipping it. Lipstick renovations are everywhere looking good on the surface but shoddy workmanship otherwise. Housing may be less expensive than some other metro areas, but if you take all living expensive into consideration, it is actually a very expensive place to live. Utilities, food, auto insurance, and eating out are all very high! Crime is very high, and traffic on the freeways is crazy...you literally take your life into your own hands when driving here. Investing in good education for children is not a priority in the state of Arizona. There are good private schools, and some of the charter schools are good. Like other big metro areas, drugs are a huge problem, and the Phoenix area is one of the worst rat racy, dog eat dog places I've seen. A lot of greed. Like most other places there are a lot of wonderful people here as well as some really awful people. Commute times are long for most people, and it's not uncommon to see 45 to 90 minute one way commutes to and from work.
Ron | Mesa, AZ