MoGilly and the Arizona Update

Hi all -

I'm here in Arizona and the verdict is...I LOVE it! So far, so good. I've been pleasantly surprised. Lots of GREEN and flowers everywhere. The city planners spared no expense on landscaping. Driving up and down the streets of Surprise and Peoria is a very similar experience to a drive in Santa Barbara. The main streets and much of the subdivisions are lined with flowers, blossoming shrubs, palm trees and weeping willows.

Right now, we're about 10 minutes away from Lake Pleasant, which is a 10,000+ area lake with two marinas and blue, blue water. Here's a link for ya

http://www.phoenixasap.com/lake-pleasant.html

I'm hoping that we'll have an opportunity to go tubing down the salt river during our time here - a girlfriend back in New Mexico told me about it. Here's the link for the details on that. http://www.saltrivertubing.com/

We've looked at lots of model homes and resales. The resales offer the best bang for the buck because a few years ago, Maricopa County was a place where investors came in and swooped up the real estate - now there are many bank-owned properties on the market so it's definitely a buyer's market here.

But, even with all the opportunities to pick up a sweet deal, we still like to swoon over model homes because the designers make them look so attractive. Here's one of our favorites, by Engle Homes. That particular home is a wee-bit out of our price-range (by about $50,000) and the subdivision is a bit further than Mike would like to drive, but it's so nice. About 2 years ago, that same home was on the market in the $400's so it's a much better market for buyers right now.

Here are the particulars on our favorite subdivision.

Another plus we've discovered? Groceries and gas are significantly cheaper here. Milk is about .80 cents cheaper a gallon and gas is about .50 cheaper per gallon.

Not bad.

Now, there is that side of me that says, NO MORE! I can't live in the 'burbs one more day. New York is where I'd rather stay! I'm a CITY girl. But then I picture a sweet-ass pool, back-yard bbqs and all my best friends hanging out, gossiping and drinking frosty beverages on the covered lanai and I think, maybe the 'burbs aren't so bad.