Any advice?

I'm basically 1 month in all I have accomplished is:

Finding a grocery store I can tolerate.
Found my local ammo guy.
Found my Walmart.
Went to the BLM office for land maps.

Advice:

Just say no to east or west facing Windows.
Water...
Water...
Count your pennies for summer electric bill, yikes.

Still hunting for that local pub/brewery that I can hit on "those days"...

How much was the electric bill?

For the month of July with 1200 SF, no east or west facing Windows, thermo set at 76, it was $220.

Phoenix is just like Cuba except it's a dry heat.

Do you have a job and if so where, this will help on providing advice on where in the valley you should look for housing. The greater Phoenix area is a patchwork of good, bad and OK neighborhoods, location is important.

I'm in Prescott so the valley boys will be along to help on your local questions.  

Where about in the Valley are you going to end up? The different sections can vary wildly.

The flip side is you're "winter" bill will be about $50.

Just got my August electric bill--$250.  The same last month. 2000 sq.ft. with pool.. Water bill about $110 (includes sewer/trash). The electric bill drops off in November but goes back up to $200ish in Dec/Jan/Feb.  Electric heat with APS. Taxes about $1900 on $400K market value.

Do your homework on neighborhoods/areas of the valley you're gonna live in.
People drive like idiots/assholes/morons here. When snowbirds arrive, it doubles in stupidity.
It gets hotter than shit here, for about 4 months in the summer. Consider it a payment for the 8 months of gorgeous weather we get.
Learn not to travel north on the holiday weekends in the summer. The return trip on the 17 will be a nightmare.
Tint your windows. All of 'em.

I just moved out here 5 months ago, renting for now.

Nothing can prepare you for the summer heat, you just have to work around it.

HOA's seem to be a way of life.  If your an outdoor type of guy, finding a house with a large garage or multiple garage bays is key in my opinion.  A house with some sort of carport in addition to the garage would be even better.  With the HOA's your going to have to keep your stuff inside.

National Forests and Parks are awesome, many within a days drive.  There is traffic but it seems to move decently.

Cannot give advice on schools, no Kids.

Stay away from two story homes!!

Not sure where you're located, but AZ Wilderness is THE brew pub. Definitely the best AZ beers being made today, and some of the best bar food you'll find anywhere as well.

Tempe IIRC.

I remember posting a list when he had a thread up from when he moved here.

Where have you tried?  And yes.. Wilderness is pretty much one of the best ones around.(I am blessed and live just a few min away from it)  But there are some darn good ones all over the east valley!

QFT. Since out last meeting I have been twice. We need to get the ladies together for a night out soon.

freeride, I've visited too many across the entire state at this point to even begin to list. Let's just say that at the very least, all the most relevant ones in the valley for sure. AZ Wilderness is in its own realm in the valley IMHO. I'd also say across the state as well.

ETA - but if you're curious of some of my other favorites in the valley:

The Perch
Goldwater
Helton (they're real new, and I know their meat and cheese (food in general there) guy/gal very well from their previous shop, so maybe I'm a bit bias there. )
OHSO

Several others, but those are probably my other local favorites.

Honorable mentions to Four Peaks, Papago and SanTan. Also to Bad Water...gotta give some love to their owner, Lewis...we grew up together.

Fate is pretty solid too, but their food is shit IMO.

AZJBT, for sure! Sounds like you took a liking to my recommendation. The wife and I are pretty free Thursday through Saturday nights. We should definitely get together with our ladies soon.

We have probably crossed paths... multiple times LOL.

Those are all on our regular rotation.  Just went to Scottsdale Brewing last week for the first time.. decent too, their pale ale is delicious.  I have had their beer before, just never visited.

make sure your fridge has an ice=maker or buy one, you'll need it for your drinks! cold water from tap in summer is always HOT!!



Bruce

That seems WAY too high for a 1200 SF house. Consider having your units serviced and having an energy audit done on your house.

That is about high average for 76f.

1240sqft house here
new r30 in attic
new windows
newer 15 seer
N-S facing

76F is about $200 in july and august.  House is 100% electric.  If I turned the water heater down, air up to 78, and unplugged/shut everything off possible, I comes in at about $135-150.

We use the even pay plan so it is the same price every month year round(adjusted quarterly)

I can second most of these: Ohso, 4 peaks, papago, and even that the food at fate does suck.

For the extreme heat, 115+, I'd agree, but a vigorous workout- preferably weight training- routine followed by time the sauna/steam room can do wonders to kick in your body's heat adaptations. Worked great for me. However, it's an all or nothing affair as far as your body is concerned: I freeze when it's below 70.

The advice about avoiding two story homes is solid, and make sure the attic insulation is up to snuff.

Yeah, the food at Fate is almost laughably bad. This is another reason why I find AZ Wilderness in their own realm in the valley. IMO, they are easily making the best beer in AZ, but on top of that, they're a top three brewery for solid food as well. It's a combination that just yields them with no peers IMO.

Four Peaks and OHSO are the other two spots that put out really good food (OHSO in particular may even have the best burger in town. It's certainly up there.). Helton has a real small food menu with not a lot of variety, but the quality of their food and ingredients is top tier.

freeride, indeed, we probably have crossed paths before. We should meet up sometime as well, and share camping stories about the Rim. I've also been to Scottsdale Brewing a few times. Not bad. Not enough to make my short list though.

Regarding the electric bill topic, that doesn't seem too crazy at all. We moved into our new 1600 square foot house last August. We did a massive remodel prior to moving in, and a brand new top of the line Trane AC unit was one thing done. We even have double dual pane windows. And yes, you read that right...two sets of dual pane windows throughout our entire house. One energy rated dual pane window, and then a 2-3 inch gap between, and then another energy rated dual pane window. It's absolutely insane. You could fire a gun inside or outside our house, and those on the other side of that shot could likely not or hardly at all hear a thing. Was a nice insanely expensive (we've heard at least $40k minimum to $60k worth of windows in our house from contractors that did work here) addition that the previous owners did a few years back before selling it. The house is right by Papago and the 202 Sky Harbor flight path, so the previous owners spared no expense dampening any potential flight noise.

Anyways, also had the attic reinsulated, and it's a solid 1960 all brick construction, well insulated home.

We keep it at 75 degrees all summer. And admittingly, probably run a decent bit of stuff around the house all day that we don't have to. But that said, our recent July electric bill (which should be the priciest bill of the year), it came in at $251. And you aren't gonna get much better insulated than our house, or a much better AC unit.

I used to think that the electric bill was bad in Arizona, till I moved to the frozen north and figured out what my heating costs are during the winter.
If AZ population was still like it was in the late 80-90s I'd move back. A friend sends me a link everytime Mesa PD has slots open up.

Another place that I'm a fan of is Montauk.  I'm a fan of the food and drinks as well as the talent that strolls through.

My buddy is the chef over there now. He recently went there after years at Cowboy Ciao/Kaz. Cool spot.

I hear this hamburger joint called McDonalds is supposed to be pretty good.

There are a couple good Gyros spots and a Really good italian deli on Olive or Duncan right around 31st

In n Out is THE fast food burger joint. And DeFalcos is THE Italian deli.

Want me to start sending you the ones for Pinal Co. Sheriff's dept., too??

LOL, we'll see how this winter goes!

I'll be working in Mesa once the plant is built. It'll be a few months...

No choice. All the bigger homes have them.

Besides, I gotta get SOME exercise!

Does your location change as soon as you have internet access when you cross the border to freedom?

Probably.

So, things went slightly pear-shaped in that my in-laws will be moving in with us at some point due to their age and the fact that they just can't deal with snow any longer. It was my idea, so I'm not complaining, but it did toss a wrench into the home search...

Wife and I have been looking in Cave Creek, Carefree, Queen Creek, Scottsdale, Fountain Hills, Chandler, and Gilbert.

We're looking for something with some views besides our neighbor's house, 4,500 SF or larger, 3-4 car garage, no basement, and a casita for the in-laws (bedroom, kitchenette/living room, and bathroom). Oh, and it needs to have a pool.

We started looking in the $450K's, and suddenly found ourselves in the $900K range, which causes a pucker factor that goes off the charts. I make good money, but not THAT good!

And anyone who has never tried Freddy's steakburgers, fries, and frozen custard has no clue what a good hamburger is.

In n Out is so overrated.

also look at Gold Canyon, Santan valley, and Maricopa if you are going on the friges of the valley.

Haven't looked there, but I'm also trying to keep the commute to NW Mesa to less than an hour.

I'd live across the street from the office, but what we're looking for just doesn't seem to be inside the 202 or 101 (for less than a million bucks). Toss in the fact that the wife wants a place with near zero crime....

We're also looking for our forever home, because we're don't moving. Period.

Not sure if what we're looking for even exists...

Wife and I tried the local one here the other day.

Not impressed.

Prescott is the answer you seek, but the commute to work would be for you probably.

Yeah, 2 hours and 10 minutes one way just ain't gonna cut it...

But it's a very scenic drive and the traffic is almost nonexistent, especially on Friday afternoon in the summer.

Lets us know when you settle in and we'll see if a HT shoot can be arranged for you to meet some of the AZ crew.

Will do. Thanks.

I was just thinking of the same thing for both him and our newest crew who has a wonderful thread making something out of nothing on the borderish with New Mexico.

Welcome to the Valley.

As a commercial real estate guy I don't know much about finding houses but I do know a few of  honest residential  guys if you don't have anyone yet.

Plenty of them to choose from.

If you drive fast, this is less than an hour to NW Mesa...
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2112-N-Cold-Springs-Pt-Payson-AZ-85541/67427405_zpid/

North of Apache Junction (unincorporated Pinal County, north of Brown Rd, east of Meridian )
Or
Gold canyon should fill your needs
A one hour drive from there is doable (easier from north of AJ than GC)

Yeah, when I retired to Arizona from Colorado I was concerned about the electric bills. I found that in Arizona my all electric 3,200 square foot house (all on one level ranch) has cheaper bills than the gas and electric bills of my slightly smaller house back in Colorado.

Of course, I'm down near Casa Grande so I'm on Electric District #2 (a rural electric association) instead of APS. But still the electric bills aren't that bad in Arizona.  You just have look for newer houses with 2x6 construction and good insulation. Also, its best to avoid those horrible 2 story houses in southern Arizona.

Sounds like you're looking for a holy grail of homes lol

Gilbert resident here. Been out here almost a year and a half from CT. Love it here. You couldn't pay me to move back East.

You two may have missed the "fast food" part. Can someone name a better local fast food burger? Drive thru window, etc.

Yep.

Queue Monty Python music...

Freddy's is worth walking in for. Trust me. Just do take out.

Normal for a single stage compressor.  A two stage or a variable speed will cut that in half, but, it has that up front cost.  If you are renting, then that is really not a bad amount.