Why It’s So Expensive to Live in Phoenix

[Burning Madolf]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Agreed ^^. Plus, @swaysway forgot about Washington State residence. They too walked into AZ with equity up the wazoo! I have a ton of CA and WA new neighbors. Many left both of those states because of their tax-and-spend reputation. They too are scratching their head about how the homeless problem has been managed, all of the immigration taking over social services, etc. They discuss how much they miss how their states' former glory. Of the few dozen ex-CA and ex-WA residents that I met, they seem to be politically moderate. Not "woke" nor knuckling-dragging MAGA (often low-IQ) fans. Based on my anecdotal sampling evidence, they have thicker wallets because they are articulate, smart, and driven. They are where they are for a good reason.

i.e. There is a brain drain going on from those two states as they exit. I say welcome! But there is a saying in business: "A's hire A's caliber people and B's hire C's." Meaning, people who aren't as smart or don't work as hard are worried about people who kick their butt in life. So they don't want them to be in their playground.

Yet they were pretty much driven out of their home states because horrible governance. It will always be perplexing to me how the best and the brightest stood witness to the destruction of places they love.

Maybe Phoenix does benefit in the long run from their experience if they are vocal about sniffing out stupidity and saying "I've seen that, you don't want it."

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Agreed ^^. Plus, @swaysway forgot about Washington State residence. They too walked into AZ with equity up the wazoo! I have a ton of CA and WA new neighbors. Many left both of those states because of their tax-and-spend reputation. They too are scratching their head about how the homeless problem has been managed, all of the immigration taking over social services, etc. They discuss how much they miss how their states' former glory. Of the few dozen ex-CA and ex-WA residents that I met, they seem to be politically moderate. Not "woke" nor knuckling-dragging MAGA (often low-IQ) fans. Based on my anecdotal sampling evidence, they have thicker wallets because they are articulate, smart, and driven. They are where they are for a good reason.

i.e. There is a brain drain going on from those two states as they exit. I say welcome! But there is a saying in business: "A's hire A's caliber people and B's hire C's." Meaning, people who aren't as smart or don't work as hard are worried about people who kick their butt in life. So they don't want them to be in their playground.

I understand the economics of cashing out and coming here and raising housing prices for the locals. It sucks, but as mentioned if I was in that situation I'd do the same thing. The problem I DO have with SOME (not all) Californians coming over is bringing their bad voting habits with them. We all know CA only works for the very wealthy going forward. Don't come here and vote for the same kind of policies you did back there. That's why CA is the way it is now, people not voting with their brains but like a zombie in autopilot.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Burning Madolf

Yet they were pretty much driven out of their home states because horrible governance. It will always be perplexing to me how the best and the brightest stood witness to the destruction of places they love.

Maybe Phoenix does benefit in the long run from their experience if they are vocal about sniffing out stupidity and saying "I've seen that, you don't want it."

Simple. They were outnumbered by "compassionate" people.

Total CA population 39.78 Million
Democratic 10,170,317 46.1%
Republican 5,334,323 24.2%
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califo...r_registration

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Simple. They were outnumbered by "compassionate" people.

Total CA population 39.78 Million
Democratic 10,170,317 46.1%
Republican 5,334,323 24.2%
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Califo...r_registration

Yup, very much so!

Our reasons were mostly health related plus couple of other personal reasons but were not happy with the way things were changing socially, politically and also COL wise. Similar issues/changes have been happening in PNW as well which, off the record, had me thinking when I was initially planning to move there. Time will tell if I will eventually or not.

Automatically assuming everyone coming from CA is a Democrat is silly.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by TurcoLoco

Yup, very much so!

Our reasons were mostly health related plus couple of other personal reasons but were not happy with the way things were changing socially, politically and also COL wise. Similar issues/changes have been happening in PNW as well which, off the record, had me thinking when I was initially planning to move there. Time will tell if I will eventually or not.

Automatically assuming everyone coming from CA is a Democrat is silly.

Agreed. You parroted ^^ all of the reasons why I've heard people leave. Some ex-CA residents are hesitant to let people know where they came from. I've heard. "I'm afraid to answer" type statements too many times. That's because some pea-brains assume ex-CA transplants are automatically voting a certain way. It's like when I travel overseas and people ask where I'm from. In some countries, people assume the worst because you are from the USA. I get out in front of it before they ask and say "I'm a Republican but refused to vote for Trump." And always, they appreciated that response and rip on Trump.

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Agreed. You parroted ^^ all of the reasons why I've heard people leave. Some ex-CA residents are hesitant to let people know where they came from. I've heard. "I'm afraid to answer" type statements too many times. That's because some pea-brains assume ex-CA transplants are automatically voting a certain way. It's like when I travel overseas and people ask where I'm from. In some countries, people assume the worst because you are from the USA. I get out in front of it before they ask and say "I'm a Republican but refused to vote for Trump." And always, they appreciated that response and rip on Trump.

Ha-hah, I am sure with that statement, you confused quite a few people that they couldn't figure out whether they like you or dislike you!

Here are the categories I no longer want to share any personal info on:
Politics, religion, social topics involving sex, abortion or vaccination.
I am neither that educated, interested and invested in any of these areas enough to care to talk.
Even the most civilized conversation about any of these topics is never likely to solve any issues and more than likely gain you new enemies/haters.

Simply put; my opinions/thoughts on these are nobody else's business.

[stephenMM]

aptfinder shows that Phoenix has 877 rentals in 162 properties that are under $1,000. I don't know if that's a lot or a few for a city that big, but they're there to be had. Some are in Tempe, Gilbert etc, but the vast majority say they're in Phoenix proper.

[stephenMM]

47% of Californians are registered Democrats, 24% are Republicans and 23% are Independent. It's probably safe to assume that most of the Independents will vote Democratic if they don't have a viable Independent candidate. So the odds are comfortably more than 2 to 1 that a Californian is a Democrat. I lived in San Francisco, probably 90+% of the voters there were Democrats, but that was before the city became what it is today. It probably hasn't changed appreciably even w/ all the techies and stuff.

[markg91359]

Originally Posted by swaysway

It’s not ridiculous. We bought our house in 2020 and got outbid 5 different times by cash offers, and I know for a fact several of those people were from CA and one was from Colorado. It’s not one individual person, it’s an influx of Californians - have you seen all the plates? - who cashed out of their houses and have plenty of money to outbid locals for houses.

It’s also not just happening in Arizona. It happened in Colorado, Montana, Idaho, and I’m sure tons of other states, too. Californians drive up real estate prices, vote for tax increases, and destroy every state they invade. That’s why people hate them.

Sorry you’re one of the people driving up prices. The truth hurts. Hopefully you’re not turning the state blue, too.

This is some of the worst, bigoted nonsense I've ever read on CDF.

Other people are immigrating to Arizona, Colorado, Montana, and Idaho besides Californians.

And, no, I'm not from California. What is alive and well though are narrow people that aren't too bright who want a scapegoat for the fact that housing prices have risen in the last few years. You'll find the anti-California nonsense alive and well in most other western states. One fool from where I live in Utah actually took photos of cars with CA license plates at a restaurant to try and prove that the state was being flooded with Californians. He looked pretty stupid when someone pointed out that the restaurant is right near a freeway that people living in California take to drive back home.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by stephenMM

aptfinder shows that Phoenix has 877 rentals in 162 properties that are under $1,000. I don't know if that's a lot or a few for a city that big, but they're there to be had. Some are in Tempe, Gilbert etc, but the vast majority say they're in Phoenix proper.

They're mainly studio apartments on Phoenix's west, south, and lower east sides ... not exactly lucrative areas. In fact, they tend to be located in some pretty low income neighborhoods with higher crime rates. I would also guess that many of them are older apartment buildings. Sure, cheaper rentals can be found, but not without plenty of downsides to follow.

Originally Posted by markg91359

What is alive and well though are narrow people that aren't too bright who want a scapegoat for the fact that housing prices have risen in the last few years. You'll find the anti-California nonsense alive and well in most other western states.

I tend to agree. Sounds like that other poster is just ranting about being outbid multiple times by those with deeper pockets. Bad case of money envy, and the world's most minuscule violin playing.