No really, I'm not kidding.
I did.
Like many of you I was once stuck living in an expensive metropolitan area, stressed about keeping my job because I had a wife, 4 kids and a $6500/mo house payment. That's $6500/mo so I could live in a 30 year-old, 4 bedroom, 3 bath, 3,000 sq ft tract home in an average neighborhood of Southern California.
Today I live in a newer, 5bd/5ba, 4,600 sq ft home on 1/3rd acre, in a gated community with a pool, spa and every amenity you could dream of. My kids attend a great school, with amazing teachers and new facilities. My son plays Little League on fields used by major leaguers for spring training. I get to play golf on dozens of world class courses, some for less than $20. I can go snow AND water skiing if I want to...in the same day. I have incredible shopping, entertainment and sporting venues all around me. And just about every day I get to see some of the most dramatic landscapes on the planet and enjoy the most amazing sunsets imaginable.
But best of all my annual house payment is less than my old property tax bill. I no longer worry about making ends meet because I could flip burgers for a living and still enjoy my current standard of living. And Arizona's unemployment rate is still below the national average, with new industries relocating to Phoenix, which is definitely reassuring.
In the Arizona communities I serve - Litchfield Park-Goodyear-Surprise-Avondale-Glendale - there are currently more than 400 single family home listings under $100K. These are all homes that were built this decade, with at least 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, and 1500 sq ft. There are currently 1,400+ listings available up to $150K. And more than 2,000 properties are available up to $200K!
I just showed a banked owned home a few days ago where the lender had painted, installed new carpeting, and fixed the pool, spa and rock waterfall/slide. It's a 4bd/3ba, 3600 sq ft home with a bonus room built in 2004 and was listed for $184,000. Assuming good credit you can buy this house with a $6,500 down payment and a fully amortizing, 5 %, 30-yr fixed rate, PI payment of $954/month (5.766% APR). I know people with car payments bigger than that! For a beautiful 3,600 sq ft house!?
Better still, I just viewed a nice 4bd/2ba home in a new community in Goodyear last week that was listed for $58,500!!! I feel like I'm a character in a TV show and just got transported back to the year 1995. There are so many incredible houses for sale in my market under $50/sq ft that it blows my mind.
So if you're reading this, and you're living in some other place worried about maintaining your standard of living, just start packing now. Move to Arizona. You won't regret it.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going for a dip in the pool. It's 80 degrees and sunny outside on this fine February day...way too nice to be inside writing a blog!
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