Wow! Those of you lucky enough to live here, I envy you. I'm 3 nights in to a work trip out here and love it. Great great weather, a nice vibrant vibe and a tilted kilt. I think I could quite easily give up Monterey to live here!

Have you been there in the summer? 😜. To each his own of course but comparing Monterey to Phoenix is comparing apples to oranges. Monterey is a lazy coastal town with tourists retirees and investment/second homes. Phoenix is a big city with big amenities. I agree with you - Phoenix has a lot to offer for a good visit, but personally would not want to live there. Different places for different people.

I can buy a 5 bed mansion for considerably less than my 3 bed shack in California. Granted, I'm pissed, and the pub I'm in is playing some blinding tunes, but man, I could seriously live here!

Dude, the houses are big, but you have to visit April - October... i had to leave before I expired.

Wait until July and say this again

He did say he had had a few....

I had sampled one of two of the local brews, yes, LOL.
Seems Phoenix is a great place to have a winter house.

Lol hope you had fun. Save up your pennies!

Being in California too, I feel your pain but believe it is ultimately worth it for us in terms of the weather general offerings etc. Fwiw it seems like a ton of second homes here in CA are owned by "Zonies" wishing to escape during certain times of year. Grass always seems greener on the other side....

I don't care for Phoenix itself but I like some of the surrounding city's like Tempe.

Problem is summer and those big houses cost a small fortune to cool.

You do get used to the heat. First summer there I thought I was going to die.

Second summer was a breeze.

I worked at the airport on the ramp and really loading planes in 110F wasn't so bad.

Company provided a lot of water, Gatorade, and fresh fruit to keep us hydrated.

The Airbuses didn't like the heat though. But the company found a fix which kept the planes from freaking out.

After 25 years in the Bay Area, I was forced to spend time in Phoenix/Scottsdale due to a job situation. I ended up really liking it; I can tolerate the heat, and the storms in July/August are really spectacular. I was lucky enough to buy a small condo there in 2009 (at the bottom of the crash), and I've held onto it. Nowadays I'm back in the Bay Area most of the time, but I try to get down once a month and look forward to my time there. Full-time could be tough though. I do love the hiking there; I prefer it to CA.

I don't know where you live in CA, but absolutely NO ONE I've known in the Phoenix Metro owns a second home in CA, because it's so much more expensive than Phoenix Metro (especially if you were only using it for a portion of the year). I know lots of wealthy folks there who have second and third homes; the second homes are typically in northern AZ (Flagstaff/Sedona), or further afield like Montana, Colorado, etc - all places you can buy a second home for the summer at a decent cost.