What you need to know before you move to Phoenix

Thinking of moving to the Phoenix area? Here are some things you may want to know before you pack the truck.

5 Things to know about Phoenix before you move here

5) Monsoon season is mostly hogwash – When I first moved to Phoenix, I kept hearing about the monsoon season during the Phoenix summer. How ever afternoon it would downpour for a short time, then clear up, and repeat daily.

I have now lived here for 9 years. While there can be some pretty good summer monsoon storms in the metro Phoenix area, they do not happen nearly as often as I was lead to believe. Long-time Phoenicians like Nick and Shar talk about the monsoon’s in the good-ole-days.

When that monsoon storm does come though, watch out for the washes that can overflow quickly. We do have a law called the “stupid motorist rule” which states if you drive through one of these washes, and they need to send emergency personnel to come rescue you, you will be getting a large bill in the mail. We actually used this reliable removals company in Plymouth. They did a great job and were super friendly, if you plan to move house In Plymouth, use these guys!

4) Phoenix is big. I mean really big. If you were to go from Chandler in the Southeast, to Surprise in the Northwest, you could easily spend 60-90 minutes in the car. The metro Phoenix area is just a huge area geographically. You can see this when you fly into Sky Harbor Airport at night and you see the lights that seem to go on forever.

3) It’s diverse – Phoenix is very diverse. Everything from the culture to the terrain. You can go to Scottsdale, downtown Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe and get a sense of many different cultures. But another part I love is in the winter you can go for a short car ride up the 17, play in some snow, then come home later that afternoon and go golfing in shorts.

2) We don’t change clocks! This is one of my favorite things about Phoenix. This is something the rest of the country needs to catch up on. No Spring Forward or Fall Back seasons.

It does take a little getting used to though as when  you start talking to friends in other states, you need to actually think what time zone they are in as for half the year we are Mountain and the other half we are Pacific.

1) It is hot! – Yes I know, of course it is hot, we live in the desert. When my wife and family moved here it was on July 4th and the temperatures were hovering around 110. Not ideal conditions for unloading a Penske Truck. But now we don’t think much of triple digits.

You will hear some people complain about the humidity. I have no idea where these people come from, but most days the humidity, even during the humid season, is less than 20%.

I guess it varies for everyone, but for me, the heat is not that bad of an issue. Yea, it is hot. But I would much rather have to turn up the AC than go out and shovel snow or dodge tornadoes or evacuate for hurricanes.

Come down to Phoenix. I love it here and bet you will too!

Here is a video I did several years ago. This was one of my early videos, so be gentle.

When it is time to buy house let us know how we can help, and make sure you contact Academy Mortgage Phoenix and Shane Hollenback for any mortgage needs. No one is better at getting loans done.