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Thinking About Moving to Arizona Ask THESE Questions First

[00:00:00] Okay, so moving to Arizona sounds exciting however, it isn't until you realize when we told you about certain things that actually matter once you're here Such as, sorry, healthcare, isolation, summer heat, tourist traffic, and then there's the building a whole life from scratch, a whole new life from scratch.

So if you're thinking of retiring to Cottonwood, Arizona or the Verde Valley, watch this video, and there are 10 questions that I wish I would've asked before I moved to Cottonwood, Arizona, actually just to Arizona. And these are not in any special order. They're just things that I thought, based on my experience, you might find interesting or helpful.

Okay? So number one, what does healthcare really look like here? And [00:01:00] as a retired psychologist, I'm gonna say their m- mental health, behavioral health services are very limited. There are fewer and fewer psychiatrists, so getting in for mental health services, not so much counseling, but medication management can be a bit of a challenge, so plan ahead.

You may be working with a psychiatric nurse practitioner. Medical services, again, it's a rural area. We have two hospitals, one in Cottonwood, one in Sedona. We have medical clinics. There are few- fewer specialists, but it's an hour to Flag, an hour and a half to Phoenix. So if you need those specialists, they're really not that far.

It's not that hard to get to the services that you need. In general, we cover all the basics. There's a helicopter service that will fly you to Flag or fly you to Phoenix if that is needed. Can, number two, can I handle the summer heat at this elevation? And it does hit triple [00:02:00] digits for about two months, usually July and August.

It's a dry heat. It doesn't feel like heat in the humidity of the Midwest. It's very different, and if you step into the shade, it actually feels cooler in the shade. It does cool down at night, so you can still enjoy the coolness of the evening. If you get up early in the morning, when I say early, I'm talking 5:00, 6:00, until about 8:00, you can get out and hike, but then there's all the water activities.

So you can do canoeing, swimming, tubing, all those type of things. A lot of times we just sh- switch to indoor activities, just like people do in the Midwest in the winter. We just switch our activities to the indoors. Electric bills. Okay, the electric bills. Honestly, it's only for two months that the temperatures are that high, and so it really is a personal thing.

You know, I run my air conditioning fairly warm, [00:03:00] because when it's 100 degrees outside, 78 feels pretty chilly inside. However, it's a personal preference, and keep in mind that it's only for a couple of months that you really have to run the air conditioning full on. Other than that, it's not... I mean, I don't even use my heat very often in the winter.

Okay, so my electric bills are very reasonable. Number three, what will my daily driving look like? And that depends on if you're in Cottonwood or if you're in Rimrock in Camp Verde. Sedona has their own shopping, you know, grocery stores and things like that, daily things. Occasionally they'll drive over here to go to Walmart and Home Depot, but they have several grocery stores over there and other stores.

But if you're in Camp Verde, Rimrock, it's gonna be a 30-minute drive into either Sedona or into Cottonwood for groceries, for shopping, for restaurants, and that type of [00:04:00] thing. But the roads are usually all paved, and it's pretty easy, and there's not a lot of traffic. So there's that. Question number four.

Am I choosing a town or a lifestyle? I think that's a really important question to ask because every area is so different. And so in Cottonwood you're gonna have more services, more shopping, healthcare, activities. Clarkdale's gonna be quieter, artsier, historical. Camp Verde is gonna be more rural, spread out, just like Rimrock.

Again, more rural, very private, very quiet. And Ver- the Verde Villages is... I kind of think of it still as part of Cottonwood, 'cause it's just past Walmart, but it's definitely a very different type of lifestyle there versus as you're getting closer to Old Town Cottonwood and that area. You wanna think about [00:05:00] walkability.

You wanna think about privacy. You wanna think about community. What's important to you? Do you want a low-maintenance property that, you know, maybe it's a lock and leave they call it here, where you have a really small, like, patio area or yard, and so when you leave it's not really anything someone has to take care of?

Or do you want some acreage 'cause you wanna have animals, and cattle, or goats? I love goats. So thinking about that. A- access to outdoor, you know, hiking and ATVing, water sports, all those kind of things. And also peace and quiet. I mean, obviously Cottonwood is gonna be noisier than Camp Verde or Rimrock.

So definitely those are things to think about. What lifestyle are you looking for in the area? Number five, how important is the wildfire risk where, where you're gonna be buying? And that's a very legitimate question here because the insurance companies have [00:06:00] become very fire conscientious, and they have fire scores now.

So everywhere is... They fly drones over, and they come up with a fire score. So that's something you're gonna wanna talk to your insurance company about. We're gonna have to have those conversations. Buying in a heavily wooded area is gonna increase the fire score. Bl- buying in an area where there's a wash, and your house is at the end, and the wind might blow through, that could increase your fire score.

There's a lot of things that are outside of our control, but definitely something you wanna think about. And definitely Firewise, we encourage people to practice that, to do whatever you can to make your home fire defensible. So there are tips and tricks I can share with that, because the community I'm in is the first Firewise certified community in the Verde Valley.

So we have Firewised our community as best we can. Question number six, what happens after the tourists leave? And, and I kinda laugh with this question, but it's an important one if you're [00:07:00] looking in particular at the Sedona area. Because- Sedona has a lot more tourist traffic than we have in Cottonwood or Camp Verde or Rimrock or Clarkdale.

Cottonwood, of the ones I mentioned, is probably gonna have the most traffic. However, we don't experience it the way they do in Sedona. Sedona during holidays and high season, which would be the spring and fall, it can get very, very congested in Sedona, and driving from point A to point B can take three times as long as it should.

But when the tourists are gone, it's, it's no problem. Traffic is minimal at best. Number seven, will I actually be able to build a community here? And I have to say that, yes, you can, 'cause I have. I've done it. I've retired. I've built a community here. I've built a business. But it's all very personal. [00:08:00] Some people want to be alone.

Some people want that separation from everybody, and they just wanna come in when they wanna do their shopping, see the doctors, whatever. But generally speaking, I have found the communities to be very friendly, to be very welcoming. It, it really is a very personalized type thing. Now, the further and more rural it is, you're not gonna have the community that you would have living in Clarkdale or Cornville or Sedona and Cottonwood because we're in, you know, we're in close vicinity to each other.

So it's walking to, you know, activities or just meeting people out on the hiking trails every day, walking their dogs at the park. So that's what I find, and obviously I've posted on other videos ways to meet people, going to the recreation center, going volunteering at different places. So there are ways.

It just depends on your activity level and the things that you enjoy doing. They have hiking groups and things like [00:09:00] that here. They have birding groups. So you can certainly build and connect in a community. They have churches. So what you would normally do where you are or some new hobbies you wanna pick up, we can research those, and I can help you determine which area in Verde Valley might w- be the best for you.

Question number eight, how close do you wanna be to the services? I grew up pretty far away from everything, so for me, driving 20 minutes to a half an hour was nothing. For work, for shopping, for medical appointments, it just... That's just the way my life was. So here in Cottonwood, you can get pretty much everywhere in 10 minutes.

In Sedona, basically the same thing, 10 minutes except during tourist season. Sorry. Cornville is closer in, but again, it's gonna be longer. Some areas are a lot more [00:10:00] remote than others. Camp Verde and Rimrock, you're gonna be driving at least 30 minutes to get to everything. So access, you know, is gonna be a lot less.

It's gonna take longer to get to places. Properties are more rural. There are dirt roads. Sometimes during monsoons, the roads are full of water and you can't cross. So those are things to think about if you're going to be looking at properties in much more rural Camp Verde or Rimrock areas. People ask me about kind of the big box stores and things like that.

A lot of the, um, fa- Ugh, fast food. Chain restaurants are in Prescott, in Prescott Valley. Uh, Costco is in Prescott, and that is, for me, about an hour, abou- f- pretty much an hour to an hour and a half drive to get to Costco. So you're not going every day, saves me money. But it is within driving distance. And you do- You can avoid most of the really windy roads here.

I [00:11:00] go from Cottonwood through Jerome to get to Prescott Valley, and I drive that through the Mingus Mountains, and there's a lot of curves. Very, very curvy. It's called switchbacks, and a lot of people don't feel comfortable driving those, but you can avoid that primarily. So driving is not bad here. We have a lot of paved roads.

Some rural roads are pretty rough, but again, it depends on what you're looking for. Question number nine, what surprises people after they move here? And I don't want these things to surprise you after you move here. Number one, the health services. Yes, we are limited. It's a rural area. I grew up with very limited health services.

That's just the way it was. And so here Specialists are in Flagstaff and Prescott or the Valley, Phoenix area. Flagstaff is an hour away, Prescott's about an hour away, and Phoenix is an hour and a half. So if you really [00:12:00] can't find somebody up here or the wait is way longer, whatever, there are access, but you have to drive a little further.

Monsoons. Monsoons have not been all that awesome lately, unfortunately. We could definitely use more monsoons. When it is monsoon season and it is raining buckets of water, you stay out of the road where it says, "Do not cross when flooded." You realize the roads are gonna be slick because oil has been c- accumulating on it because there's no water to wash it off.

So there's just things that you learn as you're here, kinda like you learn living in the Midwest about driving in the snow. Dust storms. We really don't get dust storms up here because we have enough vegetation, and we don't really have the wind that they have down in the southern part of Arizona. But I have been caught in a haboob, and that's what they call them here, and I had to pull over.

You could not see anything. It was worse than driving in fog. Headlights [00:13:00] didn't do anything. So everybody just pulls over and waits, and it usually is a few minutes and everything passes. Another thing to think about that you should know before you purchase property is, is there internet service and does your cellphone work there?

That is a serious problem, especially in Rimrock and Camp Verde. The further you get out, the more remote you are, the more sketchy those services are. And yes, wildlife is everywhere, so be prepared to see coyotes, javelinas, bobcats, mule deer, bunnies, roadrunners, all of it, because, it again, they live here.

It's their home, too, and I actually enjoy seeing them. Water, uh, I'm gonna do a whole video on water, so I'm not really gonna touch on that so much here. But yes, you wanna know about that, and you wanna know, especially if you're looking at rural Property that has a well, and that's a whole nother conversation.

And then just, again, I did a video about how emotionally [00:14:00] challenging it can be relocating because you are leaving behind your family, your friends, your routines, your churches, your work, all those things that created structure in your life and predictability. Well, you're not gonna have that when you first get here.

But if you plan ahead and you have some ideas of where you wanna make connections, and I can certainly help guide you as well, you'll be okay. You'll do great. You'll do great. Um, but keep in mind, making that move here, you're gonna have that incredible scenery. You're gonna have amazing sunsets, sunrises, mountain views everywhere, beautiful valleys spread out.

It's just phenomenal. You have access to so many outdoor activities year-round. Year-round. Uh, I find it lot less stressful. Obviously, I've lived in city areas more. I've lived in Phoenix, and I like living here 'cause it's quieter, there's less crime, there's less people It just feels like you can breathe and [00:15:00] relax here.

Um, obviously there's more sunshine than in the Midwest, so that's a big selling point. 'Cause it's the West, and Rimrock and Camp Verde do feel a lot like the Wild Wild West, 'cause it's so untamed, I guess is the best way to put it, that you just feel a sense of freedom that you didn't have maybe before.

And I honestly can say for myself that I feel like I have a better quality of life here than I did have previously. And last but not least is question number 10, and does the place fit the life I want next? And so it's not so much I'm looking for a house I can afford, and I'm gonna look wherever I can with the intention that once I get here, I can then maybe move to a better location.

You- I, I discourage people from doing that because you won't be happy, and it's very important. You make it a big decision to retire here. It's very important that you buy a house that you know [00:16:00] it will bring you joy and happiness and peace, and the connections and lifestyle that you are looking for, and it will be there for at least five or 10 years.

Again, we're aging, so we do have to think about that, and, you know, thinking about, do I wanna go through moving again, say, when I'm 75 or 80? And if the answer's no, then we have to look for different types of properties. Um, so those are just things and conversations we should definitely have. Um, as whether you're gonna feel isolated or connected, again, that's a very personal thing, and it depends on your personality.

If you are out in the community, you're gonna eventually connect with people, even if you're just chatting with the checkout person at the same store over and over and over. You know there's that connectedness 'cause it's a small community, and you go, "Hey, I saw you checking me out at Walmart, and now you're over here, you know, whatever, eating at the same restaurant I am."

So there's just this level of connectedness that happens in a small community. [00:17:00] Um, and I grew up in a small town. I do know that small towns can be very unwelcoming. I do not find that here at all 'cause a lot of people have relocated here. So we are welcomed with open arms. And the other thing you wanna ask yourself, is moving to Arizona a vacation fantasy because you came and you had such a great time, or you've heard such great things about it?

Or is it really a place that is gonna sustain the lifestyle that you want? So with that being said, if you've ever thought, ever thought about leaving the Midwest for Arizona, tell me in the comments what your biggest concern is, what your biggest questions are, what you'd like to know more about. I do read every comment personally, and I do respond to them personally, and I really love hearing what you want to know next.

Also remember, click on the link below to get your relocation guide because we created it [00:18:00] specifically with you in mind