Stay in Az or GO?

328 Views 8 Replies 8 Participants Last post by mwherbs, Apr 4, 2006

1growingsprout

Discussion Starter · Apr 3, 2006

Hi there, our family has some HUGE decisions to make in the next couple months and I am hoping for some feedback from you....
I am a SAHM to DS 5 DD 3 DD 7 mos (and i am approx 3mos pgnt)and we just obtained custody of neice 8 and nephew 10.
we live in the arrowhead area ( NW valley). actually i am on the road bringing my neice back, custody just was finalized on friday, her brother flew out friday and we got him set up with clothes etc... then saturday i drove 500 miles to get here, we are taking our time coming back.

This leaves us with 5 soon to be 6 kids in 3000 sq ft. while the house is large and the neighborbood is great Im really feeling the urge to just relocate and start over. DH and i have discussed this over the past couple years.

Our reasons are:
1.the housing market is out of control. the value of our home has tripled to
quadrupled in the past 6 years. we could sell and have more then enough money to purchase a huge home in another state.
2. I do not really like AZ. winters are nice, summers are horrible.
3. I feel we are missing culture, yes we have museums etc but I long for 'chicago type' downtown areas.
4. mass transit. what more can i say? there is none, the bus system just does not work for us. its very difficult to get from arrowhead to downtown even if i wanted to.

the reasons i would stay is we homeschool and they law is very liberal with basically no requirements.

I would love to either try portland or new england, however realistically we would find ourselves near chicago.

DH works in the legal arena and has the opportunity to transfer to Chicago in 6-8 months.....

Any thoughts... anyone with a large family and still growing and you are out of sq ft? i just cant see plunking down 700k for a home in az... which is probably close to what it would cost us. Yes chicago is also pricey but you can get from the burbs to downtown on mass transit and you get some yardspace with your home....

HELP

mom to DS DD DD and DN (neice) DN (nephew)

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shelbean91

· #2 · Apr 3, 2006

Personally, I wouldn't make any decisions that large until life settles down a bit. You're pg, you're getting custody of 2 additional children. That's enough of a life change that I wouldn't add anymore to the plate. Maybe wait until dh's job opportunity is closer or you've delivered.

That being said- I'm originally from IL and have been in AZ for almost 12 years. I can't imagine moving back to the cold, cold, cold winters of the midwest. Yes, the summers here are hot, but I deal with that better than the cold. I still have family there and we've gone back and forth several times trying to decide whether to stay or go, but it seems like this is home.

3000 sq ft is a good amount of space. Even with the new additions, there's no reason you couldn't make it owrk for another year or 2, is there? The housing market here has gone up recently, but it is now slowing down a bit, so resale homes are on the market longer. We've got 1400 sq ft and we're still trying to decide whether or not it's time to upgrade.

good luck with your decision

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fromscatteredtribe

· #3 · Apr 3, 2006

we have four kids under eight in 1100 sq feet with no yard or garage.....it is tight, but we moved here for ds1's health (in chicago he got too many colds and severe breathing troubles from weather changes, molds and mildews) and most of the people that live in the suburbs of chicago NEVER get in to those museums and stuff i visited weekly and don't take advantage of the AMAZING publuc transit.....to get 3000 sq feet of space ANYWHERE in the city you would need at LEAST 400K maybe more like 600,000 ....we lied in 900 sq feet there in what many called the ghetto (we loved it)

If you can afford to live there IN THE CITY with good housing and steady employment, it is AN INCREDIBLE city (the best in the world imo). I grew up in the suburbs and lived in the city 10 years before moving here . I visit as often as I can. It would be INCREDIBLE to be homeschooling there. We do have LOUSY museums here in Arizona

Good luck with all the changes...congrats on all the new members of your family!

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candipooh

· #4 · Apr 3, 2006

Chicago homes will just as much or more that what they are in AZ. portland or new england? Portland would also be very high. I am not sure about New england but my guess is that it would be high as well.

Thing is...house prices are sky high in most places. Granted I did see some great places for sale in Texas and I have heard about large homes on huge property but it sounds like you would like to be in or near a big city. You will not find a house big enough for you for less than what your house is worth.

Good luck. I know looking to relocate is very stressful (we are doing the same thing)

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crazyeight

· #5 · Apr 3, 2006

Sounds like a lot on your plate. Its great that you at least have an idea. Obviously you have thought about this quite a bit in the past. 3000 sf is pretty big and I think you might be able to make it work with all the kids but it depends on how you are living right now and how much you want that to change.

I have no idea what its like to live anywhere other than MO and here (but here only a year and a half). I hate the cold but its still home. I am not sure exactly how strict homeschooling is in MO but my best friend did it and "graduated". I KNOW that in southern MO its a pretty cheap market for houses AND land. If you situate yourself somewhere between st. louis, kansas city and maybe southern IL it might work well for you. it all depends on how much you want to be able to get into the city verses how much you want to pay for what you need. Also MO is still a pretty cheap place to live compared to many of the other states.

Just wanted to point out that though no one thinks about MO its (fairly near) some large important places. Do your homework even on places you didn't think of and i hope that it works out for you.

I do agree though that moving across country with 2 new kids and prego would be STRESS!!!

Luck to you!!

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1growingsprout

Discussion Starter · #6 · Apr 3, 2006

i actually took DS last summer, he was 4 for a summer vacation to st.louis we loved the history and culture. they had excellent mass transit and museums... oh how i miss that

we would need to be near chicago w.DH's job... however with the mass transit system we could hit the 'burbs' and DH's commute wouldnt be too horrid (probably better then going from NW phoenix to downtown)
also with working from home 1/2 the time helps as well...

dont get me wrong, az has great southwest history.... and we do have the science center, the heard museum,
we visited the botanical gardens and saw the butterfly garden which was nice but there was SO MUCH MORE they could have done... we have 3 zoos with in driving distance ( phoenix zoo, wild life world zoo and african zoo)
there are also some wonderful arts geared toward kids , did you know phoenix has a PUPPET theater? childsplay theater etc? the central library is wonderful as is the glendale library system
I strive for one 'field trip' a week.... my kids love it, sometimes we go as a full family sometimes daddy is stuck working... ;()

i just guess im really ready for a change and if we all start over 'together' in a new place mind frame..

thanks for all your thoughts... keep them coming

btw the price of the home isnt much of an issue... we can probably net 500k from our sale and we are basically debt free now (and no mortgage so the funds are OURS). i dont know if we need more sq ft but we definately need a different floor plan. BIGGER kitchen, no need for formal living/dining space.... instead of formal room we need a full office and a kids play area....

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Felicitymom

· #7 · Apr 3, 2006

THere is nothing quite like longing to be somewhere else!!! I did that for many years and no matter what else was going on in my life I felt unsettled, and unrooted. I say if you long for.... something else.... then GO!!!!

Then midwest/Chicago is not for me, mass transit or not. I would never move there or for that matter long to live there, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I know AZ is not for everyone, like you said it's 'fine', but don't you want more than fine? After 7 long, long years of yearing to move back west I finally did and my whole life and being changed.... I became much more whole.... if you suspect the same for yourself, then I would do it!!! Especially if you think your children will be better off because of culture etc.....

Just do the research and make it as smooth as possible, no hasty decisions.
Nancy

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bradley method mom

· #8 · Apr 4, 2006

I say go to OR. My husband is a Mortgage broker and he says that the market is going down. you should get out now while your house is worth it.

Less and less people are buying, houseing is too much MONEY, but people from CA are still coming into town.
OR is much less money and they have SEASONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! they have good charter schools too!!!
I say go girl!!!!

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mwherbs

· #9 · Apr 4, 2006

Oregon has very high unemployment unless you have some sort of ready made movable income this will be a consideration
has the housing market really tripled in all the other places like it has here? you could look at some of the online property sales with pictures and see if this is true.
coming from the midwest you are not going to be satisfied culturally unless you are in a similar setting-- I know that this is probably not a popular sentiment but I have moved a lot -- mainly in the West but I still experienced culture shock moving from the Northwest to the Southwest and have seen even family members from the east experience much more- the distances alone in Arizona make driving for hours a norm in the cities with few options for public transportation-

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