Wanting to move to Mid-West/Plains area.

[DerekF]

Are you sure you are ready for the climate change? Not global, but going from Arizona to a place with winters is going to be a major change. I was military and lived in several different places. Being born and raised in Iowa, I missed the change of the seasons in other places. Washington state was beautiful and green but the 200 days of overcast was depressing to me.
Doug in SW IA

Yeah so for those who are questioning if I’m willing to deal with snow, I’m no stranger to it. I live in the mountains, my hometowns elevation is 5650ft. We have a ski resort about 45 minutes from my house. I would say average temps this winter - lows probably around 20-25. Highs 40-45. Some nice warm days in between. I received 3 or 4 little snow storms this winter. 4-8 inches a piece. Only stuck around for about 3-4 days at max though, so not like I live in it not stop from November to April. Last winter was a lot harsher and a little bit farther on the other end (as in this winter was a little warm, last winter was a little cold, usually right in between) . We had at least 3-4 days and at least 3 times last winter where it was sub zero temps (-7 was the worst I remember) and the high all day was barely above 0. Most other days the lows were 5-15 degrees and the highs were 35-40. Also got a solid 18 inches of snow in my town in one storm last winter. Stuck around for at least a week.
They got much more further up the mountain.

Anyway, just to give you an idea that I’m not a desert rat (well, not Phoenix type desert, but high desert next to the largest ponderosa pine forest in at least the u.s.)

As for public education, I’ll definitely do my due diligence there.

Should have included this in my original post but I was falling asleep as I wrote it. The areas I’m think ing of are Missouri, East Kansas, East Nebraska, Maybe Northern Arkansas. Considering Indiana or Iowa. Illinois out of the question. Politics and land prices (that I have seen) won’t work for me.

The northern mid-west states are probably colder than I’d like to go, but not out of the question. Thanks for the feedback so far.

 

[fried1765]

Yeah so for those who are questioning if I’m willing to deal with snow, I’m no stranger to it. I live in the mountains, my hometowns elevation is 5650ft. We have a ski resort about 45 minutes from my house. I would say average temps this winter - lows probably around 20-25. Highs 40-45. Some nice warm days in between. I received 3 or 4 little snow storms this winter. 4-8 inches a piece. Only stuck around for about 3-4 days at max though, so not like I live in it not stop from November to April. Last winter was a lot harsher and a little bit farther on the other end (as in this winter was a little warm, last winter was a little cold, usually right in between) . We had at least 3-4 days and at least 3 times last winter where it was sub zero temps (-7 was the worst I remember) and the high all day was barely above 0. Most other days the lows were 5-15 degrees and the highs were 35-40. Also got a solid 18 inches of snow in my town in one storm last winter. Stuck around for at least a week.
They got much more further up the mountain.

Anyway, just to give you an idea that I’m not a desert rat (well, not Phoenix type desert, but high desert next to the largest ponderosa pine forest in at least the u.s.)

As for public education, I’ll definitely do my due diligence there.

Should have included this in my original post but I was falling asleep as I wrote it. The areas I’m think ing of are Missouri, East Kansas, East Nebraska, Maybe Northern Arkansas. Considering Indiana or Iowa. Illinois out of the question. Politics and land prices (that I have seen) won’t work for me.

The northern mid-west states are probably colder than I’d like to go, but not out of the question. Thanks for the feedback so far.

Your first 4 choices are ALL in the highest tornado areas!

 

[bigtiller]

Have you checked out the area around Payson Arizona? It sits in a valley surrounded by the Mogollon Rim and the Mazatzal Mountains.
It has 4 mild seasons and no wind. It sits at the 5000 foot elevation. Pine trees up the wazoo in the forested areas outside of town. Hundreds of people drive up from the Phoenix area on weekends to camp. Lake Roosevelt isn't too far away.
If I had to move, that area would be first on my list.

 

[DerekF]

Have you checked out the area around Payson Arizona? It sits in a valley surrounded by the Mogollon Rim and the Mazatzal Mountains.
It has 4 mild seasons and no wind. It sits at the 5000 foot elevation. Pine trees up the wazoo in the forested areas outside of town. Hundreds of people drive up from the Phoenix area on weekends to camp. Lake Roosevelt isn't too far away.
If I had to move, that area would be first on my list.

Payson, pinetop/lakeside, Vernon, Greer, Eager/Springerville would all be great places, but the thing is that the 5-10 acres I want will cost me 250-500,000 in those areas. Much more than I’ll ever afford. I’m pretty much in that neck of the woods. And I’ve been watching land and house prices since 2014. It’ll be hard to afford.

 

[Diggin It]

I came close to buying 9 acres for $9K, but I would have had to pay for the survey (another $2K), legal fees ($1K or so) and getting the badly overgrown area cleared (another $2K). Ultimately the bank told the guy he couldn't sell any portion of the property since he was in foreclosure. That was about half the going rate per acre. Land, taxes and other stuff are cheap in Lower Uncton.

 

[ovrszd]

Your first 4 choices are ALL in the highest tornado areas!

How bout those Hurricanes???? We don't have that....

 

[ovrszd]

I'm in NW Missouri. All of this State is green. Population density is of course near the two big cities, St Louis, KC. But Population generally increases South of I-70 too. As the population density increases so does land prices.

I am in one of the larger Counties in Missouri but only have a population of 8,500. Largest town is 3,500. Acreage land will range from $3,000 - $6,000 per acre.

I believe your income dollars will go much farther in the Northern end of this State. Come on over and I'll give you a tour.

 

[DerekF]

I'm in NW Missouri. All of this State is green. Population density is of course near the two big cities, St Louis, KC. But Population generally increases South of I-70 too. As the population density increases so does land prices.

I am in one of the larger Counties in Missouri but only have a population of 8,500. Largest town is 3,500. Acreage land will range from $3,000 - $6,000 per acre.

I believe your income dollars will go much farther in the Northern end of this State. Come on over and I'll give you a tour.

I have been to Missouri, first and last time I was there was last May. Ive done lots of looking around there online. If I ever come up with some money to make it back there before actually making a move, I might take you up on that. That’s more rural than me. I live in Navajo county in AZ. Navajo county is about the same size square milage-wise as Vermont (just looked it up and were slightly bigger) but we have 108,000 people, the towns around here average about 3-5000 people. Couple bigger towns with about 10,000 people, but still pretty rural. Anyway, sounds like it might be a little less dense and more spread out than it is here even.

Lots of people have mention tornadoes, which I was aware of, but just from first hand experience, are they even something to really consider when wanting to move out there? My mother has expressed concern about tornadoes out there and I have told her I’m not worried about it in the slightest, so what’s your experience with them?

P.S. I looked seriously at Lebenon MI for a while. Lebenon looks like it has a great school system with great athletics and the town seems like a pretty nice size, but definitely not stuck on it at all.

 

[Slowpoke Slim]

OP,

We must be (distantly) related somehow.

I'm a native born Arizonan, from what would now be called "North Phoenix". When I was growing up there, it was well outside of the (then) city limits of Phoenix. Other than the 8 years I was away in active duty, I was a resident from early 60's through 2010, when we moved up here to ND.

I got sick of the big city, and all the @#&* transplanted folks that basically ruined the state of AZ. I grew up on a farm, in a rural area, and everyone I knew were rural folks. When I got back from active duty, it seemed like suddenly LA was in Phoenix now, and I hated it. Crime, pollution, traffic, gangs, drugs, crime (yeah 2xcrime). So we finally just took the plunge and moved.

We love ND. I will go back to visit AZ sometimes, when required (I still have some surviving family there), but we will never move back there again. You'd be surprised how quickly you will adapt to the smaller town and rural lifestyle. And how fast you adapt to the different weather. Yes, it gets cold here, but we're acclimated now, and today for example, it was almost 50 degrees outside, and we're running around in just shirts and jeans. It has to get down to freezing before we reach for a jacket now.

AZ is not what it once was. I don't blame you for wanting to leave. I consider it a lost cause, let the CA transplants have it.

 

[Diggin It]

Lots of people have mention tornadoes, which I was aware of, but just from first hand experience, are they even something to really consider when wanting to move out there? My mother has expressed concern about tornadoes out there and I have told her I’m not worried about it in the slightest, so what’s your experience with them?

They are extremely odd. I've had them within 5-10 miles both sides of me and both of those those paths have been hit more than once in the 20 years I've been here. There is just no explanation that anyone can come up with. If you look at that map above, you'll detect some brighter areas that mean more concentration. Some areas just get hit more often than others even in storm prone areas. It was long 'claimed' by many that bigger cities somehow tended to deflect them. That has been disproven with storms hitting Memphis, Nashville, Birmingham, Dallas, Houston (if I recall correctly) and others. They can also strike in any month and state. You don't generally think of them in January, February, March and November, but they have had some of the most destructive.

They can destroy an entire town (Greensburg, KS, Moore, OK, Xenia, OH) or take one house out of a row.

The can travel a few hundred yards or many miles. The Nashville storm last Tuesday tracked just over 60 miles.