A DIFFERENT KIND OF ADVENTURE

 

We've talked about it off and on for a long time, but we're moving.  Actually we already have.  So let's get you up to speed.

There have been discussions between us about selling our house and moving somewhere out of California.  We' checked out the area around Carson City, Nevada, but on a trip there in the winter the temperature was 7 degrees so we crossed it off our list.  We were considering Nevada because  there is no income tax, but we ruled out Las Vegas because of the summer heat.

We wanted somewhere that was in a day's drive of San Diego because that's where family is.  So the next best was Arizona.  Not Phoenix, for the same reason as Las Vegas, so we chose Prescott.  Located about 1-1/2 hours north of Phoenix is sits at 5400 feet, is big enough with a population 0f 43,000.  With the addition of neighboring Prescott Valley and Chino Valley, the tri-city area has a tad over 100,000, big enough to offer all the necessary services, like a medical center, recreational opportunities, and Trader Joe's.  We made several trips to check out the neighborhoods and get the lay of the land.  We got a little concerned one trip when it snowed about a foot overnight.  All the locals told us that was unusual.  We really liked what we saw in Prescott (pronounced Preskit), so Prescott was it.  We were lucky in that we know some ex-Californians who live in Prescott and their input was essential in helping us choose our new home town.  To top it off, Prescott's motto is, Everybody's Home Town.

THE COURTHOUSE

DOWNTOWN

THE LAKES

We were still waffling, but with Covid we couldn't do anything else, so it became a good time to move.  What really made us take the leap was the amount of money we could get for our home.  It became a no brainer.  So the house went on the market and within two weeks we had a buyer.

 I've been asked by friends how will I feel about leaving a house I built with my own hands and lived in for the past 47 year.  On top of that, I've lived on the same property almost my entire life, having been in the family since the late 1930's.  It turned out not to be a problem.  Before making the decision I felt there might be some emotional attachment, but I haven't experienced that.  The house was old and needed work, the private road to access the house is in bad shape and was about to cost a bunch of money.  Cathie also was ready to move.

 But the main motivation for moving was, it's California.  Oh sure, nice weather, great beaches, but the nut cases in the State Capitol and elsewhere in government have made living there much more expensive.  High personal income tax, gas tax, regulations that only add to the cost of living, failure to arrest and prosecute criminals, homeless population out of control, making the state a Sanctuary State and protection of illegal aliens,  the list goes on and on.  So we took advantage of the high costs and sold our house for and inflated price.  Of course California still has us in it's grip as we have to pay Capitol Gain Tax on the profit from the house, which is a sizeable amount given that in 1975 the house only cost $28,000 to build.  It wasn't so much that we wanted to move to Arizona with it's 4.5% income tax, soon to be 2.5%, but that we wanted out of The People's Republic of California.  So now, we are homeless.  Living in the RV till such time as we find a home we can both agree upon and that we can afford.

That's what we're doing now, looking for a home.  Marianna, our realtor and a long time resident of Prescott, has been looking for our forever home and has been finding possibilities.  Currently the available for sale home inventory is low and most homes sell very quickly.  I have noticed, that in the past month houses are taking a little longer to sell, which is good for us.

 So we will continue our search and when we are not looking a houses we will explore Prescott and the surrounding area.