My husband and I will be going to Phoenix last week of June. We will be renting a condo for 4 nights at a Del Webb retirement community outside of Phoenix, in Surprise, AZ to see whether we like the lifestyle there. We've been to Phoenix only once before, but liked it enough to consider it for retirement. We live in the Northeast now, but have no problem with the dry heat of either Phoenix or Las Vegas, another location under consideration.

We would love some input from anyone who has done the same thing. We have a few years to go until we retire and want to make the right decision.

I live in Scottsdale. Dry heat?It is not as dry as it used to be. Been here 10 yrs from VA. In July it is humid due to all of the man made lakes, etc, new construction. Man changes the environment, remember. I dont know about Surprise but I like Scottsdale. I love the Northeast! Would move to CT if I could afford it. Good luck. Vegas can be seedy..watch out.

Are you staying in Sun City Grand? If so,it's very nice and you should like it. The other poster was correct man is ruining the environment here. It is slowly getting more humid and the heat index is rising due to the constant building.

I've been out here since 1997 and love the area. The Surprise area is right next to Sun City West and Sun City. The area is really growing on the west side.

Coming at this time of the year will give you a good idea of what it is like when it is really hot. But, you will not really experience what it is like in season as a retired person. So, please keep in mind that no matter how much you like it now, you'll like it all that much more in the winter.

Enjoy your trip here.

Hi Leona,
Most of the people who have posted here have hit the nail on the head. Yes, it is a dry heat most of the time, but watch out for July, August and Sept. These are the months of dust storms and monsoon weather, then the humidity rises. Sun City, Surprise is a very nice, clean area. Beautiful new retirement homes built by Dell Webb. Lots of building going on out west in the area. In June you can tell if you can stand the heat or not as it is the driest month out of the year.
Good luck, and enjoy your stay!

Thank you all so much for your words of wisdom! As I said, we've only been there once before, also in July, and will certainly make several more trips seasonally before we decide.

Life in retirement is not as shown in the brochures. If you plan to spend your time playing golf, fishing, or on the tennis court, you are in for a bad surprise. Stuff like that becomes boring beyond belief. Think of your new home this way: a new start. It's payback time. What are the opportunities to make new friends? What are the opportunities for volunteer work? Where and how good are the local libraries, schools, and/or medical facilities? Are there a lot of hidden costs? Such as sky-high utility bills, crime, pollution, noise, etc. Use your head...but re-locate with your heart. We know -- 'cause we did it 20 years ago.

USNR, it's hard to tell by your tone whether you are disgruntled or happy. And I'll assume that if you've been retired for 20 years, you retired early (from the Navy?).

We don't see ourselves like an ad in a retirement magazine and plan to continue working at something, don't know what yet. But we are doing our homework as far as lifestyle and amenities are concerned. We know what we are looking for! Thank you for your input.

My parents moved to Sun City West about 10 years ago. At that time Sun City Grand was a dirt lot and the stretch on Grand Avenue hadn't been filled with all of the Big Box retailers. They live on a golf course and are year round residents, escaping the summer heat in their RV, usually traveling or up at Prescott.

They had former business associates who lived down there and had a good base for friends and developed more friends as their neighborhood grew.

They have enjoyed it however, my Mom didn't like being surrounded by an older generation even though she was one of them. She missed the mixed ages of families.

My Sister moved to Scottsdale 5 yrs ago, and until the 101 was finished, getting from here to there was difficult. She has since moved to North Phoenix, and it's still 40 minutes to get to her house. Phoenix and surrounding areas are very big geographically.

As for Hot. I was down there last August, during monsoon season and the humidity made a difference in the heat. I came back to Sacramento and although we had temps over 100 for most of September, I never thought it was as hot as PX. Las Vegas isn't much different, although it is further north and has more temp variations.

I like the Phoenix area and feel that there are many parts of the city where one might find what they like. I would take the time over the next few years to spend time in as many areas as possible to find what is right for you.

Good luck.

No, I did not retire from the Navy, Leona, but I have years at sea on my resume. I was in the banking business; hence, my hard-headed attitude toward retirement along with its pluses and minuses.

You do raise an interesting point, about congenial neighbors in retirement. There are areas, districts, even communities within Arizona where the people come from the same career backgrounds. For example, retired Army, Air Force, Navy, or even the same company.If you are not part of that shared life experience, you may feel frozen out, excluded, or just ignored as being "not one of ours." A sister near San Diego, for example, must be very careful what she says because of the community's bias toward our country's foreign policy in Iraq, etc. Just don't say you haven't been warned.

The "Sun City" type communities have a darker, more sinister side -- they don't allow youngsters because this enables them not to build schools and so not be taxed for schools, teachers, etc. I wonder where these moral midgets got their educations.

Just be careful. Look before you leap.

USNR, it never would have occurred to me that the reason for "no children" in retirement communities was because they don't want to pay school taxes. I always thought it was because they wanted some peace and quiet!

Actually, unless the whole town is "adults only" I can't see where it would do them any good. We have a lot of retirement communities in and around Houston, but they still have to pay school taxes if they are within the city limits.

I believe that at the time Sun City was developed, it was incorporated as its own town without schools, precisely to avoid the school tax issue.

My friends, originally from the northeast, have lived and worked in Phoenix for more than 20 years. They often speak of retiring to Tuscon, where they say the weather is cooler and the sprawl is smaller.' Just something else to consider...

here are two wonderful websites to assist you with your choice and what you should look for

http://www.bestplaces.net/html/citycompare.asp

FindYourSpot.com

I have several friends that moved to the Sun City communities and they all really like living there.

Phoenix is not more humid than it used to be. The humidity is in July/August is caused by massive inflows of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico (and to a lesser degree, the Gulf of California).

If anything it is less humid as evidenced by fewer rainstorms in recent summers. Less irrigation also would lower the humidity.

The heat is only a problem for the daytime hours from mid June - August. After the sun goes down it is quite pleasant.

You might also look at several places in the east Phoenix area - Gold Canyon, SUn Lakes & many more

BettyK -- that is EXACTLY what happened in Sun City and its clones -- no kids are allowed to live there, hence, no schools, no school taxes. Grandparents have had to go to court to enable them to have their grandchildren live with them even temporarily, as in the case of ill or dead parents. It's a disgusting comment on our so-called "concerned conservative seniors" who live in those gray ghettos.

The relative humidity in Phoenix has declined slowly since the 1940's.
Avg rel humidity was 39% in 1900, averaged 44-48% thru the 1920's, and has dropped back into the mid-30's over the past 25 years.
The reason appears to be the increased concrete and development (which does not store water) and increasing heat, which isretained overnight by all the concrete and development.

There is a previous posting that discusses the climate issues rather thouroughly. In the search field above, type in "Arizona when it sizzles" and the thread I am talking about will be the search result. Read it, the initial posting is a classic, and the rest of the thread is informative.