Tell Me About Phoenix and Boating

[1967Goat]

Wife's been complaining about living in the mountains and cold. The only thing I dislike about Colorado is the lack of boating accessible lakes. She keeps talking about Phoenix, but we've never been. Thinking about going there this Spring or Summer to check things out. Yeah, I know it gets hot in the summer.

I honestly thought this was our "forever home". We have 2.5 acres at 7,400' elevation in a small town. If I am going to move it must be waterfront. More rural is better.

What is the boating scene like around Phoenix...say within an hour maybe an hour and a half from downtown? I'm not totally sold on the idea of moving, but...

[sandm]

dunno what your criteria is but possibly lake havausu or laughlin/bullhead city?
my uncle has a place next to the colorado river 10 miles south of laughlin. very rural. private enclave and the hoa manages a marina they all "belong" to.
it's not 2.5acres but there are tracts like that along the river. you can boat up to mojave or down to havasu.
only 1.5hrs to vegas and guessing phx is 3 or 3.5hrs away.

don't know what your budget is but anything in the southwest for land and on water is going to be spensive...

[1967Goat]

To clarify, I don't expect 2.5 acres on waterfront. I guess what I am asking, are there "medium" sized lakes that have houses on them within an hour of Phoenix? I see there's a river too, but I've never wakeboarded on a river before. Is Salt River a decent river to wakeboard on?

Colorado has gotten crazy expensive housing wise, so I probably have $300k+ equity in my house. Not looking for a mansion, but I realize waterfront properties usually have a premium. Budget would probably be around $500k, which would put me into a $200k mortgage.

Just looking for general ideas on lake communities that will narrow down my search more when we visit. I've just been looking on Google maps and it's so hard to tell what a decent ski lake looks like.

[jph3]

Try this out. We live in Edwards and looked at Phoenix for spring break...

http://waterskiarizona.com/public-lakes.php

[1967Goat]

After looking around most of the day, I think Arizona will be very similar to Colorado. Very few, if any, waterfront lake houses. I may have to widen my net geographically. I work in IT (remote), so I can work just about anywhere with an internet connection. Wife works in corporate Accounting, so just about any big city will work for her. I might start taking a look at Texas.

[TXSurf4]

After looking around most of the day, I think Arizona will be very similar to Colorado. Very few, if any, waterfront lake houses. I may have to widen my net geographically. I work in IT (remote), so I can work just about anywhere with an internet connection. Wife works in corporate Accounting, so just about any big city will work for her. I might start taking a look at Texas.

Tons of lakes down here!!


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[sandm]

I have always been a little jealous of the texas peeps for their ability to have a super long warm water boating season but I wouldn't trade the dry heat out here for humidity. living in wisconsin gave me a real appreciation for a dry climate and been here a year and have yet to see a mosquito, maybe a couple dozen flies and not a single wasp/yellowjacket. now granted have scorpions but spray and done.
asthmatic as a kid, had albuterol in wi and tossed the inhaler in the trash when I got here and haven't looked back :)

housing is quite a bit cheaper in texas and that's a big one.....

[zabooda]

In my travels, I was impressed with Russellville Arkansas. A lot of water around, appears to be good schools and medical. Housing is cheap.

[KG's Supra24]

Shout out for Hot Springs, AR.

Multiple lakes within 30 minutes. Ability to live on the water. Within an hour of the capital, Little Rock. Not the same size scale as Colorado, of course, but similar type landscapes. (same description would apply to Russellville)



Best of all ..... it's not Texas :p

[patrick232]

Check out TN some of the best and still affordable waterfront places in the country and you will still have mountains to visit withing an hour or so. Winter are colder than AZ but you can boat April thru October.

[rdlangston13]

..... it's not Texas :p

We have had serious discussions about relocating to hot springs but this right here is a big hurdle for us to get over and I am not sure we are ready for it yet... That and I feel like we would lose 2 months of the season a year

[TXSurf4]

Arkansas is definitely awesome!! Growing up we used to vacation at De Gray Lake south of Hot Springs and it was beautiful. The family and I have been talking about planning a big trip back there for a week this summer, hopefully we can make it happen.

It would be a great place to live!


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[jimmobius]

Arizona boating, weather wise is good, not this winter though. As far as waterfront, search Colorado river real estate. There are some water ski private lake gated neighborhoods in Gilbert and some other tournament ski lakes in the valley. Like Denver, if you want relatively flat water for watersports you better rent it.