Havasu - The Land of Opportunity

[ShineSyndicate]

Like any other city, plenty of the same businesses, Restaurants, Bars, Retail, Contractors, etc....

I am curious as to what you think Havasu is saturated with?

What's it missing if anything ?

What Current business can improve?


I tend to hear this quite a bit is reliability, lack of communication or just flat out over promise under deliver, that happens anywhere.. a little more common in Havasu due to its unique location.

 

[SOCALCRICKETT]

Like any other city, plenty of the same businesses, Restaurants, Bars, Retail, Contractors, etc....

I am curious as to what you think Havasu is saturated with?

What's it missing if anything ?

What Current business can improve?


I tend to hear this quite a bit is reliability, lack of communication or just flat out over promise under deliver, that happens anywhere.. a little more common in Havasu due to its unique location.

I see havasu transitioning right now, years ago it was the land of retirees and weekend play houses, lately I'm seeing more families moving here full time.

Problem is the town is expensive to live in (by comparison to other AZ cities) and not a ton of major employment opportunities. Case in point, when my 2 boys get into the working world they are going to have to venture away from our town to find sustainable career paths.


As far as community, the lack of shopping is my wife's biggest complaint, without a Costco or target she feels a bit isolated

 

[RiverDave]

Saturated with
Storage
Real estate agents
Detailers
Shitty Mexican restaurants
Boat and SXS rental companies
Tiny homes (which honestly some of these things should be illegal they are so small)


It’s missing
Quality employees
Work force housing / apartments / multi family
Commercial properties
Mid to high end restaurants that are good
Clothing stores
Manufacturing style companies / career style jobs
Higher education

 

[Bpracing1127]

Missing quality non scam boat builders and repair maintenance places.

 

[ShineSyndicate]

I see havasu transitioning right now, years ago it was the land of retirees and weekend play houses, lately I'm seeing more families moving here full time.

Problem is the town is expensive to live in (by comparison to other AZ cities) and not a ton of major employment opportunities. Case in point, when my 2 boys get into the working world they are going to have to venture away from our town to find sustainable career paths.


As far as community, the lack of shopping is my wife's biggest complaint, without a Costco or target she feels a bit isolated

That does make sense, with remote jobs becoming a thing it gave a lot of people opportunity to go elsewhere.

 

[ShineSyndicate]

Saturated with
Storage
Real estate agents
Detailers
Shitty Mexican restaurants
Boat and SXS rental companies
Tiny homes (which honestly some of these things should be illegal they are so small)


It’s missing
Quality employees
Work force housing / apartments / multi family
Commercial properties
Mid to high end restaurants that are good
Clothing stores
Manufacturing style companies / career style jobs
Higher education

The man that knows best!

Why do you think some of these bigger stores won't open up shop? Fluctuation in population being a "vacation city" Looking for more consistent daily traffic/flow?

 

[monkeyswrench]

Youth type entertainment...like the arcade place out here.

 

[ShineSyndicate]

Missing quality non scam boat builders and repair maintenance places.

Shots fired lol but truthful.

 

[SOCALCRICKETT]

The man that knows best!

Why do you think some of these bigger stores won't open up shop? Fluctuation in population being a "vacation city" Looking for more consistent daily traffic/flow?

I had heard from a real estate investor years ago that towns that have a Costco coming are places to look into. Apparently Costco does a ton of research before building, rumor has it (heard it twice in the past 2 weeks) that Costco is looking heavy into opening a store here in town

 

[Javajoe]

It’s a real drag you can’t fly in to Havasu except if you charter a private plane which is costly. I have a buddy from Montana wanting to visit but ya gotta fly to Vegas then drive a couple hours.

 

[rivermobster]

I had heard from a real estate investor years ago that towns that have a Costco coming are places to look into. Apparently Costco does a ton of research before building, rumor has it (heard it twice in the past 2 weeks) that Costco is looking heavy into opening a store here in town

All the big stores do the same, and they are already there.

When you saw them move in, you knew the small town vibe was over.

I heard what it's missing now is a new bridge!

 

[Sleek-Jet]

That does make sense, with remote jobs becoming a thing it gave a lot of people opportunity to go elsewhere.

Remote jobs are no longer a thing and many people are getting called back. I wonder how communities like Havasu are going to weather this storm.

 

[Bpracing1127]

Remote jobs are no longer a thing and many people are getting called back. I wonder how communities like Havasu are going to weather this storm.

Actually the opposite. There are more remote jobs than there ever.,

 

[ShineSyndicate]

Remote jobs are no longer a thing and many people are getting called back. I wonder how communities like Havasu are going to weather this storm.

That is a good point, some industries are still full remote, however I have seen some where its "almost" full remote but require travel a few times a year.... not a terrible deal. Agree though if people moved thinking full remote for good and things change....

 

[rivermobster]

Remote jobs are no longer a thing and many people are getting called back. I wonder how communities like Havasu are going to weather this storm.

Ummmm...

My best friend makes six figures doing a remote job. She works for a world wide company, who's all top dogs work remote.

This company is smart enough to realize, paying for office space is EXPENSIVE!!!

It's a thing. But Only for companies that get it.

 

[ShineSyndicate]

Actually the opposite. There are more remote jobs than there ever.,

some industries said F it and cut the overhead down and stayed full remote.. Obviously some industries can do that, others, not a chance

 

[ShineSyndicate]

Ummmm...

My best friend makes six figures doing a remote job. She works for a world wide company, who's all top dogs work remote.

This company is smart enough to realize, paying for office space is EXPENSIVE!!!

It's a thing. But Only for companies that get it.

THIS^^^^ My B.I.L, high up exec for an electronics co, full remote, pretty dense 6 figure pkg, travels once a year

 

[Looking Glass]

It’s a real drag you can’t fly in to Havasu except if you charter a private plane which is costly. I have a buddy from Montana wanting to visit but ya gotta fly to Vegas then drive a couple hours.

Have him check with the Casino's in Laughlin and locate one of their "Flights" to there check in the Casino and rent a car for the short 40-minute drive down, then in several days, you get a return Flight back home.

 

[Bpracing1127]

THIS^^^^ My B.I.L, high up exec for an electronics co, full remote, pretty dense 6 figure pkg, travels once a year

I work for a large defense contractor. Travel Monthly to suppliers. We have

Supply chain
1/2 of Eng
1/2 of program
1/2 of quality
All executive mgmt
Hr
Finance
It

We are all remote. Sold off two buildings this year in Scottsdale

 

[RiverDave]

I had heard from a real estate investor years ago that towns that have a Costco coming are places to look into. Apparently Costco does a ton of research before building, rumor has it (heard it twice in the past 2 weeks) that Costco is looking heavy into opening a store here in town

I’m pretty sure they have owned land here for years? Or at least I thought they did?

 

[phuggit]

I see havasu transitioning right now, years ago it was the land of retirees and weekend play houses, lately I'm seeing more families moving here full time.

Problem is the town is expensive to live in (by comparison to other AZ cities) and not a ton of major employment opportunities. Case in point, when my 2 boys get into the working world they are going to have to venture away from our town to find sustainable career paths.


As far as community, the lack of shopping is my wife's biggest complaint, without a Costco or target she feels a bit isolated

This was the reason we moved from Havasu. Also, the summer heat was brutal as we've gotten older.

 

[F.U.IRS]

I had heard from a real estate investor years ago that towns that have a Costco coming are places to look into. Apparently Costco does a ton of research before building, rumor has it (heard it twice in the past 2 weeks) that Costco is looking heavy into opening a store here in town

Doubt there will be a Costco coming to Havasu anytime soon.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

I'll toss another vote for commercial air flights.

We are both full-time remote workers, I work for a global manufacture, so it's unlikely I will report to an office ever again, however, it is a bummer to make the early morning drive to Vegas to fly. IMHO LHC should be attempting to attract high end remote workers. We pull our money into a community, not from a community. We need high speed reliable internet and some shared office space with nice meeting rooms. The key is air travel. If they had commercial flights in LHC, I think I would pull the trigger on a house here and come for a few weeks in spring/fall. The drive here sucks from Montana.

Is there a decent liquor store in this town? Not a grocery store.

In the Midwest they have these giant bars that have all sorts of games for when the weather is bad, I always wondered if those could work to escape the heat. They are pretty industrial type places, but a lot of fun. Last I went into Kokomo I was thinking they need some golf simulators for the winter crowd.

Strip club?

 

[Singleton]

It’s a real drag you can’t fly in to Havasu except if you charter a private plane which is costly. I have a buddy from Montana wanting to visit but ya gotta fly to Vegas then drive a couple hours.

You used to be able to do this. Bullhead gets a few charters from the midwest during snowbird season.
AA (AmericaWest) had flights from PHX and OC back in the days.
I had the joy of having AmericaWest as a client (back in my external audit days) - those segment never turned a profit.
The year they stopped the flights, not 1 flight to Havasu turned a profit. Back in the days, that was the key criteria for AmericaWest to pull out of a market.

Everyone says they want flights, yet no one used it when they did.

 

[GPR721]

I'll toss another vote for commercial air flights.

We are both full-time remote workers, I work for a global manufacture, so it's unlikely I will report to an office ever again, however, it is a bummer to make the early morning drive to Vegas to fly. IMHO LHC should be attempting to attract high end remote workers. We pull our money into a community, not from a community. We need high speed reliable internet and some shared office space with nice meeting rooms. The key is air travel. If they had commercial flights in LHC, I think I would pull the trigger on a house here and come for a few weeks in spring/fall. The drive here sucks from Montana.

Is there a decent liquor store in this town? Not a grocery store.

In the Midwest they have these giant bars that have all sorts of games for when the weather is bad, I always wondered if those could work to escape the heat. They are pretty industrial type places, but a lot of fun. Last I went into Kokomo I was thinking they need some golf simulators for the winter crowd.

Strip club?

Not sure if you have checked out Nomadic across from BJs, but they have rental offices and conference rooms.

For arcades The Spot and Glitch Barcadium have arcade games/alcohol.

Both my girlfriend and I work remote and travel a few times a year. It would be nice to have a commuter flight to Vegas.

I also miss having a Trader Joes nearby.
And the cost of housing here is still pretty high. If I could find someone to marry my ex wife I'd have plenty of money to buy a nice house.

 

[rivermobster]

Doubt there will be a Costco coming to Havasu anytime soon.
View attachment 1461703

askwonder.com?

Yeah, that sounds legit!

 

[monkeyswrench]

You used to be able to do this. Bullhead gets a few charters from the midwest during snowbird season.
AA (AmericaWest) had flights from PHX and OC back in the days.
I had the joy of having AmericaWest as a client (back in my external audit days) - those segment never turned a profit.
The year they stopped the flights, not 1 flight to Havasu turned a profit. Back in the days, that was the key criteria for AmericaWest to pull out of a market.

Everyone says they want flights, yet no one used it when they did.

I wonder how the demographics have changed, and if it would now be more viable? Hell, our little podunk airport has flights to LA and Denver. I don't know if it's turning any profit though. It had only been a thing for the past 6 or 7 years though.

 

[2Driver]

When you think about stuff coming to town you have to realize more people can drive through a single intersection in a large town in 1 day than the whole population of Havasu.

As far as Daves list, I would have written that list the same way in 1985 except for sxs rentals.

 

[SLT Kota]

I've heard it is lacking rack storage

 

[dezertrider]

Ummmm...

My best friend makes six figures doing a remote job. She works for a world wide company, who's all top dogs work remote.

This company is smart enough to realize, paying for office space is EXPENSIVE!!!

It's a thing. But Only for companies that get it.

Yup my wife is about to make more then me with her remote job. She is a unicorn at what she does and is highly saught after.

 

[RiverDave]

Not sure if you have checked out Nomadic across from BJs, but they have rental offices and conference rooms.

For arcades The Spot and Glitch Barcadium have arcade games/alcohol.

Both my girlfriend and I work remote and travel a few times a year. It would be nice to have a commuter flight to Vegas.

I also miss having a Trader Joes nearby.
And the cost of housing here is still pretty high. If I could find someone to marry my ex wife I'd have plenty of money to buy a nice house.

I had a member one time offer me a 100k bonus to find someone to marry his ex wife.. lol.

RD

 

[FlyByWire]

I had a member one time offer me a 100k bonus to find someone to marry his ex wife.. lol.

RD

And I’d do it again in a heartbeat

 

[FreeBird236]

I see havasu transitioning right now, years ago it was the land of retirees and weekend play houses, lately I'm seeing more families moving here full time.

Problem is the town is expensive to live in (by comparison to other AZ cities) and not a ton of major employment opportunities. Case in point, when my 2 boys get into the working world they are going to have to venture away from our town to find sustainable career paths.


As far as community, the lack of shopping is my wife's biggest complaint, without a Costco or target she feels a bit isolated

I've never been a fan, but apparently, we may get a Target behind Lowes.

 

[ChrisV]

Needs a Pho restaurant.

 

[Floaterboat]

I'll toss another vote for commercial air flights.

We are both full-time remote workers, I work for a global manufacture, so it's unlikely I will report to an office ever again, however, it is a bummer to make the early morning drive to Vegas to fly. IMHO LHC should be attempting to attract high end remote workers. We pull our money into a community, not from a community. We need high speed reliable internet and some shared office space with nice meeting rooms. The key is air travel. If they had commercial flights in LHC, I think I would pull the trigger on a house here and come for a few weeks in spring/fall. The drive here sucks from Montana.

Is there a decent liquor store in this town? Not a grocery store.

In the Midwest they have these giant bars that have all sorts of games for when the weather is bad, I always wondered if those could work to escape the heat. They are pretty industrial type places, but a lot of fun. Last I went into Kokomo I was thinking they need some golf simulators for the winter crowd.

Strip club?

Havasu can’t attract high end remote workers without an investment they don’t want and can’t make. No remote worker wants to buy a $900k house and live next to an Air BnB or Sanford and Son. That hurdle, is only addressed in some parts of town and they are the farthest from everything. Or you get lucky on a nice street.

Then you have the town itself. It is an island town. If it is not in town, you are driving an hour at least for shopping, etc. That is the biggest challenge with the place growing and gaining services.

High end remote workers demand a service an accommodation level that does not exist in Havasu. It may never exist there because it is a town that exports tourism with no real drive to innovate. The only real draw is the tourism. People that live there choose it to be close to CA family and/or bribe/lure family to visit to use the toys. If that is your jam, Havasu works great. There are more and more people that works for, but you have to love boating and off roading.

Flights and high end shopping and accommodations are not coming until the town becomes something other than a tourist trap.

 

[PRIMO]

Education ..... Havasu Teachers make Dog Meat Wages / Havasu City & Mohave County need to step up to the Plate !
Developers should be paying a percentage of Profits to an Educational Fund / let's say one percent. I Hear Black Rock is in Town

 

[monkeyswrench]

Needs a Pho restaurant.

They screw up Mexican food...with Mexicans cooking! Same thing with where I live

 

[Sportin' Wood]

Havasu can’t attract high end remote workers without an investment they don’t want and can’t make. No remote worker wants to buy a $900k house and live next to an Air BnB or Sanford and Son. That hurdle, is only addressed in some parts of town and they are the farthest from everything. Or you get lucky on a nice street.

Then you have the town itself. It is an island town. If it is not in town, you are driving an hour at least for shopping, etc. That is the biggest challenge with the place growing and gaining services.

High end remote workers demand a service an accommodation level that does not exist in Havasu. It may never exist there because it is a town that exports tourism with no real drive to innovate. The only real draw is the tourism. People that live there choose it to be close to CA family and/or bribe/lure family to visit to use the toys. If that is your jam, Havasu works great. There are more and more people that works for, but you have to love boating and off roading.

Flights and high end shopping and accommodations are not coming until the town becomes something other than a tourist trap.

Maybe I'm not aligned with reality on high end remote worker. My other home base is in a town with a population of 6000. I agree, i don't want to live near Sanford and son or STRs, but I live on the reservation in Montana and we got both. I do love both the airports ease of use, they are 1 hour away in each direction.

Our biggest factor is the availability of outdoor recreation opportunities. We traveled full time for two years all over the west and landed on summer on Flathead Lake Montana and Winter in Lake Havasu. I do more walking/hiking/running in Havasu then I do in Montana. It's not all about the offroading and boating but that helps.

All that said just this morning I was asking my wife if we could do better for our winter digs at a better cost and closer to an airport.

I should disclose, I've never lived in Orange County and am comfortably white trash.

 

[Singleton]

Saturated with
Storage
Real estate agents
Detailers
Shitty Mexican restaurants
Boat and SXS rental companies
Tiny homes (which honestly some of these things should be illegal they are so small)


It’s missing
Quality employees
Work force housing / apartments / multi family
Commercial properties
Mid to high end restaurants that are good
Clothing stores
Manufacturing style companies / career style jobs
Higher education

Quality Employees - that problem is everywhere, but in Havasu it gets impacted negatively due to lack of affordable apartments/multi-family housing availability.

Havasu could use some better restaurants - but look at the geographic. Snowbirds will not pay for it, summer rowdy crowd usually ruin it for everyone else. Residents only can’t support it.

commercial properties and career style jobs will never occur in Havasu. You need energy production for those 2, and Havasu lacks that. Plus the town is not big enough and too far from other areas to support it. Kingman will take that before Havasu.

Higher Ed - You had that, but the community did not support it and it closed. Go ask the high school students in Havasu, I bet almost 85% will tell you they are looking forward to getting out of Havasu.

Havasu is a strange one. It has potential to be more, but I bet a large percentage of property owners don’t want the community to change. Full time residents are a small % of property owners.

I think of Havasu as I did the family cabin in Northern Wisconsin.
- easy to get to (6hr drive)
- i can can what I need if I forget it at home
- businesses support the activities, tourist or weekenders do
- Most will never invest a dime trying to build a business, where 80% of revenue comes from outsiders
- those that do risk it all to build a business, do well. However they know their livelihood is tied to tourist and weekenders

 

[Travmon]

One of my employees girlfriend was born and raised in Havasu and is living here in Washington and when I met her i asked her why she moved here the answer from her was quite direct, “ I didnt want to be a bartender “.

 

[Floaterboat]

Maybe I'm not aligned with reality on high end remote worker. My other home base is in a town with a population of 6000. I agree, i don't want to live near Sanford and son or STRs, but I live on the reservation in Montana and we got both. I do love both the airports ease of use, they are 1 hour away in each direction.

Our biggest factor is the availability of outdoor recreation opportunities. We traveled full time for two years all over the west and landed on summer on Flathead Lake Montana and Winter in Lake Havasu. I do more walking/hiking/running in Havasu then I do in Montana. It's not all about the offroading and boating but that helps.

All that said just this morning I was asking my wife if we could do better for our winter digs at a better cost and closer to an airport.

I should disclose, I've never lived in Orange County and am comfortably white trash.

The issue is once you are a remote worker and can go anywhere, how does Havasu stack up in that marketplace?

It mainly attracts people from So Cal. There are enough people from So Cal to keep the place growing, but Havasu attracts a demographic.

As I see it -

Value for dollar - Better than CA but not favorable to other places.
Cost of living - better than CA but not great, and rapidly getting more expensive.
Education for kids - not great
Work opportunity - not great
High end amenities - not great
Food - ok but limited
Weather - really nice 7-8 months out of the year.
Outdoor activities - great if you like boating and off roading
Golf - marginal
Hiking/Biking/fitness - decent.

It is a personal choice and depends on what you like and how much you want to pay. If you like golf there are far better places. If you like boating and off roading, it’s hard to beat. If you like sitting in your house and venturing out only for dinner, you can find somewhere cheaper to do that with better food.

 

[Desert Whaler]

20 miles from the center of town to get to the 40, and no other 'practical' routes for trucking.
No international airport or train station.
Bigger cities are pretty far . . . 2 hours to Las Vegas , 3+ hours to Phoenix, 3 hrs to Palm Springs, and further. for others.

As someone mentioned in another post . . . I don't think it's become what McCulloch had originally envisioned.

I think the 'outside money' has both helped and hurt havasu, depending on what side of the tracks you live on , so to speak.

IMO havasu city management had better be taking a really good look from 30 thousand feet in regards to the future of the city.

 

[c_land]

Education ..... Havasu Teachers make Dog Meat Wages / Havasu City & Mohave County need to step up to the Plate !
Developers should be paying a percentage of Profits to an Educational Fund / let's say one percent. I Hear Black Rock is in Town

you forgot one thing......




909

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Actually the opposite. There are more remote jobs than there ever.,

No, there isn't. Oh, there are lots of posted remote jobs, but no one is hiring, a lot of ghost jobs out there. Major corporations are rolling out 4-5 day RTO policies.

Going through this right now with my wife, they are supposed to be back 4 days a week starting in February. She's looking for remote positions and simply none are available.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

Ummmm...

My best friend makes six figures doing a remote job. She works for a world wide company, who's all top dogs work remote.

This company is smart enough to realize, paying for office space is EXPENSIVE!!!

It's a thing. But Only for companies that get it.

My wife makes six figures working remote,.but see my post above, that arrangement is coming to a screeching halt.

 

[n2otoofast4u]

You used to be able to do this. Bullhead gets a few charters from the midwest during snowbird season.
AA (AmericaWest) had flights from PHX and OC back in the days.
I had the joy of having AmericaWest as a client (back in my external audit days) - those segment never turned a profit.
The year they stopped the flights, not 1 flight to Havasu turned a profit. Back in the days, that was the key criteria for AmericaWest to pull out of a market.

Everyone says they want flights, yet no one used it when they did.

How many years ago was that? Havasu is a MUCH different town/destination now than 10 years ago!

 

[Singleton]

How many years ago was that? Havasu is a MUCH different town/destination now than 10 years ago!

Early 2000’s is when service stopped for AmericaWest.
Lots has changed in Havasu, but at the airport as well.
The attached article was well written and explains the complexity

Flying after 9/11: The growth and decline of commercial service in Lake Havasu City

Commercial flight service began at the Lake Havasu City Municipal Airport in 1991, and travelers enjoyed almost two decades of flights to Phoenix, Las Vegas, and later southern California before

www.havasunews.com

 

[SkyDirtWaterguy]

Be careful what you wish for in Havasu. Part of its charm is a small town atmosphere. Bring in Costco. Low income housing. Big City amenities and convenience brings the riff raff. Crime. Traffic. Trash and all the other things people fled from to enjoy the allure of Havasu.

 

[PlanB]

Be careful what you wish for in Havasu. Part of its charm is a small town atmosphere. Bring in Costco. Low income housing. Big City amenities and convenience brings the riff raff. Crime. Traffic. Trash and all the other things people fled from to enjoy the allure of Havasu.

Exactly.

 

[Englewood]

Just sent a text to my friend who is C-level exec at Costco. Havasu IS NOT getting a Costco. All rumors.