Havasu - The Land of Opportunity

[rivermobster]

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.

You haven't been to Havasu City lately I take it?

 

[Tank]

Generally -

Schools suck
No industry
Medical sucks
Work force sucks
Decent restaurants at best
It’s comprised mostly of snow bird retirees or second home vacationers neither of which bring working class to the table. Yeah there are some family’s and a few more moving out there but they’re the exception, not the rule. And the housing market out there is pushing back on any work force types moving out there.

Airport would be a game changer now as havasu has grown crazy since the early 2000’s when the last commercial
Flight was out of there.

Costco would be cool but that ain’t gonna change the havasu dynamic.

I don’t see much in havasu changing dramatically for the better anytime within my life.

 

[FishSniper]

Havasu needs to address the crappy medical in town.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

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.

I'm not trying to be disagreeable or defend LHC. Just sharing my viewpoint as a remote working snowbird.

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

I've been a remote worker since March 15th, 2020. We traveled all over the western states for extended visits. LHC is not perfect, but it checked a lot of boxes for us. I beats Baja because it has clean ice and we can have guns. Otherwise I perceive it about the same. I like offroading and I get to scratch that itch here. I also like MTBing, the trails here are not great, but they have a few options. The weather and the views play the most significant role. We also like birds, there are plenty to see here. We like to fish, however we done little of that. Funny, we like the food choices here as we have few in Montana. We dine out here much more often.

There are no SoCa people most of the winter season in our park Islander except special events on weekends. They come in for two days and leave. The rest of our neighbors are from all over the damn place including Canada. FWIW they do spend money here even with the happy hour addiction. They buy all sorts of toys, RVs, vehicles, furniture repair work etc.

I do have to overlook some things but mostly it is a great winter home. WINTER, I don't find it attractive when the devil returns.

IMHO this town is in trouble when the Boomer snowbirds stop coming. 4-6 constantly don't return each year to Islander after some coming for 20-25 years. The younger crowd like us is limited and many don't come back after a couple years.

 

[Havasu blue label]

It’s havasu boating fishing and relaxing

 

[DRYHEAT]

I can’t for the life of me understand why all of you vacation and weekend in such a godforsaken hell hole.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you are trying to compare a small city in a county of less than 220,000 people to have the same services and amenities as Metropolitan areas of millions.

There’s plenty of other high-end vacation spots to choose from. You Ballers need to fire up the private jet and go.

 

[SOCALCRICKETT]

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

Good to know someone who got the info direct

 

[SkyDirtWaterguy]

You haven't been to Havasu City lately I take it?

I’m there all the time. Thats why I say what I said. As the city grows , thus comes all the bullshit.

 

[angiebaby]

One of the things I like about Havasu is there is no interstate running through. That was a requirement when we decided where to purchase a home also. Water (lake or river) and no Interstate. Got it in both places.

I do wish there was a Target though, as I really do not care for WalMart. A legit liquor store would be nice, and I find it crazy that there isn't one here.

 

[riverroyal]

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?

There was a strip club in 1994. I think called hussongs. Kinda by chabones.
I remember very little except how disappointing it was lol

It's missing..
A mid to high level resturant with a channel view.
Affordable rv resorts
Affordable housing for locals.
And biggest one, a drag strip

 

[HALLETT BOY]

Costco won’t locate here because their biggest demographic is missing , Asian people ! Last I heard , Kingman might get a Costco , go figure …

 

[DRYHEAT]

Costco won’t locate here because their biggest demographic is missing , Asian people ! Last I heard , Kingman might get a Costco , go figure …

Kingman gets a lot of things we don’t for the simple fact they have an interstate highway running through town. That’s a big criteria for a lot of big corporate entities.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

There was a strip club in 1994. I think called hussongs. Kinda by chabones.
I remember very little except how disappointing it was lol

It's missing..
A mid to high level resturant with a channel view.
Affordable rv resorts
Affordable housing for locals.
And biggest one, a drag strip

I don't understand why there are not apartments out near Walmart. It seems it would help support the mall.

Shagrues is high level enough for my wallet. Martini Bay?

When you compare RV resort prices across the West, you will be surprised by the rates at islander. We found few that where cheaper and none nicer in all the places we stayed. Only one had bigger spaces, it was in Cortez Colorado. It was pretty nice, and cheaper, but the trees where sticks.

Drag strip seems easy enough. Before everyone freaks out on Insurance, USAC seems to be the pathway to motorsports insurance these days. A road course might also be popular, I visited one in the Detroit area this year that was bad ass. It had man caves all over the complex and a club house. It was cool.

 

[DRYHEAT]

One of the things I like about Havasu is there is no interstate running through. That was a requirement when we decided where to purchase a home also. Water (lake or river) and no Interstate. Got it in both places.

I do wish there was a Target though, as I really do not care for WalMart. A legit liquor store would be nice, and I find it crazy that there isn't one here.

I am just curious and totally serious. I am not a drinker, what is considered a legit liquor store? Many moons ago there was WineTime liquors, but it got tore down to build a business complex or something over on Lake Havasu Avenue. I think it’s where Anytime fitness is now.

 

[rivermobster]

I am just curious and totally serious. I am not a drinker, what is considered a legit liquor store? Many moons ago there was WineTime liquors, but it got tore down to build a business complex or something over on Lake Havasu Avenue. I think it’s where Anytime fitness is now.

Bevmo?

 

[DWC]

Havasu has plenty of:
Storage and building more everyday. Boat brokers/service, boat/sxs rentals, bars, dirt/water activities.

Needs to improve:
Reliable trades, Medical options, Flight options, Butcher shop, manufacturing jobs, short term rental market, hotel options

The mid/higher end restaurants are good enough. No way Havasu supports a top tier spot year round.

Hotel options for visitors suck. My old boss and his team came into town last year. Pretty sure most of them will never be back after staying in local hotels.

Flights: We were in Tampa/St. Pete area this week for work. A coworker lives in NJ and has a condo down there. He flies down every couple weeks for $89. We don’t need to be that cheap but seems like we should have some seasonal options.

 

[Bpracing1127]

It’s also missing hotels. There are zero nice hotels in havasu. They all suck.

 

[adam909]

Havasu, The land of opportunity. I would disagree. I think thats the biggest thing havasu lacks. The havasu economy revolves around tourism. If for what ever reason boats weren't allowed on the lake and snow birds stopped showing up havasus economy would be dead. There isnt alot of opportunitys for people to live in havasu better yet if your rasing kids in havasu whats there chances of becoming successful? There just isnt enough opportunity to really grow havasus economy. Havasus economy wont even let the everyday people that keeps the economy moving really afford to live in havasu. As much as I love the lake and havasu in general. Theres no way I would live there.

 

[DWC]

It’s also missing hotels. There are zero nice hotels in havasu. They all suck.

It’s sad. Nautical, Heat and LB have great locations but the maintenance is horrible. Rented a suite at the Heat right before we bought in Havasu. Place was a wreck.

 

[PlanB]

Havasu, The land of opportunity. I would disagree. I think thats the biggest thing havasu lacks. The havasu economy revolves around tourism. If for what ever reason boats weren't allowed on the lake and snow birds stopped showing up havasus economy would be dead. There isnt alot of opportunitys for people to live in havasu better yet if your rasing kids in havasu whats there chances of becoming successful? There just isnt enough opportunity to really grow havasus economy. Havasus economy wont even let the everyday people that keeps the economy moving really afford to live in havasu. As much as I love the lake and havasu in general. Theres no way I would live there.

There is definitely lack of opportunity for kids growing up out there, but they need to be realistic and go start a life somewhere else. The number of people I see complaining on social media about the job market for young people is ridiculous. There are opportunities in the trades, but the job market is not that of a major metro area.

 

[RIVERBORN]

I hope it all dies off and the market crashes. Lol. But I want it to stay small.
I know locals that are riding the wave want it to keep growing, but I actually already hate it so busy.
Like some have said. Be careful what u wish for.

 

[Looking Glass]

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 “.

OR!!

A BAR "FLY" OR BOTH!!

 

[riverroyal]

Im pretty sure the mall is turning into apartments.

A non scary sushi joint would be nice
A place like nautical in. Just not nautical inn.
A wave pool and water park, part indoors part outdoor and near channel.

 

[Tank]

It’s sad. Nautical, Heat and LB have great locations but the maintenance is horrible. Rented a suite at the Heat right before we bought in Havasu. Place was a wreck.

And that is a DIRECT reflection of shitty employee pool. Hard to keep up on things when they’re hurtin to find good people.

 

[wishiknew]

I'm not trying to be disagreeable or defend LHC. Just sharing my viewpoint as a remote working snowbird.


I've been a remote worker since March 15th, 2020. We traveled all over the western states for extended visits. LHC is not perfect, but it checked a lot of boxes for us. I beats Baja because it has clean ice and we can have guns. Otherwise I perceive it about the same. I like offroading and I get to scratch that itch here. I also like MTBing, the trails here are not great, but they have a few options. The weather and the views play the most significant role. We also like birds, there are plenty to see here. We like to fish, however we done little of that. Funny, we like the food choices here as we have few in Montana. We dine out here much more often.

There are no SoCa people most of the winter season in our park Islander except special events on weekends. They come in for two days and leave. The rest of our neighbors are from all over the damn place including Canada. FWIW they do spend money here even with the happy hour addiction. They buy all sorts of toys, RVs, vehicles, furniture repair work etc.

I do have to overlook some things but mostly it is a great winter home. WINTER, I don't find it attractive when the devil returns.

IMHO this town is in trouble when the Boomer snowbirds stop coming. 4-6 constantly don't return each year to Islander after some coming for 20-25 years. The younger crowd like us is limited and many don't come back after a couple years.

snow birds buy a payday candy bar and cut it into 3 parts then each eats a part so they have a part of it for the next day (its the single serving bar) LOL

 

[Tank]

I’ve been going to havasu for nearly 30 years I’ve only once in my life met someone “born and raised” that was an adult. We’re still friends with her and she’s the best. She’s 50ish and was raised out at crystal beach. Her grandfather owned a bar that was near the entrance to crystal beach and the 95. Think about that shit, living in crystal beach in 1975! Fuckin ghost town.

 

[DRYHEAT]

I don't understand why there are not apartments out near Walmart. It seems it would help support the mall.

Everything that has been proposed ultimately costs more than the typical Havasu worker bee can afford. There’s a proposed project on McCulloch and Delta. The builder wanted to make it three stories in order for it to be high density enough to be “affordable” but none of the residents in the area want it and I don’t blame them. Something out by Walmart sounds like it would make sense but it would still probably cost more than the average worker bee could afford.

 

[DWC]

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

What developers? Are the big builders in town?

 

[DRYHEAT]

And that is a DIRECT reflection of shitty employee pool. Hard to keep up on things when they’re hurtin to find good people.

I think it’s a direct reflection of piss poor leadership. I’ve watched how some of these owners/managers lead and it’s not very impressive.

 

[EarpRider]

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.

Do people still shop? That's sooo 2000's.
Even - your words, "high end" people do most of their shopping online.

And their are lots of "high end" neighborhoods in Havasu not next to Sandford and Son houses.

 

[EarpRider]

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

What non tweaker towns are cheaper to live in than Havasu?
And what? Rent? Groceries? Gas?

 

[Havasu blue label]

Do people still shop? That's sooo 2000's.
Even - your words, "high end" people do most of their shopping online.

And their are lots of "high end" neighborhoods in Havasu not next to Sandford and Son houses.

There’s 4 cherry tree golf area and the refuge and the island .

 

[EarpRider]

There is definitely lack of opportunity for kids growing up out there, but they need to be realistic and go start a life somewhere else. The number of people I see complaining on social media about the job market for young people is ridiculous. There are opportunities in the trades, but the job market is not that of a major metro area.

That's an interesting comment, if you talk to the "Havasu Pioneers," -kids that were born and raised in Havasu and still live here, you won't hear any of them talk about "lack of opportunity " and they were in high school 40 years ago, when their wasn't anything going on.

 

[Dannyo]

It's hard. We want all the big town conveniences, stores, restaurants, and talent pool, but still the small town vibe. It's probably always gonna stay a tourist town.

 

[Joker]

I sure wish whoever built that place would have imagined having a straight street instead of all the stupid curved residential areas.
You can drive for 10 minutes and still end up in the same spot.

 

[SOCALCRICKETT]

What non tweaker towns are cheaper to live in than Havasu?
And what? Rent? Groceries? Gas?

Very true, you notice it when you go to public parks like rotary...


There isn't gum stuck to the sidewalk all over the place, there isn't a bunch of tagging on the building walls, homeless aren't just hanging out on every corner. Sure there are homeless in every city, but overall numbers and per capita numbers go havasu is well below average, (hell Newport and Huntington have much higher numbers.)

Case in point, havasu is roughly close to the same population as the north end of temecula where I moved from, as of now there are 40 documented sex offenders in havasu and most are on the far outskirts, where I was in temecula there are 70 just in a 5 mile radius from my old house

 

[PlanB]

That's an interesting comment, if you talk to the "Havasu Pioneers," -kids that were born and raised in Havasu and still live here, you won't hear any of them talk about "lack of opportunity " and they were in high school 40 years ago, when their wasn't anything going on.

Read the community pages online. I am not talking about the few that were raised out there 40+ years ago. There is a whole generation of young kids that are just out of high school looking for a future. Many don't seem to understand that they need to go to a different city to seek the opportunities they want.

 

[Looking Glass]

What non tweaker towns are cheaper to live in than Havasu?
And what? Rent? Groceries? Gas?

RIGHT!!, The "Electricity" is "Dirt Cheap in Havasu.

 

[samsah33]

The city (planners? managers? council?) needs to get involved and decide what it wants to be. If the city and the citizens are content with it being a tourist town, then they should act accordingly and continue to operate as they have and continue to attract recreational companies or destination events like weekend concerts and festivals. They could also take notes from other cities and towns that have transformed themselves by offering incentives to certain industries, such as medical clinics & make it a medical/spa destination. Could make it a grow hub similar to Desert Hot Springs. Could make it a tech hub. I'm certain that there's plenty of investors that would be willing to help finance some of the needed infrastructure if the city committed to offering incentives to specific industries along with a growth plan.

 

[DRYHEAT]

Read the community pages online. I am not talking about the few that were raised out there 40+ years ago. There is a whole generation of young kids that are just out of high school looking for a future. Many don't seem to understand that they need to go to a different city to seek the opportunities they want.

Opportunity is everywhere, sometimes it doesn’t come up and bite you in the ass, but it’s there if you’re willing to work for it and make some sacrifices. Being born and raised in Lake Havasu is not a death sentence.

 

[Go-Fly]

Boat forum with boating content.

 

[EarpRider]

RIGHT!!, The "Electricity" is "Dirt Cheap in Havasu.

I'm assuming that your being sarcastic, but outside of June - Sept is it really higher than other AZ towns?

 

[EarpRider]

Read the community pages online. I am not talking about the few that were raised out there 40+ years ago. There is a whole generation of young kids that are just out of high school looking for a future. Many don't seem to understand that they need to go to a different city to seek the opportunities they want.

I would assume that is and has always been the same with lots of smaller towns in the US.
The good thing about Havasu is you can drive 2 to 3 hours in all directions and find big city opportunities, but not really be that far from home.

 

[PlanB]

Opportunity is everywhere, sometimes it doesn’t come up and bite you in the ass, but it’s there if you’re willing to work for it and make some sacrifices. Being born and raised in Lake Havasu is not a death sentence.

As long as you realize your success might not be found there. There is little industry in Havasu outside of the trades unless you want to be in the service industry.

 

[PlanB]

I would assume that is and has always been the same with lots of smaller towns in the US.
The good thing about Havasu is you can drive 2 to 3 hours in all directions and find big city opportunities, but not really be that far from home.

That is true but the people complaining want to live and work in Havasu and can't understand why they are not making the wages they want.

 

[OCMerrill]

I am still planning to move there.

 

[DRYHEAT]

I am still planning to move there.

Don’t do it you’ll be miserable!

 

[DRYHEAT]

As long as you realize your success might not be found there.

That could be said about anywhere. Everyone has different measures of what success is.

 

[OCMerrill]

Don’t do it you’ll be miserable!

I might keep my GC going remotely for a while. Then handyman work. Figured between Havasu and Parker I should be able to survive.

We'll see.

 

[Ultra912]

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

We have one in Victorville. We're only 140K and the city is 74 square miles. Spoke to store manager recently. He says the store averages almost a Million daily. 1.4M daily during the holidays. That's in store sales not online