Havasu - The Land of Opportunity

[Sportin' Wood]

Especially this time of year with Snow birds.

Take it easy on us Snowbirds.

 

[Bpracing1127]

Dude, why is your tone ALWAYS sooo angry and negative? Dam, chill out once in a while. We get it, you think Havasu is a shit hole and it's gonna get worse.
Ok, Bye!

Not negative at all. Just seeing it from my POV.

I do vacation there often.

Finding myself going less and less due to lack of hotel/cheap air bnb options

Things are getting better kinda. But I have really been looking at property in page Az and making Powell my home lake. 2 hours away vs 4 for havasu.

Page property is high as shit right now

 

[hallett21]

Not negative at all. Just seeing it from my POV.

I do vacation there often.

Finding myself going less and less due to lack of hotel/cheap air bnb options

Things are getting better kinda. But I have really been looking at property in page Az and making Powell my home lake. 2 hours away vs 4 for havasu.

Page property is high as shit right now

Powell all day long!

 

[mesquito_creek]

Not negative at all. Just seeing it from my POV.

I do vacation there often.

Finding myself going less and less due to lack of hotel/cheap air bnb options

Things are getting better kinda. But I have really been looking at property in page Az and making Powell my home lake. 2 hours away vs 4 for havasu.

Page property is high as shit right now

Powell all day long!

Oddly enough, Page has commercial airline service. Contour airlines…. Page is only 7k people vs 60k in Havasu. 60k isn’t a small town. You are Flagstaff/Yuma sized in Havasu.

Page is pretty much land locked. Reservation to the east and south with GCNRA everywhere else. If the closing of NGS didn’t drive down real estate prices, I don’t see it dropping any time soon.

 

[Bpracing1127]

Oddly enough, Page has commercial airline service. Contour airlines…. Page is only 7k people vs 60k in Havasu. 60k isn’t a small town. You are Flagstaff/Yuma sized in Havasu.

Page is pretty much land locked. Reservation to the east and south with GCNRA everywhere else. If the closing of NGS didn’t drive down real estate prices, I don’t see it dropping any time soon.

Agree.

Also St. George. Now is getting its second Costco lol

 

[ShineSyndicate]

At one point was there a restaurant or wine bar that re purposed a gas station in town? I know SummeRay is the only wine bar as of now?

Could be a cool spot, obviously weather permitting, but with inside/outside cool vibe.

 

[ShineSyndicate]

Needles is called Needles because nobody there could spell Syringe

RD, potential contender for comment of the year ?

 

[Sportin' Wood]

This thread is kinda timely for me. The discussion about costs vs service and recreational opportunity speaks to the things going through my mind this year, our 4th snowbird season.

Angie said last night that I could have wrote @Bpracing1127 post as many of his points echo mine. I did not take them as negative, but actually well thought out and practical.

This snowbird thing is not cheap. There is a reason that the snowbirds split a candy bar three ways. Snowbird season is like reverse summer camp. It is back to a long gone time when families used to take summer at resorts. There are so many activities going on it would blow your mind. I'm not into it, it's not my thing to play cards 3-5 nights a week and craft, shuffleboard etc. What happens when the Boomers stop coming? There is a reason there are so many RV and toy lots in this town. I suspect it is the winter folks, not the weekend warrior summer people who are buying from these lots.

Sure you have the poor folk boon-docking, but they seem a small percentage of the snowbird population.

What I think this thread is missing is a discussion about how a city holds responsibility for creating value propositions and what are they for LHC?

The city needs to create an environment where business can prosper by making it attractive. To do that they need to attract people who will spend money. Be it as it may, I think it is this simple. Does LHC attract the right people to sustain itself long term? Be that businesses, families, tourists, your call.

It seems each person in this thread has a different vision, but my guess is almost none have the power of a vote, or influence. We are all visitors and we can quickly pivot to a new spot if someplace else offers more value. We vote with our pocketbook.

For us the major value proposition is a network of like-minded individuals we can call friends. If the weather was a little better in St. George they might swoon us away, as we have many friends in that area and it has a little better outdoor recreational opportunities. The airport is closer, the MTBing is world class, the offroading is a little better. The space rent is less. It's about 5 hours closer to home. The only thing LHC is beating them on is the weather. And I like the Grackle's

Utah seems a safe real estate investment based on it's forecast population growth.

These are the things that keep us from pulling the trigger and investing in LHC. Right now we can leave no trace in about a weeks time.

 

[hallett21]

At one point was there a restaurant or wine bar that re purposed a gas station in town? I know SummeRay is the only wine bar as of now?

Could be a cool spot, obviously weather permitting, but with inside/outside cool vibe.

View attachment 1462445

Octane wine bar.

I don’t know very many wine drinkers who want octane and wine used in the same sentence lol.

 

[Sleek-Jet]

How many Gen Xer's are going to do the snowbird thing? The Boomers cashed out their equity in their houses to afford the lifestyle, but as someone who has owned his own homes for nearly 30 years now, I have not seen anywhere near the ROI that my parents generation has seen. I doubt I'll ever see enough money to maintain 2 houses, each that will only get used 5-6 months out of the year.

This is probably one reason why Southwest UT is so hot (no pun) right now, it provides a relatively comfortable year round climate. So no need for 2 houses to follow the good weather.

Out here the hot retirement areas are Tennessee and the Carolinas. Florida is essentially priced out for many people, and the same goes for the Gulf Coast all the way through Texas.

 

[RiverDave]

This thread is kinda timely for me. The discussion about costs vs service and recreational opportunity speaks to the things going through my mind this year, our 4th snowbird season.

Angie said last night that I could have wrote @Bpracing1127 post as many of his points echo mine. I did not take them as negative, but actually well thought out and practical.

This snowbird thing is not cheap. There is a reason that the snowbirds split a candy bar three ways. Snowbird season is like reverse summer camp. It is back to a long gone time when families used to take summer at resorts. There are so many activities going on it would blow your mind. I'm not into it, it's not my thing to play cards 3-5 nights a week and craft, shuffleboard etc. What happens when the Boomers stop coming? There is a reason there are so many RV and toy lots in this town. I suspect it is the winter folks, not the weekend warrior summer people who are buying from these lots.

Sure you have the poor folk boon-docking, but they seem a small percentage of the snowbird population.

What I think this thread is missing is a discussion about how a city holds responsibility for creating value propositions and what are they for LHC?

The city needs to create an environment where business can prosper by making it attractive. To do that they need to attract people who will spend money. Be it as it may, I think it is this simple. Does LHC attract the right people to sustain itself long term? Be that businesses, families, tourists, your call.

It seems each person in this thread has a different vision, but my guess is almost none have the power of a vote, or influence. We are all visitors and we can quickly pivot to a new spot if someplace else offers more value. We vote with our pocketbook.

For us the major value proposition is a network of like-minded individuals we can call friends. If the weather was a little better in St. George they might swoon us away, as we have many friends in that area and it has a little better outdoor recreational opportunities. The airport is closer, the MTBing is world class, the offroading is a little better. The space rent is less. It's about 5 hours closer to home. The only thing LHC is beating them on is the weather. And I like the Grackle's

Utah seems a safe real estate investment based on it's forecast population growth.

These are the things that keep us from pulling the trigger and investing in LHC. Right now we can leave no trace in about a weeks time.

What is a grackle?

 

[PRIMO]

Relax Everyone we have FOOD CITY.....
The Deli is Wonderful !
There has Been a run on the Canned Corn , but this happens every Winter !
Just take care when going through the parking lot to your vehicle because THEY DON'T HAVE STOPLIGHTS BACK ON THE FARM.....

 

[angiebaby]

What is a grackle?

The noisy black birds with a long tail. Usually especially active in the morning. We used to call them "river birds" until we found out the proper name a couple of years ago. This is the only place we've ever seen them, along the southern part of this river system.

 

[DRYHEAT]

The noisy black birds with a long tail. Usually especially active in the morning. We used to call them "river birds" until we found out the proper name a couple of years ago. This is the only place we've ever seen them, along the southern part of this river system.

We call them inspector birds, because they’re always walking under trailers and things looking up for bugs and spiders.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

The noisy black birds with a long tail. Usually especially active in the morning. We used to call them "river birds" until we found out the proper name a couple of years ago. This is the only place we've ever seen them, along the southern part of this river system.

We call them inspector birds, because they’re always walking under trailers and things looking up for bugs and spiders.

What is a grackle?

I love watching those things. I also love the noise they make because it reminds me of when we came to the river in our younger days. Mornings are really good on the lower Colorado River. Cup of Coffee, watch the sun rise and enjoy all the birds.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

How many Gen Xer's are going to do the snowbird thing? The Boomers cashed out their equity in their houses to afford the lifestyle, but as someone who has owned his own homes for nearly 30 years now, I have not seen anywhere near the ROI that my parents generation has seen. I doubt I'll ever see enough money to maintain 2 houses, each that will only get used 5-6 months out of the year.

This is probably one reason why Southwest UT is so hot (no pun) right now, it provides a relatively comfortable year round climate. So no need for 2 houses to follow the good weather.

Out here the hot retirement areas are Tennessee and the Carolinas. Florida is essentially priced out for many people, and the same goes for the Gulf Coast all the way through Texas.

I don't think Gen Xers are gonna do it. I'm not sure how long we will do it to be honest. I think we GenXers are too feral for the kind of structure required regardless of how much money they collected and saved along the way. To your point, the Boomers did very well. Right place right time.

That is why I think LHC needs to get in front of what it's future looks like.

I'm starting to role play what it looks like to ditch the RV and Islander spot and rent an STR at various locations (South America perhaps) for the worst of winter (Feb) and stay home in my shop for a little longer. It's not bad in Montana until Jan-Feb. If I can get my truck camper game tuned up I can do some extended late fall early spring trips to the southwest desert to break up winter without maintaining a second home.

It is pretty nice to sit on the patio and look at Cupcake mountain and listen to boats go by, but is it nice enough to warrant the expense? I don't know. I can only go on the same trails so many times, I don't need to see the VW show, or the bluegrass festival.

The friends we've made make it harder to change course.