Why Lake Havasu?

[Sportin' Wood]

@angiebaby and I are currently in a unique situation that allows us to travel around with a single income. I am able to hold down a decent paying corporate job working remote and she is able to work on finishing her masters degree. We have been transient for about five months now and the jury is still not out on if we like the RVLife. It was never our intention to be full time forever.

Part of our quest is interviewing potential candidates for a new home base. For Angie, Montana is the first choice. The grandkid and daughter is there, Her parents are in Northern Idaho. Angie has been in love with Montana since our first visit. It is nice to be near family.

I'm still not convinced and have not yet found "The Place" I don't like the idea of that many months of winter. It's been fun to ask people what they love about where they live (and hate) as we travel around. (Funny common denominator dislike seems to be, California, new people moving in, changes to local government.)

With that being said, I am curious to hear what people love about living in Havasu? I get it that we all have different tastes, needs and interests.

I have two non negotiable needs to keep my current employment. A quality internet connection with enough bandwidth to file transfer media. A reliable airport within a reasonable distance that I can access year round. These are both challenged in Montana.

Health care is a high priority as well.

We will be test driving Havasu for five months starting Nov 1st.

We had a place at Kathrine Landing on Lake Mojave before the great recession, I loved the mornings on the patio.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Backlash]

Anywhere north of northern Colorado is going to give you lengthy winters. With that being said, I enjoyed living in Wyoming and became accustomed to the frigid winters. If you can embrace that type of environment, then it isn't that bad. It's an amazing place to live and grow up, as it doesn't offer a lot of modern day distractions. Jackson Hole has an airport too, but its scheduled to be closed next summer for renovations.

 

[Orange Juice]

If the wife’s happy, everybody’s happy.

 

[DWC]

If healthcare and airport are priorities Havasu wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d look at suburban Vegas / Phoenix.
We love Havasu. It’s got a great mix of boating, SXS, night life and plenty of good places to grab a bite.
Worked from the Havasu place for quite a few months and never had an issue with Wifi..

 

[Taboma]

@angiebaby and I are currently in a unique situation that allows us to travel around with a single income. I am able to hold down a decent paying corporate job working remote and she is able to work on finishing her masters degree. We have been transient for about five months now and the jury is still not out on if we like the RVLife. It was never our intention to be full time forever.

Part of our quest is interviewing potential candidates for a new home base. For Angie, Montana is the first choice. The grandkid and daughter is there, Her parents are in Northern Idaho. Angie has been in love with Montana since our first visit. It is nice to be near family.

I'm still not convinced and have not yet found "The Place" I don't like the idea of that many months of winter. It's been fun to ask people what they love about where they live (and hate) as we travel around. (Funny common denominator dislike seems to be, California, new people moving in, changes to local government.)

With that being said, I am curious to hear what people love about living in Havasu? I get it that we all have different tastes, needs and interests.

I have two non negotiable needs to keep my current employment. A quality internet connection with enough bandwidth to file transfer media. A reliable airport within a reasonable distance that I can access year round. These are both challenged in Montana.

Health care is a high priority as well.

We will be test driving Havasu for five months starting Nov 1st.

We had a place at Kathrine Landing on Lake Mojave before the great recession, I loved the mornings on the patio.

Thanks in advance.

Wife and I are not young anymore, regardless of what age my mind tries to convince me of. The process of aging has been an education and one important thing it's taught both my wife and I is --- Those amazing plans we laid out for our future "Golden Years", beginning over 25 years ago, although extremely well conceived, were accomplished with 25 year younger mentalities and bodies.

We have no regrets, we've utilized these acquisitions to their fullest and enjoyed every moment of ownership.
However, despite having the burning desire to see those plans through to fruition, the reality is, doing so would be a mistake.
Eventually you're forced to admit " Toto, we are no longer in Kansas" just as we are no longer in our late 40's and early 50's and needs and desires WILL change, like it or not.

So rather than discuss Montana Vs Lake Havasu City, because each has it's beauty and each has it's own beasts, which become a matter of preferences which will change as you age. It's inevitable that both physical and mental challenges will arise that for the most part are unpredictable, but eventual none the less.

My recommendation is this ---- DO NOT BECOME TRAPPED, by tossing all your eggs in one basket. Allow for these inevitable changes, allow for the future desire or necessity to change your plans.
My wife and I are faced with aging, like it or not, it's how life works, but at least we do so with the comfort of having choices.

 

[HNL2LHC]

If healthcare and airport are priorities Havasu wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d look at suburban Vegas / Phoenix.
We love Havasu. It’s got a great mix of boating, SXS, night life and plenty of good places to grab a bite.
Worked from the Havasu place for quite a few months and never had an issue with Wifi..

This!!!!

Our needs are similar to yours and we had been looking for our place to live out our retirement years. We decided on Havasu about 5 years ago. Another little town closer to Vegas is Boulder City. It is a cool little town. I have not spent a lot of time there so not sure if I’d want to live there. It is too small of a town.

 

[HBCraig]

If healthcare and airport are priorities Havasu wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d look at suburban Vegas / Phoenix.
We love Havasu. It’s got a great mix of boating, SXS, night life and plenty of good places to grab a bite.
Worked from the Havasu place for quite a few months and never had an issue with Wifi..

This x 2

If it were me I would go to the custom part of Henderson or Boulder City. That being said, I had a place in Henderson for years and can tell you the Healthcare in the Vegas Valley is hit and miss. But you can find good doctors there.

Lastly, I have noticed the Gilbert Arizona area is booming and there are some sweet homes going in there. Also on the outskirts of Tucson

 

[FreeBird236]

Fell in love with the boating life and Havasu in my early 20's and made it our plan to retire here in our 50's. Just barely made it. got here in January of 2011. Still quite happy, but things have changed in just the 11 years we've been here. Lot's more traffic and people, not nearly as affordable in housing, but still beats most others places. Our neighbors and good friends are snowbirds from Great falls Montana, and have been coming here for about 10 years, they say no way can they handle the winters anymore. (late 70's). We have a great Dr. and medical set up, but I do worry about major problems should they arise, but there's always Vegas and Phoenix. Obviously you need to acclimate to the heat, but it's only a couple months that are bad. I keep hoping that after Covid things will settle down, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

 

[riverroyal]

Havasu is off my list now. We are now looking in Utah. Im not convinced I want to live in tourist driven town. I want to visit, but not full time

 

[westair]

We've had a vacation home in Havasu for quite a few years, and now find ourselves pretty much living in it .... still have a house in Oceanside which we always liked and thought we would be there to the end but slowly just migrated to havasu ...... just a better life (freedom) and it has all the things we like to do!

 

[satellitemike]

This!!!!

Our needs are similar to yours and we had been looking for our place to live out our retirement years. We decided on Havasu about 5 years ago. Another little town closer to Vegas is Boulder City. It is a cool little town. I have not spent a lot of time there so not sure if I’d want to live there. It is too small of a town.

Boulder would be our choice if we didnt like LHC. Great little town thats just far enough away from Vegas but close enough to be there in 20 min to all the shopping, healthcare, airports, and dinning. Red Rocks about 10 miles W of LV is nice too but the RE was damn expensive when we looked there 2 years ago, cant imagine todays pricing.

 

[angiebaby]

Thanks for the input. One of our requirements is to be close to the water, whether that is rivers or lakes. We love to recreate. Being able to fish and/or boat within 15-20 minutes is what we are looking for. Which is why Havasu is an option. We spent way too many years having to drive 4+ hours to use our boat.

 

[HALLETT BOY]

I’ve been coming to Havasu for the last 40+ years , I moved here 3 years ago . The heat for the weekends was bearable , but when you live here , there are 3 brutal heat months , think about that . Pools snd AC help .

 

[riverroyal]

we are looking closely at St George. 2 1/2 from Powell (if it doesnt dry up) 4ish to havasu. 5 minutes to epic off roading. 2 hours to vegas.
Its bigger than Havasu, theres even a cost co.
We dont want snow, in the 40s is fine. We dont want 120 summers, 105 is tops. We dont want huge flying bugs and swampy humidity. We cant retire in Socal and do what we want to do.
But who knows, maybe I win the lottery and everything changes

 

[ONE-A-DAY]

We have had vacation homes here for 20 plus years. I have been full time for about two years due to covid and I can work from home. My wife retired two weeks ago, so we are now full time. We still rent a room from our sons place for when we need to go to CA for business and we use that address to continue our CA based health insurance. The health insurance situation in AZ is deplorable. I spent the summer here full time for the first time and that wont happen again. We are leaving June 15th for 3 months, get us back home around mid september for the best month of the year here which is October. While we travel we will continuously look for other places to live, something on a lake with a dock. If we find that place we will sell the big havasu house and get something here much smaller.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

@angiebaby

I have two non negotiable needs to keep my current employment. A quality internet connection with enough bandwidth to file transfer media. A reliable airport within a reasonable distance that I can access year round. These are both challenged in Montana.

Missoula, Bozeman, Butte, and Billings all have airports with quite a few flights a day to major cities to connect out of. I fly in and out of Missoula, and Bozeman frequently... Butte you will get the ever living shit beat out of you and pray to Jesus even if you are not a believer during the winter lol.

I fly into Vegas to go to Havasu or drive out there roughly every 6 weeks. I have my airport procedure down pat. If you have clear/pre check you only need around 45 min prior to board max to be there. They have some cheap parking options as well.

Depending on certain circumstances we may wind up living at the house in havasu for the second half of next year full time...we will go to Montana after that though...all has to do with my wife's job licensure and some projects I'm working on.

I could easily live in havasu full time..I enjoy it, have many friends and activities there.. Bri and the kids spent nearly 4 months straight there during the height of the hysteria. She had no real complaints. As far as internet...we maybe have one multi hour outage a month..but it is what it is. Where I stay in MT I've never had an issue with internet.

If we ever sell out of havasu we would likely get a place at flathead lake in MT or Chelan in WA

 

[just_floatin]

My wife and me did the three month living in Havasu trial. We noted our likes and dislikes as others have stated above. Did not like the winter visitor traffic. Loved being by the water. We now rent to snowbirds in the winter. The deciding factor for us was the availability of healthcare specialist in LHC.

I blew out my left bicep hydrfoiling on the lake and the LHC hospital had no surgeons on staff to reattach my bicep. Fortunately we have a home in Mesa so scheduling a orthopedic surgeon and surgery only took a couple of days.

For us, this was a live in Havasu deal breaker. We both have an active lifestyle so the convenience of specialist to put “Humpty Dumpty” back together is a priority that LHC cannot deliver.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

My wife and me did the three month living in Havasu trial. We noted our likes and dislikes as others have stated above. Did not like the winter visitor traffic. Loved being by the water. We now rent to snowbirds in the winter. The deciding factor for us was the availability of healthcare specialist in LHC.

I blew out my left bicep hydrfoiling on the lake and the LHC hospital had no surgeons on staff to reattach my bicep. Fortunately we have a home in Mesa so scheduling a orthopedic surgeon and surgery only took a couple of days.

For us, this was a live in Havasu deal breaker. We both have an active lifestyle so the convenience of specialist to put “Humpty Dumpty” back together is a priority that LHC cannot deliver.

Healthcare is subpar in havasu to say the least. I firmly believe my mother would not be a widow now if her SO would have been in Phoenix or Vegas when he had his MI. HRMC is a fucking joke.

 

[just_floatin]

Healthcare is subpar in havasu to say the least. I firmly believe my mother would not be a widow now if her SO would have been in Phoenix or Vegas when he had his MI. HRMC is a fucking joke.

Sadly this true. I went into the hospital for heat deprivation a few summers back and was strongly coerced by the staff into head to toe testing and staying over night. Stroke Protocol? I informed the doctor upon arrival I had been on the water for three days straight in 100 plus degree temperatures and felt exhausted and light headed. I thought all I needed was an IV and discharge.

80K dollars later test results showed I was low on electrolytes. Man did I get played. Fought two years with my insurance company to cover their portion of the bill and called LHC hospital biweekly with payment status updates to prevent a collection. It was a nightmare.

 

[Taboma]

We've had a vacation home in Havasu for quite a few years, and now find ourselves pretty much living in it .... still have a house in Oceanside which we always liked and thought we would be there to the end but slowly just migrated to havasu ...... just a better life (freedom) and it has all the things I like to do!

After 26 years of vacationing having our vacation place and plans in Havasu, over the past two years we've become disenchanted with it. For us, for so long, it was our Heaven on Earth, our great escape and couldn't imagine it any other way. But of late, the truth is, for us anyway, most of the magic is gone.
It's simple really, to many humans, along with their undesirable attitudes and attributes.
Perhaps if we weren't spoiled by so many amazing years past, we could better tolerate what so many of you still enjoy. In terms of sales, I'm most pleased with the outrageous offers we've often been presented with, and declining has become increasingly difficult. Clinging to the edge, hanging by our fingernails, but for how much longer ????

 

[Taboma]

We have had vacation homes here for 20 plus years. I have been full time for about two years due to covid and I can work from home. My wife retired two weeks ago, so we are now full time. We still rent a room from our sons place for when we need to go to CA for business and we use that address to continue our CA based health insurance. The health insurance situation in AZ is deplorable. I spent the summer here full time for the first time and that wont happen again. We are leaving June 15th for 3 months, get us back home around mid september for the best month of the year here which is October. While we travel we will continuously look for other places to live, something on a lake with a dock. If we find that place we will sell the big havasu house and get something here much smaller.

Reading this sounds like I'm playing back a recording. I retired 11 years ago, but my younger wife is just getting there now -- plus she enjoys working and I enjoy the extra change to buy shit I don't need. But the reality it's highly unlikely our original plan of retiring in Havasu will be realized. If you find that lake and place, I want one too -- so PM me, I promise I won't tell anybody else, scouts honor.

 

[riverroyal]

Healthcare is subpar in havasu to say the least. I firmly believe my mother would not be a widow now if her SO would have been in Phoenix or Vegas when he had his MI. HRMC is a fucking joke.

This. My mom passed a few years back. Had she driven right by havasu hosp to vegas or Phoenix the outcome would have changed
No specialists or surgeons

 

[HNL2LHC]

Thanks for the input. One of our requirements is to be close to the water, whether that is rivers or lakes. We love to recreate. Being able to fish and/or boat within 15-20 minutes is what we are looking for. Which is why Havasu is an option. We spent way too many years having to drive 4+ hours to use our boat.

Water is a big must for me as well. Growing up in the middle of the pacific has made water my go to place of calm.

Havasu is off my list now. We are now looking in Utah. Im not convinced I want to live in tourist driven town. I want to visit, but not full time

What about a vacation town do you find unattractive? I find that it is rather nice big town amenities but a lot of time with low number of residents in town. You can choose when you are out and about to miss what you don’t like. Unlike Hawaii where you can never enjoy Waikiki unless you want tourists 24-7.

 

[Singleton]

I thought Havasu was going to be our retirement location.
Havasu has a ton of things to do, which would be good when the grandkids arrive.
However, after reading a few Havasu healthcare threads, the wife and I agreed healthcare needs to be a priority. That removes Havasu as the primary location, but we are entertaining the idea of a park model at the Islander (great for grandkids) and then a place outside SLC (gives us winter ski vacations).

 

[Ace in the Hole]

I thought Havasu was going to be our retirement location.
Havasu has a ton of things to do, which would be good when the grandkids arrive.
However, after reading a few Havasu healthcare threads, the wife and I agreed healthcare needs to be a priority. That removes Havasu as the primary location, but we are entertaining the idea of a park model at the Islander (great for grandkids) and then a place outside SLC (gives us winter ski vacations).

We were in SLC this summer, honestly I don't get the draw. Doubt we ever go back to UT other than just passing through. My cousin has a condo up at solitude..cool place but the rest of UT was pretty "blah" to us. Definitely didn't get a good impression ordering a beer on a Sunday at a restaurant in SLC lol

I have a heart condition so I could never primary outside of a place with a good cardiac program..I'd like to stay breathing as long as possible. Thats exactly why I couldn't do Havasu full time...for a P/t place I love it...

 

[Ziggy]

I get asked alot if we'll retire there. We've vascilated but overall we think it would be more like half a year and use it as a base for travel, if that ever eases back up and keep a west coast location to retreat to as well..
Too many other things to see vs always the same ol', same ol'. Tendencies are repetitive.

 

[Desert Whaler]

I'm still hoping someday I can get a tiny place in or around Bullhead / Fort Mojave / Willow Valley Topock.
My dream would be November to May in the Desert and June through October in HB.

 

[Singleton]

We were in SLC this summer, honestly I don't get the draw. Doubt we ever go back to UT other than just passing through. My cousin has a condo up at solitude..cool place but the rest of UT was pretty "blah" to us. Definitely didn't get a good impression ordering a beer on a Sunday at a restaurant in SLC lol

I have a heart condition so I could never primary outside of a place with a good cardiac program..I'd like to stay breathing as long as possible. Thats exactly why I couldn't do Havasu full time...for a P/t place I love it...

My FIL has hosted all his kids and grandkids on a winter ski vacation (usually the week between Christmas and New Years), wife and I want to continue that tradition when he stops for our family, so outside SLC allows that. I like blah as long as I can get outside to hike, etc.

 

[DLC]

We like the slower pace of Havasu
all the boxes get checked on the outdoor activities
The food / restaurants are good, we go to the same spots at home and havasu although grilling and watching the sunset is epic in havasu!
Traffic is mellow if you stay off the 95 on big weekends
Love the weather….. although summer might get old but you can travel! So far we like the summers and we don’t have a pool yet.

Laughlin /vegas isn’t to far away for concerts and other activities
It’s a great home base for road trips /RVing

 

[Sportin' Wood]

Thanks for the feedback, I suspected some of the responses about the thrill being gone and how when you get older things change. These are very true for us as well. We are in St George right now, we have a lot of friends who have moved here from all over the country. The balance of recreational activities is pretty impressive, but many are smaller scale. Sand Hollow reservoir is pretty small as it seems is the OHV area. Epic MTBing, great hikes ect.

I am in the 50+ club so I know some of these activities are going to be short lived.

Its painfully obvious St. George is a California Colony. We have been spoiled by the slower pace of Northern Idaho and Montana. That being said, the weather today is amazing. I guess we pay an asshole tax for better weather.

Our kids live on the Flathead Lake, or about a block off the lake, so we are pretty well familiar with the area. We have been regular visitors to the area since 2007. Here's my two cents on the Flathead Valley in Montana, Angie might disagree. Only reviewing Lake communities and nothing South or North. Lots of great communities, but some have some rough citizens.

Polson: Best bang for the buck, but it is on the reservation. This limits the growth opportunity of the city (maybe a good thing) but the housing is challenging. Working class and poverty mixed with absentee millionaire owners. Limited local recreation due to the Res, but it still has world class Fly Fishing that is kind of hidden due to the rez. Good shopping and health care. *Our SIL is a PA in Polson, we won't beat the Health care. Bonus points for the Grandbaby location. Hour to the Airports. United service, I hate United. Missoula and Kalispell Airports seem a risk in the winter if I fly United, those bastards have left me stranded many times.

Elmo/ Big Arm: Reservation with small pockets of vacation homes no services.

Lakeside: There is a massive Lutheran Cult type complex here. If you want to marry a young blond girl, work the trades for Jesus and make babies this is your town. You just better be a tall thin blond young man who can swing a hammer and pay your God tax. Great micro brewery and its close (Montana close) to Blacktail Ski Resort.

Sommers: Love this location, Can't afford it.

Big Fork: Love this spot, great downtown area nice golf course excellent boating in both the lake in the river. I shop Zillow here often, its pretty mixed on housing costs. If you start drifting east, the housing tends to get sketchy. Cell and internet is mixed.

Bonus Points Echo Lake. This is a cool community, but cell and Internet is no good. Just a little north of Big Fork.


Large metro area is a non starter. Vegas is a hard No. We came from Reno, I don't need to live in a gambling town, plus Nevada is gone Blue.

FWIW, Right now Northern Idaho is in the lead for me. CDA north to Sandpoint. Most likely Spirit Lake. Still keeping options open. I am pretty set on getting a certain level of value in housing and Northern Idaho is difficult in getting any bang for your buck. Someone mentioned keeping options open, I very much want to be in a position that allows options.

The last month prices have dropped in Northern Idaho. Not sure if its seasonality or the start of something bigger. I would not be sad if housing prices shit the bed.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

My FIL has hosted all his kids and grandkids on a winter ski vacation (usually the week between Christmas and New Years), wife and I want to continue that tradition when he stops for our family, so outside SLC allows that. I like blah as long as I can get outside to hike, etc.

Totally understand that... My In-laws do something similar with the cabin up in Leavenworth WA, we all have free reign on that deal and enjoy going up there. Time with family trumps everything...the older I get, especially with kids of my own the more true that is.

 

[LargeOrangeFont]

we are looking closely at St George. 2 1/2 from Powell (if it doesnt dry up) 4ish to havasu. 5 minutes to epic off roading. 2 hours to vegas.
Its bigger than Havasu, theres even a cost co.
We dont want snow, in the 40s is fine. We dont want 120 summers, 105 is tops. We dont want huge flying bugs and swampy humidity. We cant retire in Socal and do what we want to do.
But who knows, maybe I win the lottery and everything changes

We might be neighbors.

 

[PlanB]

We have had our Havasu house for more than 20 years. At one time we thought we would retire there fulltime, but it will always be a part time place for us. Like already mentioned, medical is a big reason. The healthcare here in SoCal makes Havasu look like a third world country. We like the activities in Havasu even though the crowds have grown over the years, but we will likely spend less time out there in the summer. Havasu was always our summer playground but now we like the offseason much better. Don't know if we will stay in SoCal or find another spot. The wife is younger and still has at least 8 years before retirement so we have a little while to figure things out.

 

[riverroyal]

Water is a big must for me as well. Growing up in the middle of the pacific has made water my go to place of calm.


What about a vacation town do you find unattractive? I find that it is rather nice big town amenities but a lot of time with low number of residents in town. You can choose when you are out and about to miss what you don’t like. Unlike Hawaii where you can never enjoy Waikiki unless you want tourists 24-7.

let me rephrase. I love Havasu and its a option. But, Im not entirely happy with the shit show summer crowds the last few years. Maybe its just me, maybe Im finally getting old. I love to party, love the summer sights. I just don't love the attitude with the tourist which in turn has soured the locals. I dont want to use what the city offers on weekdays since weekends are too crowded.
Maybe its because we are on over 20 years as weekenders and Ive seen the same thing too many times. Mrs RR is a soild no, Im a 30% no.
With that said, we do love the town and people we meet, it really is amazing. BUT, to wake up there for the rest of my life......I think there are better options.

 

[Flatsix66]

We like Prescott for the country life and Havasu for the river life, many could sell their CA house and buy both. We still have family in CA so cant get too far away. 3 hour drive from Prescot to Havasu, 3.5 to Powell, 1.5 to Scottsdale. We can take our SxS from Havasu to Prescott and never leave the dirt. Great hospitals in Prescott. Costco!

 

[Cole Trickle]

I always thought i would end up in Havasu when retired.

The older i get the less i think that would be a good idea. I love what the city offers and the recreation matches what I'm into.

The things that would worry me about Havasu is the heat, medical care and the fact the we like to party. Havasu is a non stop party destination and i don't want to end up getting smashed 5 -7 days a week because the fun never stops. 120 out today...to hot to work in the garage or do anything productive so lets hang out in the pool. Honey crank some tunes and grab some cocktails!!!

I like to keep the cocktailing to about 2-3 days a week....haha

 

[Ol Man]

Before we retired (15 years ago), we looked at quite a few cities and states. We ended up staying in California, but moved to the high desert to be close to the Hammers, Big Bear and not a long drive to the river. With California politics, etc, we are thinking about moving again.

Boulder City was high on our list and that is where we stay when we go on Mead. Nice, clean town that we enjoy walking the downtown area. Safe. It has gotten expensive, but so has everywhere the last couple of years.

 

[calkid]

Thanks for the input. One of our requirements is to be close to the water, whether that is rivers or lakes. We love to recreate. Being able to fish and/or boat within 15-20 minutes is what we are looking for. Which is why Havasu is an option. We spent way too many years having to drive 4+ hours to use our boat

Make Havasu home base for winter and Kalispell Mt for the summer. Lake Havasu and Flathead Lake are very similar in size and beautiful in their own way.
I almost have myself talked into doing it too.

 

[HubbaHubbaLife]

Thanks for the input. One of our requirements is to be close to the water, whether that is rivers or lakes. We love to recreate. Being able to fish and/or boat within 15-20 minutes is what we are looking for. Which is why Havasu is an option. We spent way too many years having to drive 4+ hours to use our boat.

Montana's tough.... my friends in a tiny town named Ennis for maybe 10 years.... she digs the slow pace and raising two teen kids in 4H program but she's just 40. She told me the snow has them buried for 3 days till they can dig out.... parks trucks in a field 1/4 mile away so won't get stuck from winds, lol.... but they are really rural in Ennis. One light town as opposed to where your relatives may live.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

Montana's tough.... my friends in a tiny town named Ennis for maybe 10 years.... she digs the slow pace and raising two teen kids in 4H program but she's just 40. She told me the snow has them buried for 3 days till they can dig out.... parks trucks in a field 1/4 mile away so won't get stuck from winds, lol.... but they are really rural in Ennis. One light town as opposed to where your relatives may live.

Spent a year there one month.


We spent three weeks there this summer. Wind every damn day. The bartender told me not to mess up my turn with the wife, as it's the kind of town where you might have to wait a while to get another turn with a lady.

Great little community, and a nice place to visit.

 

[bk2drvr]

It was mentioned a few times in this thread but the answer to those on the fence about Havasu and vicinity is to have two homes. I know thats easier said than done for everyone but most if not all of the cons listed in this thread can be solved this way. I'm sure some of you that are on the fence about retiring in Havasu (or staying) is a tough decision because there are aspects of it you love. I'm 12 years or so from retirement so I have some time to figure this out but two homes is in my future plans.

 

[stephenkatsea]

Flagstaff, Williams & Winslow? Flagstaff does have commercial flights. Perhaps better medical? You’d get all 4 seasons in that area.

 

[Joker]

Havasu for me is no different than Orange County with over inflated housing and traffic jams. While Bullhead is not a gem of Arizona, our housing costs are realistic and we have clean water to boat in and little to no traffic.
The only thing havasu has going for them is a variety of restaurants to eat at.

 

[185EZ]

We will be test driving Havasu for five months starting Nov 1st.

That's the 5 best months here.
You need to test drive starting june 1st for 5 months lol
Been here 20 years now and no regrets. Raised 2 girls and they have moved on.
We bought a place in Williams to beat the heat and crowds on busy weekends here
Do we like it here? yes
Would we move here full time? no
Maybe we're spoiled from years past. It was fun and everyone had a blast
We rarely go on the lake on weekends now
I was surprised at the mega homes on the island and now you have the Riviera which is a joke to me
So much for the small town atmosphere that we moved here to enjoy

 

[JDKRXW]

I have two non negotiable needs to keep my current employment. A quality internet connection with enough bandwidth to file transfer media. A reliable airport within a reasonable distance that I can access year round. These are both challenged in Montana.

Missoula?

 

[PlanB]

Flagstaff, Williams & Winslow? Flagstaff does have commercial flights. Perhaps better medical? You’d get all 4 seasons in that area.

Flagstaff is way too liberal for me. Don't like the vibe of that town at all. My buddy just built on 10 acres in Williams and he loves it. I assume he can go up to Flagstaff for medical but I have not talked to him about it.

 

[calkid]

Missoula?

The land of liberal yuppies, fashionable pubs and boutique cafe's

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Been coming to Havasu for over 20+ years now. But we dont have a place in LHC, we're down in the Springs. I dont think I could handle LHC as even I have seen traffic getting worse and the population skyrocketing. I was also considering Bullhead if I want easy water access. Now I'm thinking about Flagstaff but its not very close to much without driving. Also options are being up by Flaming Gorge, either in UT or WY, or in Idaho by a lake.

I dont mind the winter as I used to live in Colorado, and currently live in Arrowhead (which hardly counts as winter which I am well aware of if we move back to real winter states). But I think I could handle the winter. Summer is shorter and cooler but oh well. Quality vs Quantity I guess.

Prices right now are just stupid, I am hoping for a market correction in the next few years, I dont mind waiting.

 

[Ace in the Hole]

The land of liberal yuppies, fashionable pubs and boutique cafe's

You are confused with Bozeman..but Missoula is getting there unfortunately

 

[Orange Juice]

If healthcare and airport are priorities Havasu wouldn’t be my first choice. I’d look at suburban Vegas / Phoenix.
We love Havasu. It’s got a great mix of boating, SXS, night life and plenty of good places to grab a bite.
Worked from the Havasu place for quite a few months and never had an issue with Wifi..

Phoenix airport is getting really screwed up lately. Too many people moving to Phoenix, and the infrastructure can’t handle the last year.