Hello I'm Rich Brown and this is my personal website and blog. I'm just your simple, average, down to earth, professional, out gay man and aspiring circuit boy, living in Phoenix, Arizona with a few things to say while trying to find my place among all the scary, conservative, religious nuts in this sick and twisted world.
Friday, March 16, 2007
Time To Sell & Move? All The Cool Kids Are Doing It!
This is something that's been on our mind for a while now. I've been thinking about writing a post regarding it, but I've held off until now. It seems that lately there is a trend among our friends to sell their houses and move to a new neighborhood here in Arizona. First Mykle & Doug sold their house in Chandler to move to a cute bungalow in Central Phoenix. Jerry then sold his house in Tempe to move to what we call the 'Governors Mansion' in Central Phoenix. Next Don & Kris sold their house in Central Phoenix to move to a bigger house in the respected Arcadia neighborhood in Scottsdale. Now Mark & Andrea are on the brink of listing their home and currently in search of the perfect house in the Willow District of Historic Downtown Phoenix.
Now Justin and I have long talked about selling our house and moving to Downtown Phoenix, but it's really just been a thought. We've wanted to get out of the suburbs, but we've never really been in a hurry and have always second guessed if it would be the right move for us at this time. We still chat about it with uncertainty, but it seems now that Mark & Andrea are planning to move out of our neighborhood, it leaves little reason for us to stay. Sure my Mother is only about 4 miles away which is a concern, but she will inevitably move close to wherever we decide to live.
As much as Justin and I have both wanted to live in a more central location to the activities and social events we both enjoy, one of the main factors holding us back has actually been our house. We simply love it. That's really about the only thing holding us here now. The other factor keeping us from moving to a more urban setting is actually Berger. I've not hidden the fact that I've long wanted to live high atop a multi-story condo high rise building, however the thought of having to take an elevator down to walk Berger does not appeal to me, and nor do I think it fair to him since he has free access to the back yard these days.
So with all that said I think Justin and I have come to somewhat of an agreement on the matter. We're going to take a compromise on the issue of moving and hang tight for now until we feel the time is right for us to eventually move to Los Angeles. Yes that's right, I said Los Angeles. I bet you didn't see that one coming did you? After spending a great deal of time there over the past few months we've come to the decision that we both really want to head back to California, and while we absolutely love San Francisco, it seems that Los Angeles will be a better place to suit our interests, lifestyle and climate desires.
I never thought I would actually want to live in Los Angeles, but I've really been thinking about it a lot lately. It has the restaurants, the shopping, the great weather, the beach, a huge gay community and an extremely liberal attitude. I never seriously considered Los Angeles because I've thought I wanted to be back in a walking city again, but the simple fact is the more time I've been spending there, the more I don't want to leave each time. In most of my trips to cities across the country, after a few days I'm ready to return home, but when I'm in Los Angeles I want to stay longer. It's a phenomenon that's been going on for each trip of mine out there. Justin and I both feel the same, and have had discussions at length on this issue. I think it's something that we're really committed to making happen over the next year or two. I've even talked to my Mother about it, who tells me I'm crazy with wanderlust, and insists she has absolutely no interest in moving to California, however I know she will go wherever we take her.
It's not something that's set in stone at this point, it's more of an idea and something that we are seriously considering. Now that I'm not chained to an office, it opens up a great deal of flexibility for us to live where we want. I'm not going to say that we still won't look around Downtown Phoenix and see if we find anything that interests us, but it just seems to me that we both feel like we've started to outgrow Arizona and are ready for a drastic change. I guess we'll see what happens since I'll be going out to spend another week in Los Angeles in May. Cheers.
It makes you wish you could take your current home that you love, and plunk it down in the exact setting (elsewhere) that you like.
Good luck Rich, my goodness there are so many positive changes in your life lately and that's just so nifty! Have a great weekend, you two! ((hugs))
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Jude @ Friday, March 16, 2007 8:31:00 AM
HELL NO, YOU CAN'T GO! HELL NO, YOU CAN'T GO!
So Cal will never be No Cal! They don't have fog down there you know.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by SilentBob @ Friday, March 16, 2007 8:02:00 PM
If all of your friends jumped off a roof, would YOU? ;-) Hahaha! I couldn't resist.
Seriously, you should stay where you are if you love your house! Personally, I could never live in the suburbs anywhere - even if it was a small city, I'd be right in the middle of it - I am easily bored! Here in Seattle living right near downtown itself, I have unlimited access (within minutes) to hundreds of restaurants, stores, bars and clubs, dozens of theaters, parks and even the ocean! That being said, there is often a compromise - we have a large single townhome with water views, a great large private patio and outdoor space for the dog, and are still in the city itself.
Two things to consider about LA...
1.) The traffic - it is HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE. I hate wasting time in the car stuck in traffic. Seattle is bad enough for that (though we have great public transit), but, having spent lots of time in LA, I know it's 50 times worse!
2.) I have had many friends move to LA and then flee in horror - I've been told over and over how shallow the people are, particularly the gay men (and that has been my own experience as well). B-O-R-I-N-G! ;-)
3.) Phoenix-Mesa, AZ - Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA - Cost of Living Calculator:
Our special Cost of Living feature lets you compare two cities side-by-side in all the categories you need, such as taxes, housing, food, and other costs. You can enter your salary and our built-in Salary Calculator will determine how much more (or less) you need to maintain your same standard of living.
To maintain the same standard of living, your salary of $60,000 in Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona should increase to $85,000 in Los Angeles-Long Beach, California.
Stated another way, it's 41.7% more expensive to live in Los Angeles-Long Beach, California than Phoenix-Mesa, Arizona.
I recently had a friend move from Seattle to NYC. he was making decent money here - about $75,000 (even though Seattle is VERY expensive, on par with LA), but his salary goes $30,000 less far in NYC. He LOVES NYC, but he has noticed he was visualizing a "higher-level" NYC lifestyle before he actually moved there and did not consider cost of living differentials. On that much less money, he's going on many fewer vacations, not going to $150 Broadway shows every month and not being able to afford to shop on 5th Avenue every weekend like he thought.
Just some thoughts.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by J. David Zacko-Smith @ Saturday, March 17, 2007 10:36:00 AM
Just because I love my house isn't reason enough to stay. I'm in the middle of suburbian hell and surrounded by the Mormons. I love my house, and I'll even extend that to my sub-division, but once outside of my neighborhood, it's ghetto and I'm embarrased to tell anyone I technically live in Mesa. So with that said I would rather move to a place that is going to be more conducive to what I'm looking for as an all around place to live. That either being in downtown Phoenix or another city.
I've lived in Philadelphia, Las Vegas, San Francisco and worked in London, Washington D.C., Nashville, New York, Los Angeles and other small cities, so it's not like I would be jumping at a whim, I know what I'm getting into. David, I think you bring up valid points regarding the cost of living, however regarding the traffic, have you been to Phoenix? Traffic here is almost as bad as Los Angeles now. As for the perceived shallowness of people in Los Angeles, I've had this discussion regarding this fact from friends and I think it's really just that, a perception. Once you immerse yourself in the community, I've found the people in Los Angeles to be much nicer and more friendly then in other places. I've actually gotten more smiles from guy in Los Angeles then I typically get from guys in Phoenix. It's like how people say everyone in New York is rude, again that's just a perception and once you live there you realize it's only partly true. ;-)
You've all made good points and like I said it's nothing that's set in stone, it's something we've been thinking about since we both have wanted to go back to California for some time now, and for me it's mostly about being close to the beach. Something about the water ... growing up close to the beach on the east coast pretty much ruined me from living in the dry desert. ;-)
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Rich Brown @ Saturday, March 17, 2007 3:02:00 PM
We thought about it and decided NO. You are not leaving us. Put the wheels back on that double-wide and drag it downtown. There are some very reasonable "investment properties" along Van Buren....
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by pretz @ Monday, March 19, 2007 9:39:00 AM
Ok so maybe we'll just stay for a while ... geez.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Rich Brown @ Monday, March 19, 2007 7:34:00 PM
I just bought a condo in central Phoenx.
|______________________________________________________________________ posted by Wes @ Saturday, April 21, 2007 2:36:00 PM
