Moving From New Jersey to Arizona?

Are you one of the gazillion people who is thinking about packing it in and leaving New Jersey? Why would you leave New Jersey? I mean the weather here is amazing. Politically you couldn’t ask for a better governor if you tried. Why would you leave? I mean taxes on our houses, what’s 10 15 $20,000 a year on property tax? Come on you’re not gonna find anything better anywhere else are you? But more importantly, if you do leave where are you going?

Welcome back my name is Cori, i’m a local real estate agent who helps people relocate into and out of beautiful Monmouth County. I put out new videos each and every monday, and I talk about all things including real estate, Monmouth County and Marlboro Township. So check back often!

Over the past few months we have seen a TON of people from New Jersey packing up their things and relocating to other parts of the country , but where are they going? Over the past three weeks we have taken time and visited some amazing areas. We made a stop in Savannah, Georgia then moved on to the Triangle Area in North Carolina and last week we were in Lakewood Ranch , Florida. If you missed any of those videos you may want to take a peek when this one’s done. Today we’re off on yet another adventure and this time we’re heading out west. Can you guess where we may be going? No need to guess. Arizona is where we’ll be in just a minute, and if you’re thinking about relocating to the phoenix or anthem area you will not find a better realtor to help you. Take it away Lindsay.

Thanks so much for having me Cori. We’ve had the absolute pleasure of helping families across the country relocate to beautiful Anthem, Arizona. Including a few families from New Jersey. There are so many reasons why people are drawn to the Phoenix area and in particular to our community of Anthem. But i’m going to stick to what I feel are the top 5 reasons.

Before we jump in, I thought I would give a little background on Anthem. And fair warning i’m a little biased so don’t be surprised if I brag about our community just a little bit. Anthem is an unincorporated master planned community that was started by dell webb in 1999 and it was built out almost completely by 2008. Okay so i warned you that i might brag a little bit about how awesome Anthem is right? Well here we go.

The community of Anthem has received many awards some of which include best master planned community in 2001, best family-friendly community in 2012 by phoenix magazine, most family-friendly community in 2012 by parenting magazine ,and best master-planned community for children in 2016 by parenting magazine. I honestly can’t think of a community more deserving of these titles. Anthem is divided into a few different neighborhoods and we have lots of community tour videos on our youtube channel if any of your viewers would like to check them out.

Alright so let’s jump into the top five reasons i think that folks from New Jersey are putting Anthem on their short list of places to move to.

#1 WEATHER.

We always like to joke that you don’t have to shovel sunshine. That’s probably a little cruel to say to you and your viewers at this time of year, but honestly the weather in Phoenix is amazing. This is a snapshot of the average highs lows and days of rain in the Phoenix area throughout the year yes the summers get hot and they may take a little getting used to but it’s nothing a dip in the pool can’t fix and i would take the summer heat over the winter cold any day. Ee’re recording this in the second week of february and right now it’s 71 degrees out. Seriously it’s gorgeous.

#2 PROPERTY TAXES

Cori, I had no idea how high property taxes are in New Jersey until you and I talked about it. Here in Anthem we just sold a beautiful four bedroom three bathroom home that was roughly 2,100 square feet and the property taxes for the year were $3,077, in 2020. That’s the whole year , $3,077. I found a similar home for sale in Monmouth County that was four bedrooms three bathrooms and slightly bigger than the Anthem home at roughly 2,200 square feet and it said that the property taxes were $11,087 in 2020. Idon’t know about you but there are a few things i could do with an extra $8,500 dollars a year.

#3 HOME PRICES

Property taxes and home prices are definitely connected but I know that home prices are a big factor when people are considering a move. Here in Anthem our home prices have been climbing due to a shortage in inventory , but I suspect that there are still some serious opportunities for savings compared to homes in New Jersey. At the end of 2020 our average home price in anthem was roughly $445,000 and that worked out to $191.71 square foot . 42 of the 92 homes that sold in anthem in December sold for less than $400,000, and these are beautiful homes. I’m sure Cori can tell us how that compares to the average home prices in Monmouth County.

#4 AMENITIES

Amenities one of my favorite things about anthem and one of the things that personally drew us to the area was all of the amenities all anthem residents have access to the community parks the community center the water park yes we have our own water park the gym volleyball courts soccer fields pickleball courts and so much more anthem also hosts annual events like anthem days music in may a massive 4th of july celebration and autumn fest just to name a few. Because Anthem takes so much pride in building such a strong sense of community newcomers can easily meet and connect with their neighbors it’s really comforting when we first moved here we didn’t know anyone except for my parents and in a short period of time we met some of our very best friends.

#5 THE ABILITY TO SLOW DOWN

In many cases we’ve helped young families moving to Anthem from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Illinois and California. And one thing that they have almost unanimously expressed is how hard it is to get ahead in their respective cities between the home prices property taxes rent prices and just generally higher cost of living. Many of them were working multiple jobs to try and achieve their goals by moving to the phoenix area they’ve been able to take a breath not work so hard and spend more time doing the things that mean most to them with the people who mean most to them. Anyway, sorry to end on such a touchy-feely note. Honestly I think I could go on forever about why people are making a move to the Phoenix area and in particular to Anthem but i’ll wrap it up. I hope this is helpful for your audience Cori and if they have any questions at all we are always happy to answer them. The easiest way to get in touch with us is by email at team wisemoveaz.com. Thanks again for having me Cori. I will try to send some Arizona sunshine your way.

Thank you all so much for joining me this week and an extra special thanks to Lindsay out in Anthem, Arizona. You definitely have peaked my interest and I hope to make it out to Arizona soon. As for everybody else, stay warm, stay safe, and I will see you next monday!