I need some advice from the guppies who reside in either one of these states…Convince me that your respective state is the place to live (from a perspective of raising a family)
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Neither!
Move to Westchester, NY.
PS: Influx of refugees from New Orleans is that bad that you are forced to move?
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
LOL, did you get scared by the influx of all them "looters" "thugs" that have come to yo town, Kaleem? :P
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Nah guys, it has nothing to do with the recent events....you see my better half had spent most of her college days in those two states and she yearns to get back there. She has been dropping hints like "I hate Houston", "I wish we were in Kalifornia"..."Arizona's heat is better at least there is no humidity"....a smart man knows what is coming next...so I am trying to stay ahead of the game
LI: One thing we (my wife and I) agree on...we are not moving to any place where it snow is a possibility on a regular basis.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
What about your work? Are you self-employed? Between the two sates, you know what my answer would be. And down here, ill assist you in your transition into voting Democratic. Remeber, there are lots of liberals in Cali :P
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
^ pai jaan, I live with a liberal...I think I will be able to cope with them (begrudgingly). Maybe I will convince you to join the dark side.
Regarding the job.....I will start looking for jobs once the state has been decided....
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Orange County, California. Move there Kaleem! Great neighborhood, excellent weather (the heat, whatever there is in summer, is mostly dry), proximity to beaches, excellent schools. Real Estate is expensive tho.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Both states are booming ... take a pick. If you want to be around more Desis choose Kalifornia.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
I spent lots of time in Tuscon, and really loved it. The desert is a really different type of living. Lots of golf, and hiking in the mountains. Taxes are much more reasonable than California. Phoenix to me is too big and sprawling. It can be blistering hot, but people adapt, and it is dry. Winters are really very pleasant for at least six months out of the year.
I love the weather in California, but the traffic just drives me crazy.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Before you ask, any threads that deal with relocating to another city are usually opened/moved to this forum. Don't worry, you will get lots of replies here.
Arizona is gorgeous. I've been twice, have not lived there, but know there is a lot to do there, especially for kids and families. I was in the Phoenix area up and travelled the surrounding areas up to the Grand Canyon. Your girls will love living there. From what I saw, Arizona is fairly safe, clean, people are friendly, and again, there really is a lot to do there. The state is absolutely beautiful. I liked Arizona a lot more than California which was more crowded and polluted.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Kalifornia -> Expensive housing
Arizona -> Not so expensive housing.
That would be my first concern. Also, knew someone who lived in Arizona for a work project, he said the weather was like the Mid East or Interior Sindh; Hot and Dry. In Kali, atleast in the area around SF, the weather is more like Islamabad's.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Real estate is incredibly expensive!!!
An inescapable fact near the metropolitan and outlying areas (Northern AND Southern California).
That being said, if you are the outdoors type, Southern California is as diverse as it gets.
Having lived in NorCal for 4 years, there is a distinct lack of Desi's in So. Cal. but if you can bear that and
the accompanying lack of great Desi Kabab Shops, So. Cal is the place to be.
Some of the biggest theme parks are based here and you are less than a 4 hour drive to
another country (Ensenada, Mexico), Baja California as well as an hour away from Catalina Island, etc.
Weather-wise, Orange County weather is second only to San Diego which is about an hour South; not to
mention, rolling entertainment like the Pacific Coast Highway (State Highway 1).
I have been to Arizona only once but never got a chance to check out the Grand Canyons. From what I have heard, it's a must-see.........
Try outlining your priorities, Kaleem and you should be able to filter the logical state clearly............
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
ahhh the golden state…:)[font="]
real estate no doubt is simply outrageous…but that can translate into sweet investment. the suburbs are absolutely wonderful for families. the weather is enjoyable…no wonderful! 
beaches are plentiful and the eatery palate is worthy of note too. cali economy is among the most diverse and one of the largest in the world…that can’t be bad.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Anyone who thinks that NorCal has lack of desis doesn't know what they are talking about. Forget desis, talk Pakistanis only. Bay Area is full of highly educated, professional and well off Pakistanis, who'd be in your field, i.e. IT. There are families with kids of the same age as your kids. This should be your sweet spot. Not a huge mass of desis you have no wish to hang out with.
Real estate is expensive, no doubt. Traffic can be bad, but is much better than in SoCal, and also techies usually have flexible times, so can beat the rush hour traffic by leaving home late. Commute depends on where you live, and if you are smart, you can end up with a reverse commute and still have great schools for your kids.
All kinds of halaal meat shops, Islamic schools (Sunday or full time) and cultural scene.
Arguably the best climate any where, with mild winters, and mild summers. No snow. Skiing and Nevada is 3 hours away. Beaches are 30 minutes away. Hiking trails less than an hour away.
And the best part is job opportunities, especially for IT professionals. Almost all brand name IT companies have campuses in the Bay Area. Many have head-offices here, including Cisco, Intel, HP, Adobe, Yahoo, Google, EBay, Apple, AMD, Sun, Lucent, Nortel, Novellus, Applied Materials, Altera, KLH etc ... you name it.
I have never been to Arizona, so can't compare, but NorCal is definitely a better place to live than Houston (this according to several families that moved from there).
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
If you are referring to my post, you misread it!
I mentioned So. Cal. having a relatively non-existent Desi presence compared to NorCal.
Experiencing both, the Northern and Southern part of Ca. it’s a matter of personal preference since both have their advantages/disadvantages.
The abundance of Afghani (highest population of Afghani's in the country), Pakistani and Indian population
in the Bay Area, is in part due to to Silicon Valley's (now diminished) charms.
However, the Bio. Tech. Industry has a well established base here in So. Cal. as well as a comparatively
small sector of IT/Telecom with steadier job opportunities.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
why not move back to Lahore where your parents need you the most now and of course no weather problem there.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Faisal Bhai, some of the good friends I know in the San Fran area have been courting me for ages now to move out there and their biggest selling point is that the community there is filled with well educated professionals but what scares me is the real estate and commute. I am used to living 10 minutes drive time away from work and I don't see that happening in Bay Area.
So, lets say I get a job in San Jose, Foster City or Milpitas .. What would you suggest where should I get a house and what price range I am looking at?
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
If you want to buy a house right away, then there may be a sticker shock. Rentals, on the other hand are not too high. A 2 bed room, decent apartment can be rented for $1200 or so.
If you are not a commute person, then you can pretty much get a place to live closer to your work. 10 mins is possible, though unlikely. If you want to focus on areas with good school districts, then in the Bay Area its a bit spotty. There are some terrific schools and school districts in pockets all over the place, so you just have to do some research, and expect to pay a bit more for a place with a good school.
Foster City should be the cheapest of them all. Milpitas is very decent. San Jose is very big and depending on where your job is, you can find a place to live near by. Some big campuses of Intel (Santa Clara), Apple (Cupertino), Yahoo and Sun Microsystems (Sunnyvale), Google (Moutain View) and eBay (San Jose) have nice and new apartment complexes near all these places, with commute times of 10 mins or less.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Faisal Bhai, once a home owner, always a home owner. So, tell me where one can afford to buy a house while working in/around San Jose with a reasonable 30-45 minutes commute time. Is there even such a thing called affordable housing in great San Fran area?
p.s: Don't worry, I am not moving out there tomorrow.
Re: Kalifornia or Arizona
Depends on how you define affordable, ofcourse.
A 3/2 in a decent neighborhood
Townhouse: approx $600k+
Single-family home: approx $750k+
Some pockets in San Jose can be cheaper, but then again, there is a reason they are cheaper. San Jose is generally extremely safe (infact its the safest big city in US), so the deciding factor is schools. Good school districts are more expensive. If you work anywhere near the IT hub of North San Jose, then expect 35-45 min commute if you want a good school district.
Some of the best schools are in Cupertino, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Atherton and Mission District of Fremont. Out of which, only the last one is probably where normal salaried people can afford to buy something (the rest are CEO-type of mansions or rentals). The area where we live is known as Evergreen Hills (95135) which is South-East of San Jose, with excellent schools, has gotten fairly pricey in the last couple of years. A 2/2 townhouse is available for about $550K.