Yeah, we moved to Arizona from California last year and have not regretted it. The summer weather takes some getting used to, but otherwise Phoenix reminds me a lot of California about 30 years ago. The Phoenix metro area is growing rapidly. Housing prices are up about 40% in the last 18 months, but are still far below San Diego county where I used to live. We're looking for a little dip in housing prices to buy next year but I'm not waiting for a big decline. Ten percent is about the maximum decline that I'm expecting, and houses still seem really cheap to me after living in San Diego county.
I know a woman who lives in Chandler who bought her house 8 years ago for 89K, with pool, on a lake. Now it's worth 375K
No problem. Just stay inside in the air conditioning about 5 months out of the year, and you'll be fine. And replace that car battery every year. The blistering heat just kills them.