Been there, done that. In May, 2011, Palin bought a 5-bedroom house in rural Arizona north of Scottsdale for a little over a million dollars.
By sheer coincidence (!) her daughter Bristol had bought a small home in Maricopa, Arizona in late December, 2010 for $172,000.
Why "Arizona" out of all the 52 states???
When I read of these purchases, I instantly thought at that time that she would run as senator (maybe governor) in AZ sometime in the future....and I still think so....especially in light of her sudden, highly-public, almost gushy words of praise for John McCain the other day.
Leni
Quite a few Alaskans own property in Hawaii, Arizona and Florida. My employer has a ranch in AZ, his son a vacation retreat in Hawaii and I favor renting a vacation home in Orlando for a month in january, because six months of real Alaska winter tends to be depressing to most, and I have lived in Alaska for over 20 years.
Alaska is awesome from late may to mid september, otherwise its just an icebox.
Why Arizona? Because it was a buyer’s market. You’d be surprised at the large number of Canadians who’ve bought houses there too. I live in ND and I know quite a few people who also purchased second homes there. They bought because it was a hell of a deal and people long to escape the winter cold. Only time will tell but I’ll bet that the Palins were thinking along those same lines. Politics had nothing to do with it.