moving to Bullhead City

Can anyone give me some insite as to the economy in Bullhead City. I am looking to move there from Northern, Indiana. Would love to talk to others that live in Bullhead or the surrounding are. And before you say it, yes, I know it gets very hot there.

this is not a bad place to live, right now the economy sucks, not many real good jobs. there are some nice homes here, nice places to shop, just bring your bank account with ya. like i said not many jobs. the river is great, and lake mohave is a great place for fishing, camping, boating. lots of places to see. and if you have a harley, you will be one of many that enjoy riding there bikes all over town. so if you come here, welcome

Thanks for responding rick. There aren't many jobs here in NWI either. I'm thinking it is the same way all over the country. We can survive for a year or so without working. We aren't looking to get rich. Any jobs starting at $15.00 per hour? My husband was in concrete construction for 18 years here in Indiana. He has been layed off for over a year now. He is also a deisel machanic and has a CDL. He has many other skills and can fix just about anything. Have jobs always been hard to come by there or has it just been that way since the recession started?

jobs used to be pleantifull untill the bottom fell out of construction. right now there is some concrete going down. the problem is most companies will be hiring the guys that got laid off before bringing in new guys, as far as mechanic, that may be the way to go. stuff is always breaking down here, and needs fixed. there is always the casino's here that hire from time to time, however the bad times have made an impact on them as well. it is just a matter of being in the right spot at the right time around here. i hope things work out for ya

After speaking to an agent here in my town of Crown Point, Indiana it's looking more likely that we will be moving to BHC within the next 90 days. I'm just trying to get a budget together of expenses such as utility cost gas/electric bills and monthly water bills. I'm looking to rent a 3 bedroom house about 1400 sq. ft. Can anyone give me an idea of what utilites cost in BHC? Any other info you think would be helpful would be greatly appreciated. TIA

You'll probably spend $800 to $1500 a month in rent depending on what type of neighborhood and where you decide to rent.

I have cable, internet and phone in one package that costs about $110.00 a month. Water is usually $30.00 or more a month, will go up if you rent a pool home. Utilities can run around $200 in the winter and $400 plus or minus in the summer depending on where you set your thermostat. Garbage costs around $12 to $15 per month. The kicker where I live is the sewer rates, we pay about $50 a month (paying more for sewer then water seems strange to me). Some people have there home sprayed for bugs monthly, that costs around $30 a month. Personally, I think your wasting money to have them spray in the winter, but some do.

If you hate wind you may not like the area, winters can be very windy. Which means a lot of dusting and cleaning, many days you can have your windows cracked, but the desert sand flows right in with the fresh air. There is quite a bit of poverty here as well, but I've been there, done that and it doesn't bother me.

If you like water, the Colorado river flows through town, it's one of the cleanest rivers in the nation. It's warm enough to swim in, in the summer months. And Lake Mohave is only a few miles away, it is a big beautiful lake. Of course there is all the gambling you can stand, and if Vegas is your cup of tea, it's only about 2 hours away. In fact Phoenix, Los Angeles and Vegas are only hours away. The desert is another playground for the locals, they camp, 4x4, and ride ATV's.

Bugs, I came from the north, so it took some getting used to. When we first got here we rented a brand new house, we killed 6 scorpions in our house that year and many, many crickets. Then we bought a home that was about 14 years old and haven't seen a scorpion since, but still get gazillions of crickets. After being here for several years now, I think there were actually more bugs up north then down here, just different ones.

Thanks Grandpa, you have been very helpful. We are currently living in Northwest Indiana, about 45 miles south east of the windy city, Chicago. Trust me, wind would not be a problem for us. Try living with wind and 10 degrees or colder! We can deal with wind and the dust coming into the house.

I have been to Laughlin and Bullhead City about 25 years ago. Visited there once when I lived in Las Vegas. I've been doing research about this area for a couple of weeks now and it sounds like a great place to live. We are in our 50's and really don't want to spend another cold snowy winter in Indiana.

The biggest problem for us right now would be getting jobs out there. My husband worked construction for 18 years until the bottom fell out a year ago. He hasn't worked since. He is also a great mechanic and can fix just about anything. I just wonder how hard it would be to get a job out there now?

Funny you mention crikets. I don't remember crickets in Nevada. I would have bet it was too hot for them to live there. It's true, you do learn something knew everyday.

Your welcome party42 :)

To be honest as far as jobs go, if I were to lose my job, I'd be leaving. Unless you can support yourselves off of minimum wages, this definitely isn't the place to look for work. Our county has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation (or we did). Rick mentioned your husband may find work as a mechanic, that's an area I have no clue about. It's a great place to live if you like desert life, however the job situation couldn't be much worse. Don't mean to come off so negative, but I'd rather be honest then sugar coat the job market. If you two are really out going and confident you can sell your job skills then perhaps the availability of jobs won't be an issue.

Best of luck!

my suggestion would be keep the home you have now, maybe rent it out. then come here look around try out for some jobs. if nothing pans out then you wont lose to much. grandpa hit it better than i did, jobs suck here right now. i am just one of the lucky ones

Jobs suck everywhere right now. Since my husband hasn't worked here in 15 months we are thinking we would rather sit in a warmer climate and wait out this resession rather than sit here and freeze or float away. Besides, savings have taken a huge hit since this all started so we are really needing to sell and take the money and run. We've been in our home for almost 16 years so we have a lot of equity we do not want to lose. Property values are still dropping and from several years ago we have already lost $25,000 on our home. Unemployment will be running out in the next 5-6 months or so.

We are planning a trip out there the middle of Feb. Driving with a couple of friends who are also interested in a change. If we put in some job apps and do some looking around for jobs we can write it all off on our taxes next year!

well stop by ace hardware in ft mohave, and say hi.

Don't be surprised if we do! I'll talk with you on here a few days before we get there and you can let me know when you are working the week we are there. We'll look forward to meeting you.

very good. hope to meet ya.

I think you might find rents to be a bit more affordable than mentioned above. Good idea to take a trip out and look around. You might want to contact a property management company prior to your visit to get familiar with the rental market.

I'd be happy to give the name and number of a couple of local property managers. I'm a real estate broker in Bullhead City.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info EvanF. Names for property managers would be great. Can you tell me if there is any new home construction going on in BHC or the surrounding areas?

You can also check for employment in our local paper. They are online at http://mohavedailynews.com/
Best of luck!!

We will be leaving for Bullhead City one week from today. I can't wait to get out of Indiana and get where it is warmer for awhile. We are still planning to stop by and say hi to you Rick. Any idea when you will be at Ace that week?

Travel safe! Looks like we'll be in the 60s.:-)

Thanks EvanF. We plan on taking our time. Not sure yet if we are going to be taking I-40 or heading further down south to I-30, I-20 to I-10. We don't want to hit any of the snow storms they have been having along the I-40 route. It would take longer if we go the I-30 route.

In the 60's would be GREAT!!! We are in the 20's here and more snow on the way! Grrrrr

party42 wrote:

We will be leaving for Bullhead City one week from today. I can't wait to get out of Indiana and get where it is warmer for awhile. We are still planning to stop by and say hi to you Rick. Any idea when you will be at Ace that week?

i am there sat-sunday- monday- thurs- fri. do stop by