Our Second Tiny(ish) Home and Your Questions, Answered
If you’ve been following me on Instagram you may have noticed my posts and stories have included a change in scenery. At the end of February, Matt and I traded in the Pacific Ocean for the Sonoran Desert and purchased a second tiny(ish) home in Tucson, AZ.
While Southern California has been our winter destination the past four years, and we’ve thoroughly enjoyed our time there, we’ve always had a love for the Arizona desert and all that is has to offer - from warmer temps to vast landscapes to endless outdoor adventuring. So when it came down to evaluating and weighing our options for purchasing a property out west, in addition to owning our truly tiny home back east, the Tucson area checked all the right boxes. It aligned with our lifestyle, enabled us to continue pursuing our passions / interests and it didn’t “break the bank”. While having the ability to walk along the coast everyday in Southern California was very tempting, the affordability of doing so wasn’t worth the trade-offs involved (e.g. depleting our savings and giving up the freedom and flexibility in our lives that we so greatly value and appreciate).
So, over the past month and a half, many of you have reached out to me to inquire about this move. All of your curiosity, questions and for some, interest in pursuing a similar journey, led me here to sharing my thoughts and answers to your questions. I hope this post helps you think about life differently and take action on something you’ve all been desiring to do sooner, rather than later.
So without further adieu, below are your Questions, answered as it relates to our second tiny(ish) home. Hmm…maybe we have a series for forming here?
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Well, the overarching answer here is simply, because this city is amazing and meets not only some, but all our of our requirements. So let’s explore “Why Tucson” below:
Endless Outdoor Activities: In addition to Tucson having a National Park (Saguaro NP - East and West), there are numerous state parks and city parks that contain endless miles of road biking, gravel biking, hiking, trail running and more. Between Mount Lemmon which stands at over 9,000 feet high and the Sonoran Desert landscape, there’s a mix of something for everyone all-year round. Not to mention all the golfing, swimming, pickle-balling and more that the locals are extremely passionate about.
Highly Accessible: Tucson is home to the second busiest airport in Arizona behind Phoenix. Not only does that make it easy to get back to the East Coast (or anywhere really) when needed but we are also only six and a half hours from the Pacific Ocean and within two hours of our neighboring city, Phoenix, by car.
Tons of Delicious Food: Tucson is a designated UNESCO City of Gastronomy and has world-renowned dining options. The city also offers multiple farmers markets throughout the week - so local, fresh ingredients are easily accessible and affordable. Bottom line, there is never a shortage of great eats here.
University of Arizona: There is a unique energy to college towns that can be felt in the surrounding streets and neighborhoods. The UofA is a vibrant area, home to the D1 Wildcat sports teams that are frequently nationally ranked and offers plenty to do and see not only on the weekends but also during the week.
History & Museums Aplenty: Tucson’s history began thousands of years ago with ancient indigenous peoples who first settled this land. Combined with these ancestral roots are the Spanish Colonial, Mexican, and Anglo influences that have shaped the culture and aesthetic of the region. From the famous Mission San Xavier del Bac and Tucson Presidio to many historic ranches that still operate today, you can easily feel like your traveling through time and experience what life might have been like in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Fits the Budget: The cost of living in Tucson is low in comparison to its’ neighboring city of Phoenix as well as where we’v been snow-birding in Southern California. To put it in perspective, we were able to get almost twice the amount of square footage at half the cost in Tucson compared to where we were looking at properties in Southern California. Given all of the above, a no-brainer.
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As an iPEC Certified Energy Leadership Coach I know first-hand how our environment impacts our energy. From where you live to the possessions you allow in your home / on your body - everything that surrounds us has energy and is an extension of our internal environment. So you bet I had a decision making process and it was based on the above principle.
Although Matt and I were born and raised in Massachusetts, and were used to bone-chilling / snowy winters, that season wasn’t our favorite. We would make the most of the cold and dark winter by night skiing after-work, embracing winter hiking and more; however, looking back, we were just “tolerating” the season. But that way of thinking didn’t work for us anymore and we wanted more sunlight, warmer temperatures, always-on flip-flops and tans during the winter. So we started to make a list of all our go-forward winter location decision points.
The points included big fundamental things like being within the US and easily being able to travel for work or see family, if needed.
Next were environment decision points such as having access to outdoor activities, the temps being above 60 degrees each day as well as fresh and delicious food being aplenty.
We also had to decide what our ideal physical space would be - minimum one bedroom (no studios), a full and well-equipped kitchen, easy access to laundry (I know, sounds crazy, but yes - access to laundry was a must) and good WiFi for work purposes.
Last but not least were the financial decision points - such as preserving our savings to the extent possible and fitting on-going expenses (fees, taxes, utilities, etc.) into our monthly budget.
All of these decision points gave us focus and clarity about what our “non-negotiables” were and made the next step even easier because we already had our “filters'' defined.
Once we had our list, we then researched and tested which cities / states met our criteria. We explored what articles had to say about different locations and there current state of affairs. We followed that up by traveling to locations to test our theories by spending time there.
For the past four years, Matt and I have stopped in Tucson every single time we drove to and from Southern California. We’ve rented Airbnb’s in different neighborhoods to see which areas of town we liked / didn’t like and even spent a full month here in 2020 so we could embed ourselves in the day-to-day and get a real feel for the vibe.
You can’t know if you really like a place until you spend some real time there, so rent a place and see what you think. If you're anything like me, you’ll know within the first day if you're attracted to the vibe or not.
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The short answer is time, preparation, commitment and of course - money. And while you need those four things to achieve most of your dreams (maybe not necessarily money), you also need a heaping amount of patience and courage.
As I mentioned, we researched and explored areas for four years before deciding on Tucson, but during that time we also had multiple offers get rejected in various locations.
After going through that whole process multiple times, and learning a whole lot, we simply decided to narrow our requirements even further and just wait it out until exactly what we wanted came along.
The further narrowing of our requirements became a condo for ease of maintenance. 2 beds / 2 baths so we could accommodate guests. And something that was recently renovated / needed minimal work so we spend more time enjoying our time. Oh and we also wanted it to be located in a very specific area of Tucson, like specific meaning the street and HOA complex.
The upside of waiting for what met our requirements was that we continued to save / invest towards our purchases while staying true to our career decisions, working remotely, living the lifestyle we desired and exploring the best of east and west.
In summary, this purchase was the culmination of more than four years, two career pivots (including starting a company during COVID) and endless Redfin virtual walkthroughs (if you haven’t tried one of these I highly recommend it). So if purchasing another home is something you desire, start saving your money and planning for it now. Although four years may seem like a long time, it went by fast and every step we took created momentum towards our decision and where we are today.
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We’ve still got it!
For now, our plan is to live in New Hampshire during the summer / fall months and spend the winter / spring months in Arizona.
Our Tucson condo is 911 square feet, which is a palace compared to our 450 square foot tiny home in New Hampshire. But in addition to being our residence (palace) for half the year we are also planning to rent it (another decision point that emerged during the process). So if you want to experience Tucson for yourself and do so in an intentionally curated environment (e.g. ours), then send me a message and I’l let you know when it becomes available for rent.
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First off, it’s ok to not want the same things. You and your partner are different people with different needs and there’s nothing wrong with that. The catch is that you each must honor each other's needs.
If you haven’t already, the best place to start is by having an open conversation about those needs. Find a day and time with no distractions that works for both of you to have an honest and open discussion about either your goals towards purchasing a second home and/or travel so you can learn more about each other's desires. Here’s some questions to ask one another:
What do you love most about the idea of a second home and traveling?
Where might you want to live and or travel to and why?
What would be your ideal location or amount / timing of travel each year?
What, if any, concerns do you have about another home somewhere else and traveling more than we currently do today?
Once you have this discussion, you can use the answers to create an action plan that works for both of you!
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First off, this response is partially speculative, given Matt and I don’t have kids, but I’ve known and seen plenty of couples with kids embrace this concept of a second home and more travel.
So with that said, I believe it is totally still possible to embrace this type of decision and more travel with children at home. Depending upon your comfort level, I would suggest starting small by doing some shorter trips to explore different locations in order to gain confidence and then expand from there. Choose some places you can maybe drive to, spend a weekend or week that aligns with work and / or school schedules.
My go-to is pulling up TripAdvisor for inspiration and enjoy being a tourist within your hometown or state. As you gain more comfort in traveling and experimenting with what works and doesn’t work for everyone, you can then start to expand the length of your trips and / or the distance to locations.
Given kids are often tied to school schedules, proactively plan travel around holidays and school vacations. If there’s an opportunity to extend the travel by a few days on the front or back end - try to do so, asking teachers to provide homework so you can bring it with you and make it part of a routine. That is always a great option, if spending a full month away is not feasible.
If you're really adventurous, consider the idea of giving home schooling a chance so you can literally maximize flexibility, travel and your family’s adventure.
As I said at the beginning, there’s so many options, so find what works best for you and each year build on that until you bring your ideal situationl to fruition.
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Yes, it can be!
Travel doesn’t have to be expensive, nor does finding that second home for you and your family.
There are multiple ways to travel on a budget while you begin to explore where your idea location is and here are some helpful tips I try to live by:
Plan in advance to get the best pricing. Last minute usually means premium pricing, not always - but usually.
Stay at campgrounds (or hostels) versus hotels. Not only is it less expensive to go camping, it is a great adventure.
Based on my experience with Airbnb, when you stay at locations longer, you can take advantage of better nightly rates. So experiment with staying for a month vs. a week or two.
Always try to find the local grocery store and cook in rather than going out as much as possible. But don’t forget to venture out now and then, especially when surrounded by great dining options.
Take advantage of credit card rewards for free night stays and money back when booking travel (I have the American Express Gold Card, Chase Visa for United and Chase Visa for Marriott ). The fees are often more than covered by the rewards earned (miles, free stays, etc.), especially when you purchase or book exclusively with dedicated brands to rack up loyalty.
Well, that’s a wrap. Hopefully you found that Q&A helpful. If you didn’t get all the answers you were hoping for, or have another question you’d like to ask, drop it below and I’ll email you back within 24 hours to share any additional insight or answers I can.