tucson housing: ghosts, heat, and why my mortgage is a horror story
okay, real talk. i spend my nights chasing orbs in old vaudeville halls and my days sweating through another Tucson summer, wondering if i should just buy the damn haunted house or keep renting my cinderblock box. it's a mess. the housing thing here isn't just numbers, it's a vibe check, and right now the vibe is ‘anxious cactus.’ let's get into it.
first, the heat. it's may and the air already feels like a hair dryer aimed at your face, but everyone just… shrugs. you get used to the oven, they say. sure, until your AC unit sounds like a dying walrus and your electric bill becomes a second mortgage. but hey, at least the saguaros are photogenic, even when they're judging your life choices.
rent vs. buy. i’ve talked to too many locals at places like Pima County Ghost Seekers meetings to not have opinions. renting feels like you're just feeding a landlord's retirement fund in sun city. i paid $1,200 last month for a place where the pipes knock like polite ghosts at 3am. but buying? jeez. median home price is hovering in the mid-$300s, which sounds fine until you factor in the 7% mortgage rates and the fact that anything under $250k needs major work or is in a neighborhood where you park your car facing outward ‘just in case.’
my neighbor, a retired aerospace engineer named marty who swears his house is ‘energetically dense,’ gave me the lowdown: “buying is a long-term bet against the sun. renting is paying for the privilege of not having to fix the roof when a monsoon drops a palo verde tree on it.” he’s not wrong.
*job market reality - tucson’s got the university, davis-monthan, and a growing-ish tech scene, but wages haven't exactly kept pace. the ‘creative class’ stuff they talk about in glossy brochures? it’s real, but it’s scattered. you’re either commuting to phoenix (no thanks, traffic is a different kind of hell) or fighting for gigs at the film office. Tucson Film Office has some leads, but it’s feast or famine.
here’s the dumpster fire of data i’ve scraped together:thing renting (avg) buying (avg) my brain monthly cost $1,300 $2,200 (P&I) “i could buy a camera” maintenance landlord’s problem my soul & wallet “thanks, marty” flexibility easy to leave locked in for years “but what if i want to scout locations in arizona but also… new mexico?” weird factor just walk away stuck with it “the ghosts are now my problem”
overheard gossip block #1:
> “my cousin bought in drexel heights. great price, huge yard. says the previous owners left because the basement door kept opening by itself. now he’s a locksmith and part-time medium. no joke.” - woman at Café Poca Cosa, talking to her friend.
overheard gossip block #2:
> “rent control is a fairy tale here. my landlord jacked rent $200 because i ‘parked my truck crooked.’ i now park it perfectly and hate my life.” - r/Tucson thread on rental hell.
weather update: it’s dry heat until july, then monsoons hit and everything that wasn’t bolted down becomes a projectile. the mountains around the city-the tucson mountains to the west, the santa catalinas* to the north-are gorgeous, a constant reminder that nature is beautiful and also wants to burn everything down. neighbors? people are chill, but there’s a transient vibe thanks to the military and university. lots of people just passing through, which makes the rental market nuts every august.
so, buy or rent? for a ghost hunter with an erratic income? probably rent. the last thing i need is to be financially tied to a portal to the other side. but man, the idea of fixing up a casita with rattlesnake-proof fencing… it’s a siren song. maybe i’ll check out Tucson Relocation Guide for the thousandth time and pretend the numbers look better.
we’ll see. for now, i’m keeping my earplugs in for the pipe-knocking and my savings account locked down. the housing market here is a haunted maze, and i’m just trying not to get lost in it.
just remember: in tucson, the houses are old, the stories are older, and your AC bill will haunt you longer than any spectral entity.
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