If you plan to move to Arizona, there are a couple of items you need to know first. If you have yet to buy a home in Arizona, then be sure to look for the following things: central air conditioner and swimming pool. DO NOT SETTLE FOR A SWAMP COOLER. Buying Arizona Real Estate requires a survival mindset.

If you have bought a home in Arizona that is in either of the largely populated valleys, you must not assume that because people live there it can't be that bad. It is that bad without the proper equipment. If you are moving to Arizona from a dissimilar climate, you must prepare to pay extra for you cooling. It is absolutely not survivable for a person from a cooler climate without central cooling and lots of it. Swamp coolers may do in some environments, but in Arizona they will just add a layer of humidity on top of the unbearably hot temperature. This is like two-ply toilet paper, there are some things you just don't even cut corners on.

The swimming pool is essential as well. In cooler climates like Colorado Springs, Salt Lake City, or even San Diego, a pool is an extra, a luxury, a want. In Arizona, it is a requirement. On some days during the Arizona summers, it gets so hot that you feel incapable of cooling down with Air Conditioning, a freezing cold drink of water, or even a cold shower (cold showers really don't exist in Arizona's summers). The only way you are getting cool is by jumping in a swimming pool. Sound silly to people who never lived in Arizona before, but those who have, are nodding and saying "of course, why did he write an article on this?"

Kinney Danclair is a writer with interests in self-improvement, business, and finance.