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Bullhead City on the Colorado

February 7th, 2013 ernie Posted in Bullhead No Comments »

Bullhead City on the ColoradoBullhead city on the Colorado River is a small city in the north western part of Arizona long the Colorado River and just across the river from Laughlin, Nevada. It is a nice little town with all of the services that one might need while spending the winter away from the cold, snow and ice of the northern winters.

One interesting fact about Bullhead is that it is on Mountain Time and just across the river in Nevada, they are on Pacific Time, a one hour difference. Many people live in Arizona in the city of Bullhead and work in Laughlin in one of the casinos just across the river and must keep track of the one hour time zone difference.

Bullhead City on the Colorado

Winter Time Temperatures

Bullhead is a great place to spend the winter. Of course they will get some cool temperatures; however we have been there for a couple of weeks in January and experienced temperatures in the 80’s during the day and cool 50’s at night. They get well over 300 days of sun in a year, so you are pretty much guaranteed to have sunshine on your vacation. There are quite a few condo’s to rent, however there seems to be much more locations which cater to RV’s and trailers for people who move around and live in their trailers for the winter.

Summer Time Temperatures

We have not been there in the summer time, however we are told that the temperatures are routinely well into the 100’s and that there are literally hundreds of boats and sea do’s out on the water along the Colorado River. We also have seen people swimming in the Colorado in March, however there are a couple of things to keep in mind when you swim in the Colorado River at this location.

First of all this is a very fast flowing river and anyone swimming must keep in mind that they can lose their footing and be carried away by the current. Secondly the water is very cold. It is fed by melting snow up in the mountains and the water is ice cold. Anyone swimming will experience hypothermia very quickly so it can be very dangerous even for strong swimmers.

No Gambling in Bullhead

There are no casinos in Bullhead. You have to go across the river to Laughlin to play in the casinos. Fortunately there are several bridges from the Bullhead side to the Nevada side that will take you across to Laughlin and to a point several miles south of Laughlin. Patrons of the casinos can also take a free water taxi across the river to Don Laughlin’s casino. There is free parking on the Arizona side of the river and both tourists as well as people working at the casinos will take the water taxi back and forth to the Laughlin side of the river.

Tourists can also take a water taxi from several of the water front condos over to the casinos. They can also take a water taxi from one casino to another one along the river. There is a small charge per person for the water taxi and it is a neat thing to do once and awhile to get out on the river if you do not have access to a boat.

RV & Trailer Parks

Parks abound for people who are spending the winter in their trailers traveling around the south-west in both Laughlin and Bullhead. There are large RV parks within walking distance of the casinos on the Laughlin side of the Colorado River and also in Bullhead.

Even the casinos have set aside parking space for trailers with no hook ups for patrons to spend a few nights. There are no hookups so you see people with generators and solar panels to generate electricity for their trailers and RV’s. This is not my idea of a vacation; however this is a great place to stop over for a few days without having to pay hookup fees for your RV or Trailer.

Every year we go to Laughlin and stay in one of the casino hotels. We go to Bullhead to fill up with gas and do our laundry. It is cheaper; there are fewer taxes on the Arizona side. We gill up with gas at a gas station called Terribles were you can get your oil changed for $29 and this comes with a free car wash. Gas is always cheaper on the Arizona side. For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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Red Condos by River Bullhead City

September 21st, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead 1 Comment »

We had the opportunity to stay at the red condos by the river in Bullhead City in Arizona this past spring and we would recommend that you really make sure thatred condos by river bullhead city you check the contract terms and conditions of the property before you sign up. We thought we did and missed a major item that really spoiled our vacation and actually that of many other snow birds.

Bullhead City – Colorado River

This is a beautiful setting along the Colorado River and all should be good, however we found that the building is not well maintained. Hallways are not clean, ping pong table is dirty and most important, the pool is not open during the March period or for that matter the rest of the winter. This was the argument we got from management. It is winter time and we do not heat the pool. Other guests were told that there is a broken part and in fact they had been told the same thing the previous year. Can you imagine having a pool not heated for snow birds? The weather was 80 to 85 almost every day, while the nights were cool which is typical of the desert.

Cannot Go Swimming

With these temperatures you want to spend some time by the pool and you want to go swimming, meet other people etc. The pool temperature was at 61 degrees F and pretty much not for swimming. On top of that there were a pair of ducks who would land every day and spend hours either sitting on the edge of the pool or in the pool. They left excrement all over the pool deck which usually took a few days to get cleaned up. This was bad and although we complained nothing was done. Others complained as well and all of us said we are not coming back another year.

We decided to write these posts to try and alert other potential snow birds. Anyone  who might be thinking of renting these red condos by the  river in Bullhead city. Another caution , do not take the rental agents word for anything. If it is not in the contract you will not get what you are looking for. This includes heating the pool. Make sure your contract says the pool is heated if this is important to you.

High Season

March should have been high season for snow birds, however most units were empty and that says a lot. Should we have done a better job of checking the place out before we rented? Of Course! But we did not do a good enough job so we want other people to avoid our situation. Hopefully this post will help. March is still considered winter for people in this part of the country? Maybe for the snow birds!!! An I do not mean the ducks!

If you have comments on this property, good or bad, feel free to leave us a comment. We will include it on this blog. For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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Laughlin Bullhead Vacation Rentals & Sales

April 13th, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead 5 Comments »

We rented a condo in Bullhead City from Laughlin Bullhead Vacation Rentals & Sales for the month of March 2011. The address is 251 Moser Ave, Bullhead city, Arizona. These are the red units shown on the picture below. Fantastic view of the Colorado River and the Casinos in Laughlin, Nevada.

We were not happy with this property for a number of reasons. We are placing this post to help other snow birds who might be considering this unit as a rental. Read on.

Picture of the Colorado river condominiums

Vacation Rentals & Sales

 

We rented this unit through Laughlin Bullhead Vacation Rentals & Sales. The big issue for us was the unheated pool.  It never got above 61 F! And we spoke to a few people who were at this property last year. They had the same problem. There was a broken part.  Same problem this year? But there response when we complained was, well it is winter time, we don’t heat our pools in the winter!

Anyone who is trying to attract snow birds sure heats their pool. We have found a number of properties that do. They lost my respect and support right there with that statement.

If you rent from Laughlin Bullhead Vacation Rentals & Sales get everything in writing. There is supposed to be an inventory of everything in the unit with pictures. The pictures were there all right. But not everything in the pictures were in the unit! The response – we are just worried about the big things!

There also seems to be a lot of empty units. Probably is putting pressure on the HOA and their budget. If you happen to be considering a purchase, check this are out carefully. Make sure you do not end up on the hook for a large HOA special assessment.

Vacation Rentals & Sales in Bullhead, AZ

This property has a lot of potential. However, here are the items we did not like:

  • They did not heat the pool.
  • Pool was not clean.
  • Ducks swam in the pool everyday
  • Ducks crapped on the pool deck every day
  • Hallways are dark and kind of dingy, especially the lower levels
  • Rental manager does not respond quickly to issues
  • Condo not well equipped with kitchen supplies
  • Cannot really go walking and enjoy your self doing it in this area
  • They did not fix the broken vacuum
  • Units are not well insulated

Also we like the following :

  • Great view of the river and the casinos
  • Large balcony with sliding doors from the LR and BR
  • Over 1600 sq feet of space, lot of room
  • Lots of parking in a gated lot
  • In addition the water taxi stops at the condo when called
  • There are four  TV’s in each bedroom as well as LR
  • Fairly clean

Comments

If you have had personal experience with Laughlin Bullhead Vacation Rentals & Sales or with 251 Moser ave. either good or bad, please leave a comment to help future snow birds avoid getting taken. For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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Bullhead City Condos

April 5th, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead 1 Comment »

We recently stayed in one of the red condos pictured below during the month of March, 2011.  The unit itself inside was actually quite nice, although it did have a few negatives that unfortunately will deter us from returning in future years. Read more below and make up your own mind as to whether you would want to spend your money renting one of these units. The address is 251 Moser Ave, Bullhead city, Arizona. This property is located on the Colorado river across the river from all of the casinos in Nevada. There is a boat landing which can be used to catch a water taxi across the river to the casinos as well.

Picture of the Bullhead City Condos condominiums

Bullhead City Condos

 

The view from the 2nd floor balcony is really quite nice with the Colorado river in the foreground and the casinos in Laughlin across the river. They are especially nice at night when all of the lights are lit up. It really has a nice view of the river, the casinos and the mountains in the background. There are mountains on both sides of the river.

Pool Unheated

We were led to believe that the pool would be heated for March. The days were certainly nice enough to go swimming and we have stayed in other condos in this time of year were we have swam a lot. The pool not only was not heated, it was around 61 F, it was dirty and the ducks swam in the pool every day and crapped all over the deck. Not sanitary and not nice.

We spoke to a few fellow travelers and they also were expecting the pool to be heated. Bottom line get it in writing and do not believe what the sales person or the owner tells you. This property is experiencing financial trouble. They have problems collecting the HOA fees and have to cut back on expenses. Therefore the first thing to go I guess is the heated pool!

Not Well Equipped

As furniture goes, TV’s etc, this unit was very well equipped. We had to buy wine glasses, all of our spices , catsup, mustard etc, dish towels and dish rags. Most unit owners who rent to  snow birds make sure that even these basic things are provided. There was no hair dryer either.

Now before you suggest that we are being picky or expecting more than we should, let me say that we have been renting condos for over ten years and know what to expect. This unit ranked a 4 out of 10 in this area.

Laughlin Bullhead Vacation Rentals & Sales

Nice people, but not very good at following through with requests. For example, we did not have screens on the sliding glass doors for our unit. Apparently they were in the garage being stored. It took over a week for two of them to show up at our door and another 5 days for the remaining 2 to arrive. They were dusty and no attempt was made to clean them at all.

The vacuum is one of those types that has a roller for beating the carpet which is driven by an electric motor with a belt from the motor to the roller. This belt was broken, had been that way for some time because the motor shaft was rusty. We were supposed to receive a new belt, however have not seen anything from anyone in over two weeks.

These are not big things, but it reflects the level of service you can expect. Our unit was clean, I can only imagine if it had been dusty or dirty. What would we do then? The contract is all one sided so pay attention. If you want that pool heated, put it in the contract or do not go there!

Comments?

If you have stayed at 251 Moser Ave in Bullhead city in Arizona, and have had a great experience or not so good, please your comments to help other snow birds who are looking for a place to stay for the winter! We would really like to hear comments. They continue to advertise this property and it really does not measure up to what they are saying about the property. For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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Colorado River Condominiums

April 3rd, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead 1 Comment »

Colorado River CondominiumsColorado river condominiums in Bullhead city, Arizona are just like the name says, right on the Colorado river. They are situated across the river from the casinos in Laughlin Nevada and provide a great view during the day and at night from your balcony.

These condos are nice, but there are some negatives about them that potential renters and snow birds should be aware of.

  • Pool is not heated
  • Pool water is at 61 degrees
  • There is no beach contrary to some sites we have looked at
  • The pool is not clean
  • The ducks enjoy the pool and leave their droppings on the deck
  • The area around the property is pretty run down
  • The units while nice are not sound proof
  • There are 6 barbecues, but they are a long ways from your condo.

Picture of the Colorado river condominiums

There are some good points about this condo that we would also like to point out. You may not be interested in using the pool at all in which case these units might be just what you want.

Advantages of the Colorado river condominiums

  • Large units some with 3 bedrooms and 1600 square feet
  • Nice large balconies
  • Gated community
  • Lots of parking
  • Elevator to higher units
  • Two hot tubs
  • Storage for RV’s or boats
  • Close to casinos
  • Water taxi service available from the property
  • Very quiet, except for the boats and seados on the river.

This property is located at 251 Moser avenue and we rented it for a month in March. We were given the impression that the pool was heated, although nothing was in writing and it is not on any advertising that we saw. Several sites did advertise a pool, but nothing was said about whether you could use it or not. Our fault for not verifying this before we signed the contract.

We are writing this post to warn people that if they want a heated pool, they should verify it, get it on the contract. Do not take the salesman word for it. They use words like – we think it is heated, it is usually heated, it is probably heated etc. be very careful about this if this is important to you.

Buying Colorado river condominiums

As far as buying one of these units, they are very nice and spacious, however again buyer beware. We were told that several were being foreclosed so you can probably pick one up pretty cheap, however the HOA fees will be unpaid. You want to make sure that you do not get stuck for these outstanding fees.

I think this is the other reason the pool is not heated, they are trying to save money because the HOA is not getting the cash flow they really need due to the condition of many of the owners probably not paying. During the real estate crisis these unit owners lost thousands of dollars and are having difficulty  meeting mortgage payments and HOA fees. With so many owners in difficulty and little cash coming in the HOA has to limit their services and conserve cash as much as possible. This is the reason we think that the pool is not heated and they do not cater to snow birds who are expecting a heated pool.

Check the Details

Check all of this out before you purchase if you plan to buy a unit. They do have great garages for storing RV’s and boats, cars etc so this will meet a lot of peoples needs. We also found that there is not a lot to do in the area. You can visit the casinos of course, go out to various restaurants, play golf, go hiking, water sports etc. But it is generally quite limited for the more senior snow birds who may not be interested in water sports or casinos for example.

We spent a month in Bullhead Arizona and Laughlin Nevada. By the end of the month we were really ready for a change of scenery. Our next stop is Palm Springs and there really is no comparison to Bullhead Arizona. Lots of restaurants, entertainment etc. to take in. Perhaps we did not give Bullhead and Laughlin enough of a chance. We do enjoy going to the casinos but only for three to five days at a time.

For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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251 Moser Ave Bullhead City AZ

March 30th, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead 4 Comments »

251 Moser Ave Bullhead City AZ

These are the condos on the Colorado River in Bullhead city. You can see them from the river walk along the river from the other side in Nevada and from a distance they look great. In fact they have a great view of the river and the casinos. The view at night is spectacular with all of the lights of the casinos.

Picture of the Colorado river condominiums

251 Moser Ave Bullhead City AZ

The apartment we stayed in was large with 3 bed bedrooms, a large dining room and living room as well as a large patio. There are several sets of barbecues down by the pool, which takes some time to get to unless you are on that level, otherwise you need to take the elevator to get there.

Parking and Security

There is lots of parking as well and if you have an RV or a boat, I guess you could also rent one of the garages to leave it in. These are built to house RV’s so they are very large. The entire place is in a gated area, since the area just outside the gates is quite run down and I would not walk there at night. We had no problem during the day, although there is not much to see or to enjoy other than you are walking to get some exercise.

251 Moser Ave Bullhead City AZPool Area

The back yard which is along the pool is nice, with two hot tubs and a pool overlooking the Colorado River. There are a couple of Palm trees and 6 or 7 lounges around the pool. Not many for the 80 units in this complex, however not many people go to the pool since it is not heated.

The pool is not heated from January to March and probably not in April or May either. The water was at 61 degrees, yet the outdoor temperature with the afternoon sun was more than hot enough to enjoy the pool on many days during March of 2011. The claim was that it cost too much to heat the pool and most people do not go swimming in the winter. Well for snow birds that is one of the reasons you come to a place like this and other condos to provide this service.

Anyway we will not be back. I would encourage anyone considering this place as a snow bird retreat,  looking for a heated pool to avoid this place. We talked to a number of fellow snow birds. They indicated they were not coming back for this reason alone.

River Front Condos for Sale

There are places for sale if you want to buy one. The price has dropped from around $600k to less than $300. Personally I would not pay more than $200k for one of these places. Be very careful of the HOA status. A number of places have been foreclosed. This means they are in arrears with the HOA fees. A new owner might be on the hook for these fees. Maybe this is really why they do not heat the pool.

Pool Deck not Clean

By the way the ducks like to sun themselves on the pool deck. Then take a dip in the pool. There is duck excrement around the pool on a regular basis and who wants to swim with the ducks?

If you have stayed at this place, leave your comments. Maybe you enjoyed it and are coming back. We are not! For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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Apt 203, 251 Moser Ave, Bullhead City, AZ

March 27th, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead 1 Comment »

251 moser aveApt 203, 251 Moser Ave, Bullhead City, AZ

We recently stayed at the Riverfront condos in Bullhead City. These are the big red condos that you see right on the Colorado river across from the Golden Nugget Casino on the Laughlin, Nevada side of the river. This Condo is located at 251 Moser Avenue #203, Bullhead City AZ. 251 Moser Ave  is in the 86429 ZIP code in Bullhead City, AZ.  251 Moser Ave #7 has 3 beds, 2 baths, and approximately 1,631 square feet

Do Not Book This Property – 251 Moser Ave

If you are looking for a vacation rental and plan to spend some time by the pool, do not book this place. The pool is not heated January to March! There were lots of days with the afternoon sun beating down on the pool deck and no one would go into the pool because it was at 61 degrees. Many of the days were truly spectacular with lots of sun and hot. The pool is located on the western side of the condos right on the river and gets lots of sun. You cannot sit there and not go in the pool, but who wants to go swimming in 61 degree water.

There are two hot tubs which are heated and you can use them. However again at some point you want to cool off. A few brave souls did go in the water but only for a few seconds. It is as if they are going polar bear swimming like they do on Jan 1st in the north!

Also the ducks like the pool and leave their excrement all over the pool deck. There were two ducks who were there most of the day every day and left excrement all over the deck. They swam in the pool and one day they were even copulating in the pool. The whole thing is disgusting. If you are looking for a place to go swimming, don’t waste your money unless you do not use the pool ever!

Picture of the Colorado river condominiums

Do Not Believe the Sales Person

One last thing. When we booked this place we were told it has a pool and the salesmen thought it was heated. Should have listened closely and confirmed. He knew it was not heated, but was not going to volunteer the information. We have stayed in a lot of other places and have had the pools at84 degrees all year long!

Moral of the story is buyer beware and don’t assume anything like we did.

The Condo

The condo apartment itself is large , well appointed and quite comfortable. The view on the Colorado is really great and we enjoyed these parts of our stay. The condo could have been better equipped in the kitchen department. We had to buy wine glasses, filters for the coffee machine and all the spices etc. Normally these sorts of things are provided.

All in all, we have decided that we would never come back to this location. We paid $2200 for the month of March 2011 and I would demand a much lower rate. Most of the units are vacant so there is lots to chose from contrary to what they tell you. The sales agent is easy to deal with, however just do not believe anything they tell you.

Poor Service Examples

For example, all of the other units had screens on the windows. WE asked for ours to be installed ( they were in the garage). It took two weeks before they finally got around to bringing them over. The belt on the vacuum was broken, had been broken long before we arrived and remains that way, even though we reported it over two weeks ago.  Don’t expect too much.

As I said earlier, we are seasoned travelers and know what to expect. This unit and the management did not come close to meeting our expectations! For more posts about Bullhead and Arizona, click here.

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Firehouse Coffee Company

March 17th, 2011 ernie Posted in Bullhead No Comments »

We dropped in at the Firehouse Coffee Company at the Riverview Mall the other day and we were really pleasantly surprised. We have not found any Firehouse Coffee Companyreally good coffee shops in the area up til now. Even the local Starbucks coffee shops are not great. They are inside grocery stores or casinos and do not offer the ambiance that regular coffee shops offer. There is no outside seating at any of these coffee shops.

The picture on the left really does not do the place justice. It is an eclectic mix of decorations that I guess is suppose to remind of you an old firehouse, however I did not really see that. There is a lot to look at and take in. So be prepared to spend some time just looking around the Firehouse Coffee Shop in Bullhead City, Arizona.

WiFi

The Firehouse Coffee Company offers free WiFi. If you ask them they tell you it is $5 for an hour unless you buy a coffee, other wise it is free. There is no pass code so you can stand outside the door if you really need to and use the internet WiFi access for free. Strange!

Decor

The inside is really nicely decorated with tables for large groups as well as couples. There are really nice leather chairs and couches, perfect for a coffee and reading the newspaper or a good book or browsing the internet which I did. Click on the following link to see a short video of the inside of this coffee shop.

Firehouse Coffee shop

Coffee Prices

Coffee prices are about the norm, so nothing to report on that front.

Food

They were offering large cupcakes for $3, a bit expensive. They were really good, had real whip cream on top and they were laced with hot dried peppers. Hot!

There also was a red pepper, one of those hot ones, dipped in chocolate. These are for people who are really into hot stuff. This comes with the cup cake, but we did not try that. We like hot things, but that is a bit more than we can take.

They have a full menu of soups and sandwiches and other stuff, so we are confident that there is something there for everyone.

Location

It is located in the Riverview Mall area in Bullhead City along Highway 95. Great to do some shopping and then relax with a coffee or just visit for a nice place to share a coffee with someone.

We really liked this coffee shop. For more posts about things to do in Bullhead, Arizona, click here.

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