When Gordy and Mary Jo Monten’s first set foot in Sun City West, Ariz., it didn’t take long to be sold on the idea of spending some of their retirement days there. Their friends, who had a retirement home there for more than 10 years, had been trying to convince the couple to visit for a long time.

“Mary Jo and I would say, why would anyone want to go back to the same place year after year? It didn’t take us more than a day (during the first visit) to change our minds,” Gordy Monten said.

The Belfair couple now own a home in that resort-like, unincorporated city that is home to about 30,000 residents. Gordy’s father also lives there in a condo, so when the Montens spend time in Arizona, they’re still close to family. Sun City West is age restricted, with at least one member in the household required to be 55, so there are no schools but family members including young kids can visit any time.

For $350 a person per year, residents can buy a recreation card that gives them access to various tennis courts, pools, gyms and numerous other amenities. There are hundreds of clubs with minimal dues, several golf courses and a full schedule of activities. Top that with the low cost of living (including price of gas and food), inexpensive real estate and nice weather, and it’s easy to see what makes the idea irresistible.

“This is like an adult Disneyland,” said Gordy, who pays $20 per year to be part of the metal shop, which he said has “every tool possible” including a plasma cutter, drill presses and band saws. Mary Jo has found her own activities — she belongs to a sewing club (also for $20 in dues) that has more than 500 members and its own space filled with computerized embroidery machines, new surgers and other equipment.

“If you were to type out, in single space, all the clubs in Sun City West, you would fill out a page and a half,” Gordy said.

Thanks to the access to all the fitness facilities, Mary Jo said she’s lost weight and has been feeling very healthy. “I’ve gained muscle and I have a lot more energy,” she said. “…We just don’t have those opportunities in Belfair.”

The Montens divide their time between their Arizona and Washington homes and said it doesn’t cost a lot extra in utilities to maintain both.

“Everybody is so friendly (in Sun City West) because all of us have been transplanted from somewhere else,” Mary Jo said. “…We’re the oldest of the baby boomers. As people retire more and more, there’ll be more interest in this.”

Mike Boyle didn’t even wait to retire before buying a second home in Arizona. The owner of North Bay Mortgage, based in Belfair, has dreamed for years of the idea. After a brush with cancer a few years ago, he finally decided to embrace it. He downsized on his numerous community involvement commitments in North Mason and beyond, and now he and his wife travel back and forth between their home in Victor (in North Mason) and Surprise, about 20 miles northwest of Phoenix.

“This (Puget Sound) is the most beautiful area in the world seven months out of the year. I just can’t handle the rain and cold as much anymore,” he said.

During the February-April winter and spring season, the temperatures in northwest Arizona are still around 70 degrees and cool at night, and for baseball fans like Boyle, there’s one extremely important bonus: The Major League Baseball teams have their spring training in the Phoenix area. So Boyle spends about three hours working (since he can do his job from anywhere) then heads to the games.

“You can sit in the stands and be real close to the players; it’s a lot of fun,” he said.

After buying his home in Surprise, the always-entrepreneurial Boyle saw a business opportunity. Even with his years of experience in the mortgage industry, he said buying a home long-distance in a new area was challenging since he didn’t know people he could trust. So he launched Escape Winter Arizona (www.escapewinteraz.com) to help other Washingtonians looking for a vacation home in the area. He acts sort of as a middleman between buyers and Realtors or contractors. He screens the real estate agents and property managers to make sure they’re reputable and he also gets information from perspective buyers before matching them up with Realtors.

Boyle estimates that about 60 percent or more residents in Surprise are part-timers from Washington and Oregon.

“There’s so much to do there, you can stay busy the whole time,” he said. “…And the Grand Canyon is only a couple hours away — the desert is just gorgeous and the sun shines every day.”

Ron “The Ronster” Rogerson and his wife, Peggy, are looking forward to soaking in that sunshine come March. Rogerson retired at the end of February from his longtime job as senior vice president/ chief marketing officer at Kitsap Credit Union and after more than 40 years on the Kitsap Peninsula, they’re heading to Surprise.

“We are natives of Washington but we feel soaked. We want to dry out,” Rogerson said.

The couple first discovered the area in the late ’90s after going to a Mariners spring training camp. When they drove around and saw all the retirement communities and amenities, they were sold on the lifestyle, not to mention the weather. For the past few years, they’ve visited frequently, staying a week or more at a time in between renting their vacation home. “It’s so friendly, and people are not having a lot of stresses in their lives anymore,” he said.

The economy changed their plans of maintaining two homes, however, so the Rogersons’ retirement is bittersweet: They’re heading to Arizona permanently. But with children and grandchildren left behind in this area, they plan to visit regularly, especially during the summer when it gets hot in Arizona.

They plan is to stay active — between baseball games, clubs and travel to nearby attractions (Vegas is only about five hours away, among other things), there will be enough to keep them busy. And Rogerson said they plan to continue their tradition of volunteering and being involved in the community.

“When you get into a 55-plus (age) community, it’s relaxing and casual and people are superfriendly,” he said. “They’ll knock on your door and introduce themselves and invite you to things. You get an opportunity to meet people from all over the country, and I’m looking forward to that too.”

A number of part-time residents have also found condos to be a convenient get-away accommodation. In one Scottsdale complex for example, State Representative Jan Angel and her real estate broker husband Lynn Williams jointly own a condo unit along with Port Orchard Mayor Lary Coppola and his wife Dee, local Realtors Dee Marie and Gloria Morkert, and Kirby Vacuum entrepreneur Rick Eide and his wife. Next door, are well-known local Realtors Bob and Marylin Dick. In fact, so many of the units in that particular building are owned by Kitsap residents in one form or another, that a few years ago, they elected Williams as president of the owner’s association.

“Because of the lack of maintenance, Arizona condos make sense for a lot of busy folks from other areas,” stated Robert Conrad, a Phoenix-based Realtor. “And because of the impact the national economy has had on places like Florida and Arizona, there hasn’t been a better time to buy than right now — at least not in my lifetime.”