Tucson real-estate agents beware: Sharon Lin is not going to buy a house in Tucson.

The retired schoolteacher has made it clear, in a series of comments on Tucson Weekly stories that date back eight months, that she won’t be retiring to Tucson.

Lin’s most recent comment came in respose to the reelection of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Congressman Raul Grijalva.

“Well, I certainly don't want to wake up every morning and read the news about these two while drinking my organic bird-friendly coffee,” Lin wrote. “I think I'll just visit the desert for a few weeks in the spring to catch the spring flowers and bird migration, but buy my house and just live somewhere else.”

It was the ninth time since April 10 that Lin has declared that she won’t buy a home here.

We’re not sure which is more amusing—Lin’s inability to stop not moving here, her reluctance to pay taxes even though she claims that both she and her husband have had long careers in the public sector and will be counting on government pensions to fund their retirement, or her concern that more be done—presumably with tax dollars—to protect the environment.

Occasional TW commenter RetroRV was the first to notice Lin's ongoing threats.

"Good Lord woman," RetroRV wrote on Sept. 29. "We get it. You're not gonna move here. So do it and stop whining about Tucson!"

Here’s a recap of Lin’s many promises not move to Tucson:

Re: “Luck and Fear”

We heard about the incident on Fox News about the rancher near Douglas being murdered. We saw the Governor going on TV and talking about asking the Federal Govt. for help. Since she's a Republican and Nepolitano and other federal govt. officials are saying the border isn't a problem, I bet she won't get it. The Governor mentioned that the AZ citizens will have to pay.

I been visiting AZ for many years. I always thought I wanted to retire there, and because AZ was so unique in so many ways I couldn't pin down exactly where I wanted to live. The last ten years I started focusing on

birding in southeast AZ and thought that area would be great to live in.

We spent several weeks last September traveling around AZ and started to look seriously for a property on the Internet. While we were traveling around southeast AZ we noticed and went through a lot of Border Patrol checkpoints. We were very impressed at the Border Patrol and how well they were doing their job. We didn't realize how serious the problem really was because the real estate agents and locals we talked to, never said anything that would give us pause about relocating here.

We are retiring with government pensions and will pay cash for our next house. We feel we would be an asset to any community we choose to live in. We are environmentalists and work regularly to preserve the environment from invasive plants where we live in MD. We are organic gardeners and beekeepers. We are heartbroken that our beloved AZ that we have visited for decades and dreamed of retiring to, is not safe to live in. We have decided to look in Utah instead, even though the tax on pensions is higher than AZ.

Good Luck,

Sharon Lin

Posted by Sharon Lin on April 10, 2010 at 2:16 PM

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Re: “Trashing Arizona”

I read this article and got increasingly upset. My husband and I are government workers who are retiring with pensions and savings to buy a house. We have been looking in AZ but no more. AZ residents themselves, especially Tucson, don't want to crack down on illegal immigration. We are looking in other states to move to and to bring our money. In our home state of MD, we spend several hours a week cleaning up the environment, mostly removing exotic invasives from parks. My husband is the head of the local Habitat Restoration Team, and we expect that the next place we move to, we will become involved in environmental work. But not in AZ.

Posted by Sharon Lin on May 23, 2010 at 4:14 AM

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Re: “Messina”

I support the law regarding illegal immigrants coming to AZ. Since 1985 I've been visiting your beautiful state and spending loads of money. But I'm not going to spend any money in Tucson or Flagstaff because they are suing their own state over this law. I'll stay and eat outside their city limits. I don't see them doing so well financially, and I don't want to give them any of my money.

Posted by Sharon Lin on May 23, 2010 at 4:23 AM

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Re: “Mailbag”

I agree with Bill Cottle's comments. I have been visiting AZ since 1985 and love it so much that I have always dreamed of retiring here. The problem was that I couldn't decide exactly where I wanted to buy a house because I loved all the areas. AZ certainly does have everything you could want. Recently my husband decided that we'd start looking in the Tucson area, mostly because we love the flora and fauna of the Sonoran Desert. I retired after 40 years of teaching and my husband will be retiring from the local police department. We both will be living on our pensions and foregoing Social Security for the time being. We will pay cash for our property. We're avid environmentalists and work several evenings a week in local parks removing invasive plants. We have taken out all our grass on our property and planted native plants. We are beekeepers too. In other words, we feel we would contribute a lot to a local community financially and environmentally.

Last September, we looked at a 40 acre horse ranch in Cochise County. We decided not to buy the property because the land had been overgrazed and the house was situated the wrong way with the bedrooms in the sun all day.The French doors off the bedroom were smashed and there was plastic over the doorway which made us wonder what happened. We think we know now.

Boy, did we have a lucky escape! I approve of the immigration law. What's the big deal about showing ID? I traveled to Europe 10 times and expected to show my passport. I even showed my driver's license to buy a dinky puzzle at an outlet, although I read in the WSJ lately that it's not necessary for a purchase.

I really had to laugh when the AZ Daily Star's editorial told its readers to get out to vote and to take an ID! Hello?! I thought they didn't want illegals to show an ID, but they don't have a problem with locals showing proof of residence?

The bottom line is, we are not planning to buy a house in AZ afterall. I still get emails from Internet real estate companies and I saw a beautiful Sante Fe adobe near Coronade National Park for $350,000. I loved it, but suspect the owners are selling due to the illegals. When we drove along the road through the monument and continued over the mountain to go birding, we came across camps the illegals had used.

We want to live where our financial independence and environmental volunteerism will be appreciated. It isn't in AZ

Posted by Sharon Lin on June 17, 2010 at 6:36 AM

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Re: “Danehy”

I read this article and the comments with interest because since I first visited Tucson in 1985,and every year thereafter, I have always wanted to live in Tucson.

I have now retired from teaching, my husband will soon retire from the local police department, and YES!, we have pensions, savings, money to spend. We have been looking for a house and we WILL pay cash.

The only thing is, something happened along the way.
We started subscribing to the AZ Daily Star this spring to read about local issues and get a feel for our future city. We found out how liberal Tucson is, how badly the TUSD is run, how Tucson hates the illegal immigrant law, how Tucson is running out of water. I could go on.

Bottom line, no thanks.

We're looking in Utah now.

Good luck, Tuscon, you'll need it.

Posted by Sharon Lin on July 15, 2010 at 2:39 PM

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Re: “Phil Krentz: 'I Just Don't Know What's Around the Next Bend'”

Thank you for your article in the WSJ. Thanks to reading your article, I started subscribing to the Tucson Weekly. I meant to respond earlier, but put the newspaper aside and unfortunately out of mind until I was straightening up and came across the article again. We are looking to buy a property in AZ but are now having serious reservations after the publicity of the Krentz murder. Last Sept. we visited AZ and looked at a horse ranch in Cochise County and considered making a bid on it. We decided not to because the land was overgrazed. We noticed a lot of Border Patrol agents stopping traffic on the roads though.

By the way, does the Tucson Weekly perform any worthwhile service besides preaching to its choir? It's very liberal and anti-anybody who doesn't think lock-step with them. Makes me think I had a lucky escape from moving to southern AZ afterall. My husband and I are professionals and worked 40 years each and are receiving good government pensions. Hate to think of putting my savings into a property and spending money in a community that's becoming another LA along with their problems.

Posted by Sharon Lin on July 22, 2010 at 12:08 PM

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Re: “Water Wait”

I'm following this story closely. The outcome of whether Painted Hills can be saved will help me decide whether I want to buy a property in the Tucson area. I've been working with several real estate agents for several months, looking at homes in areas with good schools: Catalina Foothills, Tanque Verde, Vail. I've included the Marana area because we have friends who live at Dove Mountain and love it.

I want to see if Tucson is preserving their open space in the Sonoran Desert. The beauty, the flora and fauna, of the Sonoran Desert is what made us decide to look for a property here. We are also considering Cochise County because we are avid birders.

We like to think that we are the kind of newcomers a community would welcome. We are retiring with pensions, savings, will pay cash for our house, and volunteer extensively at preserving the environment where we live on the East Coast.

Thank you for reporting this story. I'll keep tuned. Meanwhile the search for a property goes on. The market is good for buyers now.

Posted by Sharon Lin on September 2, 2010 at 4:48 AM

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Re: “The Skinny”

We have been looking in the real estate ads everyday for the past year. We love AZ, and want to retire there. The question is: where? Every part of AZ is wonderful, and we could happily live anywhere in the state, with marvelous trips throughout the area. We see many beautiful homes on wonderful lots.

But wait a minute, since the whole state is up for grabs as far as finding a retirement property, maybe we should start eliminating areas.

Let's start with the areas represented by Democrats who voted for Obamacare, bailouts, TARP, etc. I don't want to live in an area represented by them. I worked hard for 40 years and don't want my savings and pensions to be redistributed.

Let's also eliminate areas that are represented by school districts who don't do a good job of educating students and have political adgendas to push. That eliminates Tucson and Sunnyside. I want to live in school districts where educating students is a priority and is reflected in good school scores.
Let's eliminated high tax areas. All my working life, a third of my salary has gone for taxes. Now that I'm retired, I want to preserve my income. Even with my pension, my income isn't anywhere near my government salary. Thank goodness for savings. But my savings is going to pay cash for my retirement home. That elimninates the entire Tucson area and Pima County. Oh well, there are still other counties surrounding Pima where we can live and enjoy the Sonoran Desert.

Let's try Pinal and Cochise counties.

Posted by Sharon Lin on September 23, 2010 at 7:22 AM

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Re: “Red Tide”

So Giffords and Grijavla won their elections. We just spent a week visiting properties that we were following on Zillow and Trulia for the last few months. We currently live on the east coast, are government employees retiring with pensions, savings, a house that's already paid for, and are ready to retire in southern AZ and enjoy the Sonoran Desert. Well, I certainly don't want to wake up every morning and read the news about these two while drinking my organic bird-friendly coffee. I think I'll just visit the desert for a few weeks in the spring to catch the spring flowers and bird migration, but buy my house and just live somewhere else. Thank goodness the tax increase was rejected.

Posted by Sharon Lin on November 18, 2010 at 4:35 PM