If you work outside for a living, the summers suck. Other than that, it's not that bad after you've been here a couple summers.
There's a lot to do here with decent lakes in every direction. Not to mention you're about an hour closer to the river than SoCal.
I'm looking for a new house as we speak. Tempe is okay. You can get a lot of house in the East-Valley for the money but traffic really sucks to get downtown everyday. Try North-Phoenix or Scottsdale.
Here is a link to get you started:
http://www.azcentral.com/hbc/search.php
Slick