Casa Grande rentals (Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler: real estate, apartment complexes, condos)

[twita]

Planning on moving to AZ in late June. Looking to rent first. Fiance retired but I must work for a few years. Fiance interested in Casa Grande area but open to others. Safest areas? Best complexes? Job and travel outlook? Making a visit in 2 weeks to scope things out. TIA for all of your help.

[Master Shake]

Depending on where you will be working, CG should probably not be your first choice. CG is a somewhat isolated city, not very big, and not much commercial selection. However, you seem to be on the right track by visiting first!

Good Luck!

[UKFSChick]

Casa Grande is a wonderful place to live. I have recently moved here from London and, although it isn't quite the same (!), I think it has a lot to offer.

In general those who see CG as 'somewhat isolated city, not very big, and not much commercial selection' might not have been here in the past year!

There is a HUGE brand new mall with Harkins movie theatre, many new restaurants and a WIDE selection of great communities to suit all pockets and tastes...from lakeside to golf communities, new luxury condos, gated apartment complexes and many private homes to rent... The new influx of commuters to Phoenix who are living in the northern side of town are changing the demographic here daily.

Please send me a PM if you would like some more info on specific communities, as you have a lot of choice and a good opportunity to get a bargain tenancy right now. When you come to buy you will definitely get plenty of bang for your buck.

Good luck with the move.
Emma

[Master Shake]

You bring up some good points -- however, I think the OP was asking for more information on CG, regarding "Safest areas? Best complexes? Job and travel outlook?". I took this as that they are relocating from somewhere outside of Arizona, and are probably not planning on retiring at this time.

Although I can't speak about safe areas or the best complexes, CG is 40 miles from the far south end of Chandler, and just under 60 miles to downtown Phoenix. It can be a very long drive at times -- I do it a few times per month. CG is completely surrounded by unincorporated (and mostly empty) desert county land and Indian reservations. In the morning rush hour it usually takes 90 minutes or more to drive into downtown Phoenix. If anyone wants a good visual picture of what this is like, simply put "Casa Grande" or zip code "85222" in Google maps or Mapquest and use the "drive to" directions section, going to zip code 85001.

CG has an estimated population of 34,000 (as of 2006), with no Fortune 500/1000 company headquarters. Most CG jobs are in the agricultural, fast food, construction, or industrial (factory/warehouse/shipping) industries. For comparison sakes, the city of Phoenix is roughly 1.5 M (2006), the city of Chandler is over 240,000 (2007), Mesa is 440,000 (2006) and Tempe is 170,000 (2006). London (which is the largest city in England) has an estimated population of approx. 7.5 Million (higher than the entire state of Arizona)!

Although there is still affordable home building going on in CG, the addition of a movie theater and an outdoor mall doesn't change the fact that CG is still a somewhat isolated city, not very big, and not much commercial selection -- compared to the greater metropolitan Phoenix area. If the OP will be working in the greater Phoenix area, there are much better alternatives that should be considered before CG. With the current housing slowdown in the greater Phoenix area, new comers could easily find better alternatives to moving to the far outreaches in order to find affordable real estate. This is basically what led to the large number of people who moved there in the last 5 years. Many of these people now find themselves trapped in CG, unable to leave because their houses have lost so much value over the last couple of years. However, if the OP is looking for a nice, quiet place to retire, away from the city, then CG would be a good option.