Help, Square one! AZ? (Phoenix, Chandler: to rent, low crime, how much)

[Tcavan]

A little background info, I recently gave birth to my first son, I am engaged and my family(including my parents, brother and his fiance) are looking to move to a warmer climate out west from mass, and so far our first choice(all from research and hearsay) is arizona. The problem is we have no idea where to start looking. We would like to be near a city because we are use to the city atmosphere, however, we don't want to be directly in the middle of the chaos. Some place nice, family friendly, nice property with reasonable costs and job oportunities, low crime rate and good schools...is that too much to ask? Can anyone help???

[MotleyCrew]

Are you looking to rent or to buy? What price home would you be looking for and how much rent?
As far as nice areas, they are scattered. Gilbert on the east side has some nice communities. We prefer the west side even though most of the bigger companies and jobs are in the Phoenix metro area. Chandler is a nice new city with job opportunities such as Intel. Surprise is growing and Buckey is too and offer affordable housing. Peoria (north) has Sonoran Mt. Ranch, West Wing, Vistancia, all very nice developments. In these developments you would be a long, slow commute into the Phoenix downtown core. Decide first where your income will be coming from. N. Phoenix has some nice pockets of homes to. You might try www.realtor.com (broken link) and find a realtor to help guide you. It took us a full year of searching before we found our spot. Good luck!

[aj661]

Need a lot more info. Gilbert's a little pricey now, but it's still my pick for family friendly. Do any of you have jobs waiting? If so, you might want to use that as a starting point. The Phoenix metro area is huge. You certainly don't want to find yourself living on the east side and working on the west, or vise versa.

[Tcavan]

We are looking to buy in the 100K to 200K range, depending on what we can find. Our preference is to be somewhere near a body of water. We definitely want to be near a good school system. We don't have jobs yet. I am in the investment and financial industry and the other members of my family are in the construction business, marketing and law enforcement mainly(others are flexible). Thanks for any input you have!

[CodyW]

Homes in the 100-200 range will put you out on the fringe suburbs. Which, while not necessarily a BAD thing, would make you a distance commuter. The only major body of water near the Phoenix area is Lake Pleasant, in Peoria. And the developments closer to it are out of your price range.

You might be able to find something in Peoria, I've seen some listings come and go over the last few weeks that seemed decent enough. But, you'll probably be confined to Buckeye, or Queen Creek if you want your $200,000 to go somewhere.

Trend Homes is offering some great floorplans and designs in Tartesso, out in Buckeye. This WILL be a long commute, but if you could find work in West Phoenix, or Goodyear, if wouldn't be all that bad. Last I heard, they have a 1600 sq ft 3 bd 2 bath home starting right around $180,000. The area is booming lately, with 40,000 homes planned in Tartesso alone. O.o

[aj661]

East side lakes include Canyon, which is the most scenic, Saguaro and about 20 miles up the Apache Trail from Canyon Lake is Apache Lake.