Is Phoenix really an American city? (Glendale, Avondale: house, to buy, schools)

[missusparsons]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

By affordable, I mean around 300K.
That's what I don't get. Every other metro area has pockets of good and bad, but they are seperate pockets. The pockets here are within the same block or street. I see on the news almost nightly, these nice looking west valley subdivisions, because they were too affordable before the boom, are filled with drop houses and 3 families living together, shootouts, etc.

I completely agree with this statement.
The one thing that really threw me about Phoenix was the (lack of) neighborhood distinctions... This problem seems to be a little bit better in the East Valley -- but I still run across streets where there are million dollar homes just a few blocks away from 'suspect' areas.

My only suggestion is to research the areas more thoroughly

[Axiom]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

By affordable, I mean around 300K.

Unfortunately, the research I did on the area led me to the conclusion that none of the west valley area were great for families. Sure, there were nice houses and nice streets, but never more than a block or two from trailer parks or downtrodden sections. Why would I pay close to $400K but still have to drive past ghetto streets everyday? We looked at about 40 houses in 5 sererate areas; Peoria, Glendale, Avondale, Deer Valley, and Surprise.

Peoria was the closest to what we liked, but most houses were over $350K and still in the middle of slummy areas.

That's what I don't get. Every other metro area has pockets of good and bad, but they are seperate pockets. The pockets here are within the same block or street. I see on the news almost nightly, these nice looking west valley subdivisions, because they were too affordable before the boom, are filled with drop houses and 3 families living together, shootouts, etc.

If I hadn't needed to be close to Glendale, I would have stretched financially and looked in Auhwatukee, Tempe, or Chandler. I think there's an educated middle-class out there.

Hmmm... what about the Arrowhead area? Granted if you want to live in some of the more exclusive areas you're looking at well over $300,000, but there are plenty of lower priced houses as well and I don't know of a single trailer park or downtrodden area you'd have to drive by to get to them. The HOA can be a pita, but it does protect against the multiple families living together scenario you mentioned. I'd say the whole area is solidly middle to upper middle class and for the most part very educated. Not sure what you're looking for in a school, we all know AZ does not rate highly as a whole where education is concerned, but I've been happy with all levels of schools in our immediate area.

Sorry your experience has not been better here.

[sablebaby]

Yeah, you can still get a few small homes for $300k or less, in Arrowhead. But the rest of the 98% of them will be WAY over that amount, but hey buy something small in a GREAT area!

[MotleyCrew]

We live in N. Peoria and there are no trailers in sight of our development. I guess I take a little offense at the research(?) results that were posted. We also looked at tons of neighborhoods in both Glendale and N. Phoenix and did not find "slums" or trailers next to what we had looked at. In fact, I can't remember any trailer park except one over off of 31st Ave in Phoenix. You can make some assumptions on the quality of life in Phoenix after leaving the airport and not good ones at that. You really have to drive around and take some time. There are plenty of nice areas.

[jco]

I'm sorry you hate it here, and I'm terribly sorry you have kids in a bad neighborhood, but your statements about the west valley are just not true. I've lived in bad west valley neighborhoods, and the west valley neighborhood I live in now is by far the better than the "good" neighborhood I lived in during our stay in the east valley. You must, must, must make sure that you're buying into a neighborhood that did not sell to investors and didn't allow the owners to rent or sell within a set period of time. Neighborhoods that didn't do this went back real quick. In addition, I wouldn't build a house again. We were fortunate with this neighborhood, but the first one went to garbage within months. You just don't know what you're moving into when you build new. This is just my opinion, but it sounds like you may have bought resale.

As far as affordable, with a saturated market, you can get into a nice sized house in a great neighborhood for 250k out here.

[Cj81]

I live in Central Phoenix (downtown). The best neighborhoods in the valley are in Central Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. I wouldn't live anywhere else in the valley.

I have a thought for everyone especially the hater that started this thread. Why is it that people just pack up and move to Phoenix, throw a dart at a map to pick a home, and then blame everyone else for their new problems. I just get tired of listening to people cry over spilled milk! Fix the problem and stop your crying! You only live once so I suggest you get moving!

[Axiom]

Originally Posted by Cj81

I live in Central Phoenix (downtown). The best neighborhoods in the valley are in Central Phoenix, Scottsdale and Tempe. I wouldn't live anywhere else in the valley.

We did a lot of research before we moved here and you just eliminated all but one of the nieghborhoods we chose to look at AND the nieghborhood we currently live in, which we are very happy with.

Choosing "the best nieghborhood" can be a very subjective thing.

I do agree that you have to do your homework before buying a house though. Personally we start with schools and rule out many, many areas right there.

[clortho1]

The area itself is beautiful.. the outer-suburbs, anyway. They are very nice. However, the people there were some of the rudest I ever met. I moved there and moved back to California in a very short timespan.. I'm not saying Sacramento is any better, but if I had to choose between "real" Southwest towns, I'd say Albuquerque is better than Phoenix.

That's personal opinion and observation.

[EugeneBKLYN]

OP: Serves you right for not renting the first year.

[redboar]

Originally Posted by artvandelay

I moved here from Chicago's suburbs about a year ago, and I absolutely hate it. My in-laws live in West Glendale, so we did our best to stay close to them. We ended up buying in Avondale. One thing I found when home-shopping: There is not a SINGLE affordable neighborhood in the west valley that appears safe and clean. I feel like a tourist because I don't speak Spanish, the native language here. The people here (west valley) are either illegal, ignorant, desperate, malicious, or a combination of them all. The schools are among the scariest I've seen, and I've seen the Chicago inner-city schools.

We have two small children, and there's no way I'm sending them to these underfunded, language-impaired schools for any extended time. I would leave now except that my home is not worth what I paid, but we are out as soon as is feasible. Our neighborhood, which looked relatively nice before purchase, is just as crime-riddled and stupid as the others we passed on. The few neighbors who speak English told me I got a great deal on my house, but I simply avoided getting ripped off. The appraisal at the time (scams) was $35K over my purchase price, but Zillow shows a current value of $20K over. Pretty soon, our "great deal" will be more than the appraised value. I hope we get to leave before the neighborhood becomes an all-out slum.

I realize that there are nice parts of the valley, particularly on the east-side, but our very small children prohibit many lengthy outings, especially the brutal summer months. Property taxes are really low compared to Illinois, but you get what you pay for. When 80% of the surrounding population is illegal or ignorant, tax increases for school reform, police improvements, etc. aren't likely. It seems like the people living here, because most aren't actually from here, don't give a damn about improving or even maintaining things.

It actually costs much more here for the same quality of life provided in Naperville, IL. Like southern Cal, you have expensive areas for the affluent, and slummy affordable areas. Nothing in between.

People say they love the sunsets, mountains, etc. That's great, but lower your head and notice the car getting stolen or the street sign being tagged. I prefer the pleasantries around me at ground level, not in the sky.

I can't wait to get back to Illinois to experience 4 seasons, culture and nightlife, English speaking neighbors, challenging schools, and people who care about the place where they live.

By the way, I am not a racist. My wife is from Mexico, and she is more scared and disgusted by the people here than I am. She's too scared to take the kids to the park, so I have to recreate a playground in my closed-off backyard.

Any others feel this way about Phoenix?

I love it. Stop being such a whiner and move to the east valley. Please look at my other posts for a different perspective on Chicago, I really can't figure out why so many people like it, or any part of the midwest for that matter.

Four seasons in Chicago? I count two, gloomy winters that start in October and hot humid summers which immediately begins in late May to early September. Sometimes they get an actual fall for about a month.