Moving (Phoenix, Scottsdale: houses, employment, neighborhood)

[jithomas83]

My wife and I are seriously looking into Phoenix as a move from Little Rock when I finish nursing school this December. Nursing salaries in Little Rock are terrible and the cost of living is, believe it or not, quite high.
1. Our budget depends on the what new grad nurses can make in the Phoenix area and if they are hiring. Can anyone answer these questions?
2. We need a house as we have 4 small children. A 3 bdrm is the smallest we can accomodate with a 4 bdrm being preferable considering my wife homeschools and could use the extra room.
3. Employment status explained above.
4. We homeschool
5. Suburban preferred with country also an option if the drive is not to bad to work. Even if it is, if my family life is better with a slower pace then I won't mind a bit.
6. No need for public transit at this time.
7. Need a neighborhood that is safe most of all and where our children can play in the front yard at times without worrying about excessive traffic or crime. Something similiar to Leave it to Beaver or Brady Bunch, LOL kidding.

Thank you for any help offered!
JT

[AZJoeD]

Finding a house to fit your needs will not be a problem. There are thousands.

Finding the job might be your first priority. Health care is one of the few industries that actually has jobs here. But the valley is very spread out. You do not want to be working on the east side and living on the west side as the commute will be too expensive and time consuming (same for north/south).

So start working on that job placement and get an idea of where you will work and your budget. You can visit ahead of your family to cement you job in then go from there.

[gsm113]

You can get more bang for your house buck in the SE and west valley areas than in Scottsdale, which is NE. Maybe something to consider when job-searching...

[Zippyman]

http://www.azbn.gov/Documents/News/2...ensed%20RN.pdf

Straight from the Horse's mouth. - the Board of Nursing...

About 21% of new-grad RN's in AZ don't get a job within 6 months of graduating. Of those who do get jobs, 5% are part-time or volunteer.

One of the bigger hospital chains in Phoenix (Banner) used to offer full-ride scholarships to nursing students in exchange for 3 years of working for them after graduation - that program was recently discontinued, and not everyone who graduated on their dime was hired.

Phoenix has one of the best community-college nursing programs in the country, that - along with ASU - and several for-profit schools dump nearly 3,000 nurses into the Phoenix market every year.

AZ has lots of old people who need care, but we also have lots of new nurses.

If you do decide to come to AZ in the face of that info, be sure to read the fine print on the BON website - "fingerprint cards" are required for nurses, and can take a couple of months to get.

If you can get a job, you'll do fine - we have lots of cheap houses in decent areas.