San Tan Valley vs Queen Creek vs Gilbert ?? (Phoenix, Mesa: real estate, rental market)

[beachtennisfan]

STan Valley: After living outside NYC in CT and DC suburbs, I was excited about the super cheap prices of Arizona and moved to San Tan Valley. I regret it. If you are a highly educated liberal person without kids used to living in culturally rich areas, you may not like it. I love the views of mountains and sunny mild weather November to April but the I don't like temps above 85 which means May-October, 6 months of sauna weather. Most people here are W. Tr...redneck. There are tons of pitbull type dogs that bark from 10PM till 6Am so I can barely sleep. If you have a big truck, tattoos, limited education, a bunch of kids that you don't supervise, if you enjoy hanging out in your garage and you "let yourself go" you will love it here! Also, super conservative republican people with evangelical freeky religions like Mormans, JWitness, Seventh Day, Scientologists, and Baptists scare me. I am used to Catholics, Protestants, and Jews and these are not the biggest religions here. Arizona- can look like paradise and the houses are new and move in ready, but it is full of people that I don't want to live near. Having potenial friends makes a difference so consider this before moving. I Guess I'll have to win the lottery and return to the Northeast, the prettiest, most educated, most liberal part of the country. No other region seems to compare. Gov Brewer is a scary governer-yikes, I hate Arizona politics. I'm not gay but why is CT the only state to allow gay marriage? Haven't we moved forward since the start of the Civil Right's movement? Equal rights for women, and minorites including people of color and gays! Having a president that is half white and half black has not changed the racial divide that exist in the southern part of this country and throughout the US. I could go on...but that's all for now.

[Jkgourmet]

Beachtennisfan - thank you for providing such convincing evidence of why I constantly preach RENT FIRST to everyone who is thinking of relocating to this area.

(but I don't agree with any of your thoughts or opinions in the above post except perhaps that same sex unions should be legalized.)

[unit731]

Originally Posted by asufan

Gilbert >>>> Queen Creek > San Tan Valley. That is the order.

I agree.

Much depends on rental pricing and availability or if buying the prices of homes.

And also how far you wish to drive.

This whole area is the same (other will vehemently disagree) to me. It's one big megaplex. These parts of Ariozna do not have, in my opinion, distinct personalities. Everything seems to blend together. So distance to work and housing/rental costs come to the surface first before any choice for housing.

Gilbert is a city as is Queen Creek. And all of San Tan Valley and parts of Queen Creek are in the County.

Arizona, like most states, has layers of government. Town/City, county, then state. Each can impose a sales tax. Some have all 3. Yes, 3 sales taxes on the purchase of goods. Those buying in a county area would have 2 forms of sales tax - county and state.

If I am wrong on this please someone jump inn.

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by beachtennisfan

STan Valley: After living outside NYC in CT and DC suburbs, I was excited about the super cheap prices of Arizona and moved to San Tan Valley. I regret it. If you are a highly educated liberal person without kids used to living in culturally rich areas, you may not like it. I love the views of mountains and sunny mild weather November to April but the I don't like temps above 85 which means May-October, 6 months of sauna weather. Most people here are W. Tr...redneck. There are tons of pitbull type dogs that bark from 10PM till 6Am so I can barely sleep. If you have a big truck, tattoos, limited education, a bunch of kids that you don't supervise, if you enjoy hanging out in your garage and you "let yourself go" you will love it here! Also, super conservative republican people with evangelical freeky religions like Mormans, JWitness, Seventh Day, Scientologists, and Baptists scare me. I am used to Catholics, Protestants, and Jews and these are not the biggest religions here. Arizona- can look like paradise and the houses are new and move in ready, but it is full of people that I don't want to live near. Having potenial friends makes a difference so consider this before moving. I Guess I'll have to win the lottery and return to the Northeast, the prettiest, most educated, most liberal part of the country. No other region seems to compare. Gov Brewer is a scary governer-yikes, I hate Arizona politics. I'm not gay but why is CT the only state to allow gay marriage? Haven't we moved forward since the start of the Civil Right's movement? Equal rights for women, and minorites including people of color and gays! Having a president that is half white and half black has not changed the racial divide that exist in the southern part of this country and throughout the US. I could go on...but that's all for now.

Your post begs the question - what on earth were you thinking? And why on earth would you move across the country to a place so obviously not a good fit? Jkgourmet is 100% correct!

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by beachtennisfan

STan Valley: After living outside NYC in CT and DC suburbs, I was excited about the super cheap prices of Arizona and moved to San Tan Valley. I regret it. If you are a highly educated liberal person without kids used to living in culturally rich areas, you may not like it. I love the views of mountains and sunny mild weather November to April but the I don't like temps above 85 which means May-October, 6 months of sauna weather. Most people here are W. Tr...redneck. There are tons of pitbull type dogs that bark from 10PM till 6Am so I can barely sleep. If you have a big truck, tattoos, limited education, a bunch of kids that you don't supervise, if you enjoy hanging out in your garage and you "let yourself go" you will love it here! Also, super conservative republican people with evangelical freeky religions like Mormans, JWitness, Seventh Day, Scientologists, and Baptists scare me. I am used to Catholics, Protestants, and Jews and these are not the biggest religions here. Arizona- can look like paradise and the houses are new and move in ready, but it is full of people that I don't want to live near. Having potenial friends makes a difference so consider this before moving. I Guess I'll have to win the lottery and return to the Northeast, the prettiest, most educated, most liberal part of the country. No other region seems to compare. Gov Brewer is a scary governer-yikes, I hate Arizona politics. I'm not gay but why is CT the only state to allow gay marriage? Haven't we moved forward since the start of the Civil Right's movement? Equal rights for women, and minorites including people of color and gays! Having a president that is half white and half black has not changed the racial divide that exist in the southern part of this country and throughout the US. I could go on...but that's all for now.

It sounds like you positively HATE everything about where you moved other than the cost of housing, the weather for 6 months, and the mountain views.

If I was "highly educated" like you, I would have visited for a day and picked up on the vibe that I didn't like rural AZ. I would have noticed the lack of "culture" that I thirst for within 10 minutes, realized it is hot in the desert, noticed big Morman churches in several neighborhoods, observed people in the restaurants looking different than me etc.

I too would not want to socialize with people having a vastly different lifestyle that I have nothing in common with. You won't see me hanging around with super liberal people that have purple hair and earrings in weird places. Therefore I don't want to live in San Francisco.

So that 10 minute observation is why I know that North Dakota isn't for me because it is not exactly pretty, Montana doesn't have enough people, Oregon is too rainy, Alabama and other Southern states are way too humid. But college doesn't teach that course called common sense. Some people don't mind or actually LIKE the plain states, want less people around, enjoy the fact that rain == green, and don't notice the humidity.

Since I didn't relocate to an uber liberal town, you won't find me b_tching on the San Francisco C-D site talking about how I hate the fog, sick of homeless people begging, discussing how congested it is, and how gay public display affection doesn't need to be in your face (I don't make out with my wife in public nor march in the streets).

So I guess what I am saying is your anger should be directed towards yourself. My post would have said "visit SanTan 1st before you buy because it has a very rural feel and it is politically very conservative (Lot's of Mormans, JWitness, etc). Therefore it might not be a great place for a single liberal person who wants some culturally rich activities close by and it's also harder to meet new friends."

[Corso]

I want to jump in here.. I don't really think beachtennisfan took a very diplomatic (or smart) approach of expression on his choice of relocation. However, it has caused me to raise a question.

I am from CT and considering relocating my wife and I to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Believe it or not, there are quite a bit of opportunities in my field of work. I personally am not overly liberal, or conservative. I am educated and desire to live around those who are. The real estate even in the "expensive" areas seem like deals to me.

Initially I thought QC or STV would be ideal considering there would be less congestion, larger lots etc. Additionally, where I live, everything is spread out, so we are used to spending some time in the car. However, the more I read I am not sure it would be the proper fit for us. I do plan on visiting, and we certainly would rent at first.

So tell me, not to step on anyone's toes (no flames please), where would a mid-30s, educated, professional, independent thinking, kids-in-the-future couple, fit in the best??

[Kimballette]

Originally Posted by Corso

I want to jump in here.. I don't really think beachtennisfan took a very diplomatic (or smart) approach of expression on his choice of relocation. However, it has caused me to raise a question.

I am from CT and considering relocating my wife and I to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Believe it or not, there are quite a bit of opportunities in my field of work. I personally am not overly liberal, or conservative. I am educated and desire to live around those who are. The real estate even in the "expensive" areas seem like deals to me.

Initially I thought QC or STV would be ideal considering there would be less congestion, larger lots etc. Additionally, where I live, everything is spread out, so we are used to spending some time in the car. However, the more I read I am not sure it would be the proper fit for us. I do plan on visiting, and we certainly would rent at first.

So tell me, not to step on anyone's toes (no flames please), where would a mid-30s, educated, professional, independent thinking, kids-in-the-future couple, fit in the best??

I don't think the o/p's problem was a lack of diplomacy.

There are plenty of areas in the Phoenix metro area that would be great for a family as you described. The primary factor should always be where you both will be working. That should determine where you settle. Even being used to spending time in your car, our metro area covers more than 16,000 square miles. Once you give us that information, we can provide more relevant responses.

[Corso]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

I don't think the o/p's problem was a lack of diplomacy.

There are plenty of areas in the Phoenix metro area that would be great for a family as you described. The primary factor should always be where you both will be working. That should determine where you settle. Even being used to spending time in your car, our metro area covers more than 16,000 square miles. Once you give us that information, we can provide more relevant responses.

I will be a territory sales rep for a medical company, likely covering at a bare minimum, the entire state of AZ, and up to several additional states out west. I realistically can live anywhere but desire to live no more than 45mins from Phoenix, at the most. My wife will likely work in retail or the restaurant business. She will likely wind up working in Scottsdale. That said, I'm not sure I would want to live in Scottsdale.

[unit731]

I think I have chimed in before. But let me add my 2 cents more.

I was a puclic school teacher in another life back east.

Some are going to scream at me for my opinons but so be it. From my observations with friends with children in Arizona schools - the quality of education varies greatly from area to area and school to school. Arizona is financially broke and the state is cutting back on aid to cities and towns. Programs are being cut. Along with teachers. So some schools they cut out Art, Home Economics, Industrial Arts, Drama, and many other good programs that turn a child into an all around well educated person.

Opinion: the quality of public education is less in Arizona then back East. With some exceptions.

You will really have to do due diligence to find a community with housing you like AND good schools. You will have to ask around. In general throughout the country the wealthier the community the better the schools. You would be better off purchasing the cheapest home in the wealthiest community then purchasing the best home in a less wealthy community. In general terms. And there are exceptions. And I have stated many times - wealthy or poor or anywhere in between - the same social problems are in all schools.

Anywhere, it is a complicated formula that choose a good School Board who in turn pick good administrators who in turn choose good teachers. And just because a school building looks new does not make it a great school.

Let others who have children chime in.

[Kimballette]

Unit makes a lot of great points. With your wife seeking work in Scottsdale, I'd say north Phoenix (adjacent to and near Scottsdale), the Kierland area (also adjacent to Scottsdale) or the Deer Valley area (near the 101 and west of Scottsdale) would be a good starting point for your search. Of course, your price point will also determine where you decide to buy. Best wishes!