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Old 08-01-2011, 10:58 AM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
109 posts, read 197,627 times
Reputation: 35

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Hello, my wife and I are moving to the Phoenix area. She is Air Force and will be stationed at Luke AFB. We have visited Phoenix in the past, but we must not have seen the niceness of it. We were in Glendale when we visited, and it just really didn't seem like a place we would want to live. This of course, was a year ago while we were on vacation and our time there was short. Now, since we are getting stationed at Luke, we need to find a suitable place to live in the area that we can make our home.

We aren't your average couple I guess. Our interest are different than most because we sacrifice convenience and fun for the nicer places to live. THAT SAID, we really don't need to live very close to the base because we will drive long distances to live in the community that suites us best. Our interests are low crime (no crime if possible! this is a joke of course), very nice schools (because next year we are starting a family), friendly suburban community with good churches (preferably large ones with lots of activities going on), and the area doesn't necessarily need to be diverse (we get along with everybody). As of right now, we wont be buying a home. We are thinking of renting a house, duplex, townhouse, or very large luxury apartment, 4BR maybe.

I was reading through some of the threads, and someone gave a fantastic description of Scottsdale, but I've seen Mesa, and Gilbert on the map. I was turned on by his description of Scottsdale because he made many references to it being a very clean community. The wife an I are both lovers of clean streets and an attractive community. I also saw nice things mentioned about Mesa, and saw some reviews on Tempe. I was turned on by the fact that they said Tempe was a very young community, but I was turned off when they said some of the area was older and unkept. We like new, we like a place where my wife can walk the youngin' in the stroller and not have to worry about being mugged or worse, and we like a very clean (new feel / well kept) type community.

Would anyone be able to point us in the right direction? Any links to discussions about these areas or areas unmentioned that would fit our preference would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, and we are looking forward to being Arizonians.
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Old 08-01-2011, 11:23 AM
 
2,879 posts, read 7,749,718 times
Reputation: 1183
Might be helpful to have a budget as rents range from 299 to 12,999 per month. There are some nice communities in the West Valley, absolutely no need to drive to Tempe.
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Old 08-01-2011, 01:13 PM
 
200 posts, read 444,943 times
Reputation: 172
Check out Verrado near Buckeye. It's a beautiful park like setting of gorgeous homes varying in size. It's a ways off the beaten path of the city, and has it's own nice supermarket. You're a short hop to Goodyear and Avondale for more shopping and restaurants and those cities are some of the cleanest I've seen compared to living in California and Oregon. Buckeye has more grocery shopping and convenience chains like dollar tree, WalMart etc (and its a very well kept Wal Mart.) Buckeye is a little more "upper working class" and down to earth than a lot of areas (not upper class but most people take pride in what they have and aren't trashy.) From Verrado it would be at your discretion to use it or not, some people like it, some people probably wouldn't.

It's a short drive to Luke AFB, in fact there will probably be other AF families in the neighborhood.

For Schools you have Illiad and Odyssey charter schools in addition to public options in the Buckeye or Goodyear campuses.
Sounds like it would be a good match for you!
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Old 08-01-2011, 02:32 PM
 
Location: Raleigh, NC
19,359 posts, read 27,567,150 times
Reputation: 35932
You don't want to commute to Luke from the East Valley (Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe). No way - really! I wouldn't want to do it to Scottsdale, either. And most people wouldn't unless they really had no options.

I think you will find many newer communities on the West Side, nice communities. I'm not familiar with the West side, so I can't specifically suggest any. But I can specifically,definitely say that you do want to stay west of Phoenix.
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Old 08-01-2011, 02:53 PM
 
Location: Gilbert - Val Vista Lakes
6,069 posts, read 14,721,804 times
Reputation: 3876
I suggest checking out Litchfield, Surprise and Goodyear. They are nice areas on the west side.

The commute to Scottsdale or any other place in the east valley would be at the minimum one hour drive and can go up to two hours in traffic.
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Old 08-01-2011, 03:17 PM
 
Location: Buckeye, AZ
109 posts, read 197,627 times
Reputation: 35
Quote:
Originally Posted by Captain Bill View Post
I suggest checking out Litchfield, Surprise and Goodyear. They are nice areas on the west side.

The commute to Scottsdale or any other place in the east valley would be at the minimum one hour drive and can go up to two hours in traffic.
Like I said in the original post, we sacrifice convenience for comfort without hesitation. If the better communities are on the east, then that's where we will live. But please do continue to recommend nice ones on the west as well. We will check them all out. Our house hold income is 50 thousand. Want rent to be under 1300 monthly. We will be renting a house, townhouse, duplex or luxury apartment.
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Old 08-01-2011, 03:28 PM
 
Location: Hard aground in the Sonoran Desert
4,866 posts, read 11,156,320 times
Reputation: 7123
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistachy View Post
Like I said in the original post, we sacrifice convenience for comfort without hesitation. If the better communities are on the east, then that's where we will live. But please do continue to recommend nice ones on the west as well. We will check them all out. Our house hold income is 50 thousand. Want rent to be under 1300 monthly. We will be renting a house, townhouse, duplex or luxury apartment.
You do not want to live in Scottsdale, Mesa, Gilbert or Tempe if you're going to be working at Luke. Luke is in the far West Valley and you would spend your free time commuting (or I should say your wife would) back and forth. In traffic this could be 2 hours each way or 4 hours a day. Why would you want to "start a family" with your wife working so far from home? There will be no "comfort" in your wife commuting 4 hours a day, working full time, starting a family, etc.

I'm in the Military and you have been given the best options. Verrado, Goodyear, Surprise, Litchfield Park or the nicer parts of Peoria and Glendale. Those are your options and you can find a nice place to live in any of these places.

Would be very selfish of you to make your wife commute from the east valley to Luke every day. Especially being a new mom who will need to "run home" often for a sick child, doctors appts, etc.

I'd be happy to provide any specific information on the West Valley.
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Old 08-01-2011, 03:52 PM
 
Location: Gilbert - Val Vista Lakes
6,069 posts, read 14,721,804 times
Reputation: 3876
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistachy View Post
Like I said in the original post, we sacrifice convenience for comfort without hesitation. If the better communities are on the east, then that's where we will live. But please do continue to recommend nice ones on the west as well. We will check them all out. Our house hold income is 50 thousand. Want rent to be under 1300 monthly. We will be renting a house, townhouse, duplex or luxury apartment.
I don't work the west valley; only the east valley, Scottsdale, Mesa, Gilbert, etc., and I could never suggest that your wife make that commute from the east valley to Luke. I think LBTRS spelled it out very well for you.

In my opinion you would not be sacrificing convenience for comfort. Instead I believe you would be sacrificing convenience for misery. Not only the time lost (about 3-4 hours per day commuting, but the cost of the commute and most likely a higher price for a rental.

The final decision will be yours and your wife. You said you will check everything out and I believe you will. Do check out the driving time during commute hours before making your final decision on location.

Google map will give you a good normal driving time from address to address. You'll have to add time to that to get the commute driving time.

Good luck in your search.
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Old 08-01-2011, 04:07 PM
 
3,391 posts, read 7,128,802 times
Reputation: 3831
There are wonderful, safe, new and newer communities all over the Phoenix metro area. There's no reason to subject yourself to long commutes to satisfy your requirements.
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Old 08-01-2011, 04:37 PM
 
Location: Sierra Vista, AZ
17,531 posts, read 24,593,177 times
Reputation: 9975
Have you Moderator cut: rude looked at Litchfield Park or Goodyear (North of I-10)?

Last edited by Kimballette; 08-01-2011 at 04:57 PM.. Reason: rude
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