NY Long Island late 20's couple moving to Scottsdale (Phoenix: low crime, houses)

[pjpalmieri]

My girlfriend and I are looking to move to Scottsdale from Long Island within the next 3 years. Right now we are just doing some research to get a good understanding before we take a trip and get some on site experience. From what I've gathered from the forums so far, Scottsdale seems to be the place for me. I am on Zillow now browsing and wanted to see if anyone could point me in a more specific region of Scottsdale based on my criteria?

- Suburbs, but not boring. We are in our late 20's and would like a place that has things to offer for a young, active couple. However, we do not want to be directly in the city or even an area like Queens NY with multi family homes
- We are not looking to start a family, so thinking of a 2-3bedroom house with a budget of around $300k and a combined income of about $125k per year
- As mentioned we are looking for a house but trying to avoid your typical boring neighborhood.
- Any advice on a more specific region of Scottsdale to focus on while searching for homes would be great!

[matzoman]

I would really get out there first to get some on site experience. Western suburbia is very low scale and spread out. There are area's in Phoenix that are a lot more exciting and youthful like Willo.

[DetroitN8V]

Under $300k your only opions for a house will be south scottsdale. Older neighborhood but still nice and very close to old town. That area would suit you well I think.

[wnewberry22]

I just moved from that area for work. I really enjoyed my three years in AZ. I noticed in the OP you mentioned that you like "active" stuff but I'm not sure exactly what that means. If active means clubs, malls, shops, etc...Scottsdale will probably be your spot. If active means hiking and outdoor'sy type stuff...there are other places in the valley that will make your 300k budget go a hell of a lot further. My wife and I lived in Ahwatukee and we loved it. It is regarded an "urban village" of Phoenix.

Let me...for a moment...sell Ahwatukee to you.

-Approximately 15 minutes to old town scottsdale (tons of bars and other fun whatnots)
-Houses are very nice and (compared to Scottsdale) affordable. My wife and I had a 3 bd 2.5 bath house with TONS of custom upgrades for 275k.
-Neighborhoods in my area (48th and Ray) were very young and active
-Great hiking near South Mountain
-Acess to the Foothills golf course
-Pretty good restaurants very close. (Ra Sushi, Charlestons, Longhorn Steakhouse, Carraba's, Buca di Beppo, Roy's Hawaiin, Grimaldi's, etc).
-Approx 10 minutes from Mill Ave (Bars, Restaurants, Shopping)
-Approx 20 minutes from downtown (Airport, Baseball games, Basketball games)
-VERY close to Wildhorse Pass Sheraton (upscale restaurant and casino)
-Ahwatukee has a strong sense of community.
-Low crime

***For houses look in 85044, 85048*** Set a search budget of around 325k. If you are comfy spending up to 300k you can probably get some flexibility. It's a buyers market.

If I were going to find anything "negative" I would say that it is fairly far from the Cardinals stadium and it isn't very diverse. My buddy lived in North Phoenix and he always called Ahwatukke "All-White-Tukee." So...take that for what it's worth.

[eddie gein]

In Scottsdale the rule of thumb is the further north you go the newer the development.

There really aren't any old traditional neighborhoods in Scottsdale as there were only 2000 people there in 1950. I'd say just about everything south of McDonald was built between 1950 and 1980. One thing I like about that area is that there is good access to the greenbelt that cuts through that part of Scottsdale.

[AZJoeD]

I applaud you for planning in advance. Yes, you will want to make a trip or two or three out here to get a better understanding of what Scottsdale is all about.

In your case, I would recommend staying in the area near downtown Scottsdale or in the near north. There are plenty of options for dining, shopping, nightlife, parks, theatre and recreation like golf, tennis hiking and biking. Scottsdale has a nice greenbelt that runs from Camelback Rd north to about Indian Bend Rd that is popular with people who wish to enjoy the great outdoors. I would concentrate my search in and around the 85251, 85250, 85258 & 85259 zipcodes. The homes will be older, 1960's vintage, but well within your budget.

Of course is difficult to predict what housing costs will be 3 years from now. The valley is known for it's wild swings in housing costs so they could be significantly higher, or if the economy tanks again lower.

[wnewberry22]

Originally Posted by AZJoeD

I applaud you for planning in advance. Yes, you will want to make a trip or two or three out here to get a better understanding of what Scottsdale is all about.

In your case, I would recommend staying in the area near downtown Scottsdale or in the near north. There are plenty of options for dining, shopping, nightlife, parks, theatre and recreation like golf, tennis hiking and biking. Scottsdale has a nice greenbelt that runs from Camelback Rd north to about Indian Bend Rd that is popular with people who wish to enjoy the great outdoors. I would concentrate my search in and around the 85251, 85250, 85258 & 85259 zipcodes. The homes will be older, 1960's vintage, but well within your budget.

Of course is difficult to predict what housing costs will be 3 years from now. The valley is known for it's wild swings in housing costs so they could be significantly higher, or if the economy tanks again lower.

Amen to that. I bought my house in Ahwatukee in June of 2011 for 240k.....pained two rooms and sold it last month for 262k. Not too bad for sitting on it for 7 months

[observer53]

Scottsdale IS a suburb.

As others have indicated, you will get more for your money in other suburban areas, or parts of Phoenix like Ahwatukee, that are within an easy drive of Scottsdale when you want to go there.

[pjpalmieri]

Thanks for all this quick replies! So the main reason I was saying Scottsdale is because I am trying to avoid your typical boring burb, but also avoid a multifamily semi-urban region as well.

- I have actually heard Ahwatukke mentioned several times, is that technically a section of Phoenix such as Scottsdale?
- Also, by active I guess I mean a few things. I'd want to live in an area where I can be close to areas to hike, beautiful views, but also active in the regard that I am close to an interesting town.
- As far as my budget goes I am not set in stone but most likely like I mentioned around the 3-350k range. Lets base that on the prices of the homes today.

[DetroitN8V]

South Scottsdale near Old Town hands down. Anything other than that would be too urban, too boring or above your budget.