May move to AZ, need to find a place close to zip 85043

[Ponderosa]

Laveen is not the Laveen of yesteryear either. There are lots of new things happening there in homes and shopping and schools. The proximity to a historically bad part of town, though, means you may be able to live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, but you will encounter the rough edges of Phoenix whenever you shop or drive to work and that could hold the area back. It's a shame too, because Laveen is one of the prettiest places in the whole metro area right next to the mountains with the city lights views.

[a1m1700]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Laveen is not the Laveen of yesteryear either. There are lots of new things happening there in homes and shopping and schools. The proximity to a historically bad part of town, though, means you may be able to live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, but you will encounter the rough edges of Phoenix whenever you shop or drive to work and that could hold the area back. It's a shame too, because Laveen is one of the prettiest places in the whole metro area right next to the mountains with the city lights views.

The views are pretty, but it's not worth my life. I would NEVER NEVER send my kids to school there

[peacebaby]

Is Palm Valley area a pretty expenxive place to live? It sounds like it would be!

[a1m1700]

Originally Posted by peacebaby

Is Palm Valley area a pretty expenxive place to live? It sounds like it would be!

Not necessrily more expensive than other Valley areas. Their are many starter home communities in there.

[nmone84]

Originally Posted by micrguy

Most of my clients are the industrial companies in 85043. It is like a slice of industrial Detroit set down in the desert. Lots of warehouses, fuel depots, manufacturing. I would not let my wife drive around this area at any point during the day or night. Take everyone's advice and stay away.

85043 has a lot of industrial depending on where you are, but South of Buckeye between 65th all the way out to Avondale and past is not bad at all (this is a broad statement...read on). EVERYWHERE in Phoenix is touch-and-go; you will live within a mile of a burglary or crime scene no matter WHERE you live here, period. It is urban/suburban sprawl with a skyrocketing population, this is going to happen. I live around 75th and Lower Buckeye and while these McMansions leave plenty to be desired (like privacy!), the neighborhood is not bad at all. I lived in South Phoenix when I first came out here (19th & Southern...we had no idea it was a bad area, we knew no one here and bought the house on a 3-day visit) and even though that was a bad area I still felt/feel a lot safer there than many other parts of this valley. I left that neighborhood 2 years ago and moved to 64th & Lower Buckeye and have had absolutely zero problems as far as safety and security goes.

To the original poster, I don't recommend this area if you want a large piece of property (housing in 85043 is mostly tract, aka about 10-15 feet between houses). There are still some farm areas down here but I'm sure they will be gone in the next 5 years. In Palm Valley, (around Goodyear/Litchfield Park/Avondale) you will not have a large yard and your neighbors will be 15 feet from you just like most other neighborhoods here. You could find some 'rural'-esque properties that are quite nice south of Baseline even outside of the Laveen area - hell, South on 19th Ave all the way to South Mountain is absolutely beautiful but homes down there start at about 600k. Be sure to do neighborhood research and come have a look at different areas for yourself before deciding on one area. Also, take my advice and talk to more than one real estate agent about different areas (that is the mistake we made when we bought our first house here and that’s how we ended up buying in South Central Phoenix…they just wanted the sale, they didn’t give a crap that it was a bad neighborhood, hell – they were glad that they found a buyer that was none the wiser!). The least I can do is pass on that one piece of advice – most agents are at one another’s throats now because the market is bottoming out and house inventories are growing substantially with the decreased sales – be careful!)

You can get neighborhood-specific crime (and other) statistics on the City of Phoenix website (copy and paste this link into your browser: http://phoenix.gov/haht-nsapi/hsrun....start=HS_crime ), then click on the "View Crime Statistics" button, on the next page scroll down and select the Grid option and be sure to check the "Show Street Boundaries for Grids" box, on the next page select a date range and click next, on the next page choose the area of the grid you want to check statistics on (there are street boundaries around the grid map to give you an idea of what you're looking at) and click next and viola, statistics. Hope this helps! It will probably be of more use to you when you get an idea of what areas you are interested in so you know their boundaries (note my area has 0's across the board! Again though, no privacy! lol)

Anyways, I wish the best of luck to you!

[peacebaby]

What about communities like Scottsdale, Mesa, or Tempe???
Would that be a TERRIBLY bad commute?
DH is spoiled right now and only has about a 5 minute commute. I think he could handle anywhere from 30-50 minutes.


Anyway..... I can't find a hotel anywhere close to there, but there sure are lots in Scottsdale! And when we come to visit next month, we will need to stay someplace relatively close. The EXACT address to the workplace is 304B South 67th Ave 85043.
It would be great if our hotel was not more than 20-30 mins away!

[CodyW]

The commute from the east valley would be tough if you took the freeways.

But, I'd say once you got past the 17, you'd have a reverse commute.

And for the hotel; if you aren't looking for the lap of luxury, there are hotels up by Arrowhead in Glendale, and over in Goodyear, in the Palm Valley area.