Better Value: Verrado's Sophisticated Style or Estrella's Family Amenities? (Phoenix: RV parks, to rent)

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Roger427

Agreed.

I referee youth sports throughout the valley. Through my 20+ years officiating, I believe the actions of the coaches, kids, and fans reflect on the values of the communities they represent. This is based on my experiences in 4 states over 20+ years and I really believe it. Based on that alone, Anthem would be last choice of the 3 and probably one of the last choices in the entire metro area. Neither Verado nor Estrella has stellar reps, but they are not bad reps. Not saying it is the holy grail to deciding where to live, but yet another tool. Say what you want but when you see enough youth sports, you see what values those communities represent. It's not just one bad experience either, it's a culmination. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

DMB wants the surrounding neighborhoods to use their fields for sporting events. So if you refereed in Marley Park of Verrado, you could be refereeing another group of neighbors.

Also, how expensive a sport will change the make-up of the group. So your referee model on judging a community isn't as strong of correlation as you might think. But I do see what you are saying and it somewhat makes sense.

[Montanama]

So if I'm to search in Litchfield Park, could someone give me some boundaries as to what would be a nice area with some amenities close by? Looks like there are some golf courses there, but also close to the Air Force Base. I haven't been to Litchfield Park so I know nothing about that. I have seen some nice houses pop up there.

I don't have to be in a planned community, but while we found some really great houses in regular neighborhoods, the feeling was...garages, inconsistently kept yards, not really a neighborhood where you'd go for a bike ride....So for the under $250k price range, a far flung master planned community really offers a lot in terms of a nice setting for a vacation home. It's not that the neighborhood necessarily has to have a resort feel (though that's nice), it mainly just needs to not interfere with the feeling that the home I buy is my resort, if that makes sense. Don't harsh the mellow.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Montanama

So if I'm to search in Litchfield Park, could someone give me some boundaries as to what would be a nice area with some amenities close by? Looks like there are some golf courses there, but also close to the Air Force Base. I haven't been to Litchfield Park so I know nothing about that. I have seen some nice houses pop up there.

I don't have to be in a planned community, but while we found some really great houses in regular neighborhoods, the feeling was...garages, inconsistently kept yards, not really a neighborhood where you'd go for a bike ride....So for the under $250k price range, a far flung master planned community really offers a lot in terms of a nice setting for a vacation home. It's not that the neighborhood necessarily has to have a resort feel (though that's nice), it mainly just needs to not interfere with the feeling that the home I buy is my resort, if that makes sense. Don't harsh the mellow.

LP probably has largest and most expensive homes in the west valley. Palm Valley and LP (in general) were impressive to my eye.

I've said this before and I think it will be significant to you. Grass goes dormant in the winter time. So in order for you to have that green park setting that is in nearly all master planned communities, they have to annually scalp back the grass in October and over seed with rye grass. When it gets super hot, rye grass dies in AZ. It is a cycle. You need a consorted effort for that GREEN to happen. Master planned communities with several park and green areas accomplish those goals. Hence, they are a cut above the rest (pun intended).

Since I was going to be here from November till early May, I didn't want brown dormant grass. I wanted green (wife MANDATED green). Hence, master planned communities are going to have that edge that you want. You may not know why at 1st, but it's the green grass and blue skies that will impress you. Yes, interesting neighborhood layouts also help! But if you are renting out your spot, educated your renters how important that re-seeding is and that will be a huge competitive advantage.

Shy of the golf courses, LP and Palm Valley (north of the 10) go dormant so they are brown. Those were show stoppers for us. Hence Vistancia, Anthem, Estrella in GoodYear, Verrado, Marley Park, and Power Ranch and Lyon's Gate (Gilbert) were on our last short list. We punted on the Gilbert area for other reasons. I'm agnostic and didn't appreciate living in an area where Mormon churches were designed into the master plan. I'll leave it at that.

Again, EACH has their trade-offs. I can live in anyone of these planned communities and enjoy them. I would have picked those Gilbert planned communities if it wasn't for the Wards designed into their hoods. Did I mention that there are trade-offs?

[Montanama]

That's a great point, MN-Born-n-Raised. We looked at some nice homes in "regular" neighborhoods that backed up to public parks where the grass was dormant. Bummer, honestly. The brown grass makes the whole neighborhood look kind of sad. (Yes, I do know how that sounds!) And we plan to be there during the winter months exclusively. (ETA--I mean we would be visiting during the winter months only, almost never in the summer; but we won't be spending the entire winter there.)

So, we are back to Verrado and Estrella Mountain Ranch. (And Anthem, if something pops up in our price range.) That's a good thing, as expanding the search is overwhelming. We did look at Vistancia but it doesn't look like we can afford it.

I hope I like Estrella Mountain Ranch a lot. The homes we could afford there are very much builder level, which we can upgrade, but if the neighborhood does feel dated or white-trashy it's just not going to be worth it to me.

There's always the JW Marriott and VRBO, of course, if we don't get excited about any of the homes currently available. But I'm already sick to my stomach about failing to buy when the market bottomed out and I'm a little worried we'll be priced out of anything decent if we wait any longer.

[LBTRS]

Montanama,

You're aware that Estrella is the actual development and "Mountain Ranch" is one of the neighborhoods up there? It is the oldest of the neighborhoods but is the neighborhood closest to all the amenities. If you're wanting something newer and shinier you can look in the Monticello (i think that is what it is called) neighborhood and you still have access to all the amenities of Estrella.

[sarahdsmom]

If you like the west side, I'd add areas of Palm Valley to your list. I was a huge fan of Estrella & Verrado too when we were looking 3 years ago. My issue then and still is that Estrella is too far out from everything, those lakes are nice to look at but the most recent story of the killing of thousands of ducks by poison, is a major turn off for me. Build a lake but you don't want ducks? Stupid! There were trashy looking areas when we were looking, I assume because of the foreclosure rate that was happening at that time. Verrado houses were built too close together for my liking and the ones we looked at had no room to build a pool, since you are planning on being here in the winter months, that most likely doesn't matter to you. There are beautiful communities to consider between W. Mc Dowell & W Camelback and the 303 & Dysart in Palm Valley & Litchfield Park.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by sarahdsmom

If you like the west side, I'd add areas of Palm Valley to your list. I was a huge fan of Estrella & Verrado too when we were looking 3 years ago. My issue then and still is that Estrella is too far out from everything, those lakes are nice to look at but the most recent story of the killing of thousands of ducks by poison, is a major turn off for me. Build a lake but you don't want ducks? Stupid! There were trashy looking areas when we were looking, I assume because of the foreclosure rate that was happening at that time. Verrado houses were built too close together for my liking and the ones we looked at had no room to build a pool, since you are planning on being here in the winter months, that most likely doesn't matter to you. There are beautiful communities to consider between W. Mc Dowell & W Camelback and the 303 & Dysart in Palm Valley & Litchfield Park.

The story was very incomplete and inaccurately reported. I do agree with you, though, that they should leave the coots (not "ducks") alone. They are just something that we should put up with in winter just like we do with Canadians and other snowbirds from the north. To me, the two-legged snowbirds are far more annoying than the winged ones.

I don't know of any trashy areas in Estrella, but maybe my standards are lower than yours. As for Palm Valley, it is a nice area but it is no different than any other area in the city. If you want former cotton field flat land, no view, no sense of community and to live less than 5 minutes from 20 fast food joints, then maybe PV is for you. There is nothing about it that is remotely unique. You can find the same thing in hundreds of subdivisions from east to west to north to south around the metro. What Estrella offers and has made it the top selling MPC in the metro is the setting. The distance from Phoenix and all that bland and congested suburbia "down the hill" is precisely why 12,000 people have chosen to live in Estrella. For most of us, you could not pay us to live anywhere else. If one must live in Phoenix, then this is among the best places around to do your time.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The story was very incomplete and inaccurately reported. I do agree with you, though, that they should leave the coots (not "ducks") alone. They are just something that we should put up with in winter just like we do with Canadians and other snowbirds from the north. To me, the two-legged snowbirds are far more annoyed than the winged ones.

Specifics? Just curious...

Officially I am a snowbird. If I sell my place in MN and live here full time, how am I officially less annoying?

[LBTRS]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Specifics? Just curious...

Officially I am a snowbird. If I sell my place in MN and live here full time, how am I officially less annoying?

He has some noisy Canadian snowbird neighbors that party on their deck and raise hell. He's made mention of his love for them several times around here. A few bad apples can ruin the whole bunch.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by LBTRS

He has some noisy Canadian snowbird neighbors that party on their deck and raise hell. He's made mention of his love for them several times around here. A few bad apples can ruin the whole bunch.

I sort out the bad apples in my mind before I generalize. If not, I'd dislike all whites, blacks, gays, Christians, straight, Muslims, democrats, Republicans etc, etc, etc.

I was looking to understand the logic. I didn't expect to get a good answer.