Best Neighborhood Within 20 Minutes Of Downtown (Phoenix: low crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[grmi66]

My S.O. starts a new job in downtown Phoenix this week, so our timetable for moving back into town from the west valley has moved up. Looking for neighborhoods that have houses under $200,000. Don't need anything fancy, it's only two of us. So a small three bedroom house with decent access to downtown for her and within 15 minutes of North Mountain or Squaw Peak for me would be perfect. I have some ideas, but wanted to see what others have to say.

[WSPHXPELON]

Coronado.
Garfield.
Booker T. Washington.
Eastlake Park.
FQ Story.

[grmi66]

Found a couple of neighborhoods that were in my budget and fit my parameters. Unfortunately they were all located in the epicenter of the Phoenix crime map. I would have thought Maryvale was the high crime area but it appears that 19th Avenue between Indian School & Camelback is the city's hotspot for all crime. Too bad because I found a couple of houses just south of Camelback off of 15th Avenue with huge potential.

[Valley Native]

There are some really nice older neighborhoods close to downtown. The ones that come to mind are Encanto, Palmcroft, Willo, F.Q. Story, Roosevelt, and Ashland Place. All are historic districts with lots of greenery, and they are generally safe with low crime rates. The only thing is I'm not sure if any of the homes would be under $200,000 ... although, you might try looking at some of the bungalows for a possible lower price.

Another area to look at is north Central ... basically north of Camelback between approximately 12th Street & 7th Avenue. There might be a few sketchy neighborhoods in through here, but most are nice & well kept for the most part. It would also be close proximity to some of the mountain preserves, and likely within 20 minutes of downtown (depending largely on traffic of course).