Help - Need to know best subdivisions near Surprise, AZ (Peoria: rent, HOA fees)

[Moving_2_AZ]

Hi everyone. I just joined this site in the hopes that I can get true and accurate information about where I should live. I am moving to Surprise, AZ or close to there. I am actively seeking to purchase a home but am worried about not knowing the areas. I have lived in the country surrounded by nature's sounds only for the past 20yrs so moving next to a loud busy highway or across the street from a school is not something I am looking for. My children are grown so no need for me to worry about local schools. Am elgible to live in Sun City Grand, which I know is a great subdivision, but not sure I am quite ready for Senior Living since still in early 50s. Any comments, good or bad, about first hand knowledge you have about new or old subdivisions in or near Surprise, AZ would be greatly appreciated. My Mom keeps saying Marley Park is nice but I read some bad things about the area; however the info was outdated 2011 and things may have changed. Thank you for any help you can provide me!

[Ponderosa]

Marley Park is a nice place regardless of what you heard.

[Moving_2_AZ]

Thanks for a quick response Ponderosa - can you elaborate please? Is it a quiet subdivision? Full of children laughing and playing - more family life type, or more the younger retiree type (like me)? Do cars race through the streets, or are there any rowdy hangouts, etc. Just trying to get a feel for different areas. Thanks in advance for add'l info.

[observer53]

You may not think you are old enough yet for a place like Sun City Grand, but the more you post about what you don't want to be around, the more it sounds like an age restricted community is right for you. Rather than buying right away, why not rent in an age restricted community like Sun City Grand or Westbrook Village and see what you think-- you can look around at other areas and buy where you feel most comfortable.

[Moving_2_AZ]

I am starting to agree with you, observer53. :-) I really am not interested in moving again so I really need to be wise and choose what is good for me now and in the future. The amentities of Sun City West and Grand are great and hard to ignore. Thanks for your input. I am keeping all of my options open for now and not opposed to adult communities. Really just looking for a nice, friendly, peaceful community to call my new home.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

I live in Marley Park 6 months a year and the other 6 months on a large quiet lake in northern MN. In MN, I have 9 wooded acres surrounded by nature. The pace is very laid back. For the past 10 years combined during Halloween we had zero kids show up to our door. This year we were in Marley Park for Halloween and had 350 kids before we ran out of candy. No, that's not a typo as some people gave out 500 pieces. A good portion of them were outside of the neighborhood but there is no shortage of kids. But it's not like it bothers me to hear the families walk to school or see kids biking by. I happen to enjoy it.

Our lot is a mere 10,000 square feet in Marley Park. I can hear people talking as they walk by the sidewalk. If they are talking loud, I can practically hear their conversations. But the lawn and shrubs are easy to take care of ($40 every two weeks to be exact!). As you see, each spot is vastly different. But each place has its trade offs. I'm within striking distance to tons of restaurants and shopping. I can bike to 30 restaurants and I'm a short drive to what you would expect in a town of 125,000 people. If I had to choose one place it would be Marley Park. Of course that applies to SCG.

More importantly, we had a taste of the retirement feel when we owned a home on the beach in Mexico. Nice folks but there was a lot of politics and too many people wanted to relive their power years. Watch the Seinfeld episode relating to the Del Boca Vista in FL and that pretty much summed up my experience. I'm not ready to be sent out to pasture so it depends on how young you act and feel. There will be a day when SCG might really work well for us as it is a fantastic community. But for now, I appreciate the interaction of all age groups and I am not a curmudgeon. Maybe in another decade.

Why not rent a spot 1st? If you have any doubts, you will quickly learn where the trade-offs are. For us, it's not perfect but no place would be. Who knows, maybe you won't like Surprise or even AZ? I bought knowing that I could not lose $$'s (a.k.a. $51 a square foot). So for me I had zero risk. Give renting a shot 1st.

[Montanama]

We have friends in SC Grand in a 45+ section. We do hear a lot about the sorts of politics MN relates, in addition to the crazy oldster partying and fun with golf carts, lol. They enjoy it, and they like that it's gated and easy to leave when they are not in AZ. Our friends did install a pool in their back yard in short order because residents seemed cranky about their grandchildren visiting the community pool. So I think there is give and take to an age restricted community.

Since we have not yet retired and still have kids at home, and hope to have future grandkids visiting often when we do settle in AZ, we split the difference and chose a master planned community that has a nice mix of snowbirds, retirees, and families for our future retirement home. We can hear the neighborhood kids at school, which I like, but the development is huge and there are plenty of quieter spots. There are community facilities and plenty of opportunities to get involved in clubs, card games, and activities but without the senior-center politics or general fogeyness. We are in Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear, where there is also an age-restricted section if we ever decide to go that route. I don't think we will.

I think Marley Park is a pretty similar feel, with a mix of residents/ages, though more land-locked than Estrella and greener. The homes are beautiful in Marley Park. We saw a lot of people out walking when we were house hunting there. Lots tend to be smallish in most developments (we found Vistancia in far NW Peoria to have more large lots) but it can vary, so look around in any given community. For Surprise we really felt it was SC Grand or Marley Park, but maybe someone here can recommend another master planned community in Surprise that we didn't see or hear about yet.

I like the private feeling of the block walls in the back yards, but we certainly are within "spitting distance" of our immediate neighbors, and if they were noisy it would be an issue. (They aren't, and we try not to be!) We saw lots of homes that backed or were next to open spaces, washes, or parks if you prefer a little more roomy feel.

I know the feeling of not wanting to move multiple times, but it might be worth renting a furnished place even for a few weeks while you house hunt--that way you don't have to move all your stuff twice, but you get a little breathing room for figuring out your "spot". There are so many options in the PHX area that it's really overwhelming, or at least it was for us. I don't know what I would have done without some direction from people here at C-D to help us focus.

[patrick85395]

Marley Park, IMHO, is one of the nicest communities on the Westside. Certainly, the best in Surprise if you'd like the new urbanism look/feel. My aunt recently purchased a home there. Good architecture, park-like, smaller-lot homes (but high style).

Further south is Verrado, a little more upscale, with a similar feel. You can't go wrong with any DMB (the developer) community.

[ibarrio]

I have never heard bad things about the area in regards to Marley Park or Surprise

[jimj]

Budget may dictate your choices. Marley Park is nice as is Estrealla but you will certainly pay for the opportunity to live there. Estrealla is a little bit of a hike back into town but has much of what you'd need day to day in the community.
Do you want a small lot or more room? Do you want a small one story or??? Do you care and are you willing to pay (HOA Fees) to have a community bath.....err, pool/rec center?

There's still open land around Surprise/Waddell/Goodyear that you could build your own home and have some property/separation from your neighbors and gain "instant" equity.

It all comes down to what you're looking for and willing/able to pay for.