Moving to the Phoenix area w/ parents in late summer, need some advice on housing.

[ibarrio]

Surprise to ASU West is not a bad drive. Around 10 miles (9.8). Google shows Laveen being 17.1 miles away from ASU West.

[chanderin]

what is Maricopa like?
we are trying to find something with a little space, not a neighborhood and it seems to have some for sale for reasonable prices . . .

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Plin

I would just add that you should look into the different campuses and see what they offer: not all majors are offered at all branches. So it's not just a matter of deciding that you want to go to ASU West, but also figuring out what you plan to study. For example, the School of Public Programs and the Journalism School are at the downtown campus; even if you lived in or near Tempe you would have to commute to downtown for classes in your major if you wanted to attend either of these schools. I don't know much about the west campus, but I'm sure they have their own specialties.

If you already have a plan in mind, then, you should do some research about where you'll be able to take the classes that you want.

Plin is correct on all counts. Also, just for info, there are buses that run to and from the different campuses, and the light rail from the downtown to and from the main campus.

You are going to need to do some research into what YOU want to do in terms of a major as part of deciding where you all should live.

As far as Maricopa is concerned, there are a lot of homes for sale cheap in Maricopa due to foreclosures and the big drop in home values there, although the drive into Tempe and back can be ugly depending on time of day.

[MarianR]

Surprise home prices look good but a lot of them are short sales (read the thread about that) which present a lot of delay and complications.
The previous poster has an excellent suggestion. You need to know which campuses have classes for your major. Would you be interested in a community college? There are a lot of those.