Thinking of moving to Florence

[observer53]

slowbill-

You can get to the southeast part of Phoenix/Chandler in about an hour-- the road from Florence to I-10 is two lane, but easy to drive. Lots of shopping, restaurants, entertainment in that area. From there to Chase Field in another 20-25 minutes (that doesn't allow for parking time and all that). For day games and weekend nights, it's an easy drive, there would be more traffic weeknights.

Florence is a very old town with lots of nice people, many of whom have been living there a long time. The Anthem area is about eight miles north, and of course much newer in terms of the homes there. You would pass through Florence driving to Phoenix, but it's not where you would go in terms of shopping, etc.

I can't disagree more with the poster who called Florence one of the most disgusting places he's ever seen, and that it gave him the "creeps" . If he drove by it on the way to the Renaissance Fair from Tucson, that's not much time to get an impression. Most of what you see on that route is the prison. And, I lived in Florence for a year and was never bothered by the proximity of the prison.

[looneytoon]

Made 2 visits to Florence, Anthem, Casa Grande, Eloy and Tucson over the past month...............why, because I am looking for the right spot to retire.

I looked at all of the Robson Ranch communities and Del Web from Surprise through Phoenix and down to Florence.

Casa Grande is an OK place with an agricultural feel and nice people, but appears to have a slightly lower income of residents.

We spent 3 days at the Robson Ranch in Eloy. Too close to the RR tracks with a train almost every hour. Golf course plays much like a "not so well" maintained muni with little to no elevation changes and very shallow sand traps.

I really like the northern Tucson area (Saddlebrook and Saddlebrook Ranch) lots of shopping and dining close by, but housing was expensive and lots of traffic.

Once discovering Anthem, made 3 trips back within the month. Checked out everything................drove up and down looking for shopping and found an abundant amount well within same distances if you lived in Casa Grande area.

You see, the outlet mall in Casa Grande is not great quality, so we would have to go into Queen Creek area to find what we want. Queen Creek is about 20-25 north of Anthem and a nice peaceful drive. I would avoid I-10 at all costs.

The golf at Anthem is fabulous...................Anthem is a golf cart community meaning that you can take it to the Safeway, eat Chinese food and in the near future there will be even more shopping at the entrance. Again, if you like to drive your golf cart around to the facilities, you will love Anthem.

Priced right too....................find a better value of quality on a top notch golf course in the 300K range.

Hope this helps........................

[sh9730]

LT,

I wouldnt disagree with most of what you wrote above with a couple of minor exceptions about Casa Grande -

First, did you miss the "regular" mall (Pretty tough to do since its right on I 10?)? Or were you specifically looking for an outlet mall? I agree the outlet mall is somewhat weak, but then Im not a big shopper in those anyway. Its mostly there as a place for people to stop when driving between PHX and TUC - remember its been there since long before most of the CG "boom" occurred over the last few years. The regular mall has alot of the biggies - Dillards, JC Penney, Best Buy etc...and several restaraunts and specialty stores.

Next although I agree the overall income level is somewhat less than some of the other areas you list, it is increasing as build out occurs and there are several communities of 500K+ houses with land available.

That said, I also loved Anthem (the Florence one which I assume is the one you are talking about) - It would have been a close second behind my eventual move here to CG last year. I work from home, so commute wasnt a factor, BUT, I tried to determine which area would build up faster given the downturn which was well under way last year, and determined that since so much of the infrastructure was ALREADY in place in CG, that when things do turn around, what is not here already will be built here before Florence Anthem. (When I looked last year the Safeway hadnt even opened yet). Plus, Im not retired so I dont get to golf as often as I want, so that wasnt my highest priority. BUT, it will be VERY nice someday as is the Anthem North, with the same amenities (clubhouse, waterpark etc). They are building a hospital out there pretty soon and more.

In the end, the kicker for me was family already in CG which would have meant frequent drives into CG anyway, so I paid the extra 10% for the same house (essentially) in CG itself. But it was close!

If I was looking retirement? Wouldnt have been a hard choice at all - those Pulte Florence Anthem homes were really nice!