A Million Dollar Question?? (Phoenix, Mesa: property taxes, hoa, budget)

[mdxc90]

Or should I say a million mile question. Heard so much about the awful traffic in Phoenix.

I have been offered a job at Banner Desert Medical Center. We will be looking to move from the North East to PHX if everything works out in the next 6 months. BDMC is located at 1400 S. Dobson Rd, Mesa 85202. On the map it is near the intersection of HWY 60 and HWY 101. Ideally, I would like to stay within a 30 minutes commute. We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with excellent schools (2 boys, 10 and 2). We are considering the cities of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert and Scottsdale. Our budget is somewhere between $500K and $750K. Would like to live in a quiet neighborhood with some trees, if possible. There is a possibility that my wife may be offered a job at the Good Samaritan hospital so she would need to commute also.

I want to thank all members for maintaining such a lively and useful forum and hope that you are able to help me narrow down some area that fulfills our needs.

[crewbank]

At 500-750k you can get a pretty sweet set-up in a number of nice neighborhoods in this area. Look in South Tempe, especially. Your commute will be almost nothing, and there are some beautiful, green areas with good schools (Kyrene, typically). If you go to Gilbert, Chandler, or Mesa (stay East in Mesa!) your commute will probably still be less than 30 minutes, but not a whole lot of trees in these newer developments, and culture is pretty non-existent in these bedroom communities. Tempe is a nationally recognized "top 100 place to raise kids" or something like that. We're very happy, safe, and prosperous here.

My dad works at Banner Desert...GREAT hospital, but struggles with the same BS all hospitals do these days. The best in town next to St. Joe's for general medical IMHO.

good luck in the new gig.

Originally Posted by mdxc90

Or should I say a million mile question. Heard so much about the awful traffic in Phoenix.

I have been offered a job at Banner Desert Medical Center. We will be looking to move from the North East to PHX if everything works out in the next 6 months. BDMC is located at 1400 S. Dobson Rd, Mesa 85202. On the map it is near the intersection of HWY 60 and HWY 101. Ideally, I would like to stay within a 30 minutes commute. We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with excellent schools (2 boys, 10 and 2). We are considering the cities of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert and Scottsdale. Our budget is somewhere between $500K and $750K. Would like to live in a quiet neighborhood with some trees, if possible. There is a possibility that my wife may be offered a job at the Good Samaritan hospital so she would need to commute also.

I want to thank all members for maintaining such a lively and useful forum and hope that you are able to help me narrow down some area that fulfills our needs.

[mdxc90]

Originally Posted by crewbank

At 500-750k you can get a pretty sweet set-up in a number of nice neighborhoods in this area. Look in South Tempe, especially. Your commute will be almost nothing, and there are some beautiful, green areas with good schools (Kyrene, typically). If you go to Gilbert, Chandler, or Mesa (stay East in Mesa!) your commute will probably still be less than 30 minutes, but not a whole lot of trees in these newer developments, and culture is pretty non-existent in these bedroom communities. Tempe is a nationally recognized "top 100 place to raise kids" or something like that. We're very happy, safe, and prosperous here.

My dad works at Banner Desert...GREAT hospital, but struggles with the same BS all hospitals do these days. The best in town next to St. Joe's for general medical IMHO.

good luck in the new gig.

Thank you so much. We are definitely excited about the move. Will definitely look at those areas you mentioned. Luckily the prices have been coming down and there are tons of homes on the market. My wife is interested in Scottsdale. Do you think we may be able to get a 4-5 bed-room house in Scottsdale if prices fall further? We want to stay within South-Central area of Scottsdale. Roughly, inside the HWY101 loop.

[GilaMonster]

Forget Mesa. In this price range you can basically afford a nice house in Tempe, Chandler and even Scottsdale. If you want a short commute look at the Kyrene School District in Tempe (that's basically South-Western Tempe), that would be a very short hop to the hospital. Many of our friends live there, so we know it pretty well, it is a very nice area.

Scottsdale is farther out, that means you would have to take the 101 southbound. Coming from the north, up to the intersection with the 202 you will be with the crowd going to downtown Phoenix and this is not funny.

[mdxc90]

Originally Posted by GilaMonster

Forget Mesa. In this price range you can basically afford a nice house in Tempe, Chandler and even Scottsdale. If you want a short commute look at the Kyrene School District in Tempe (that's basically South-Western Tempe), that would be a very short hop to the hospital. Many of our friends live there, so we know it pretty well, it is a very nice area.

Scottsdale is farther out, that means you would have to take the 101 southbound. Coming from the north, up to the intersection with the 202 you will be with the crowd going to downtown Phoenix and this is not funny.

We definitely want to stay within the Kyrene school district. Is Tempe considered nicer than Chandler or vice versa? My wife feels that if we buy in Scottsdale we will better protect ourselves against future downturns.

[amatrine]

In this area, and with what you can afford, I would look into the homes there in Dobson Ranch. I have always loved the design of the homes there.

Kinda of an Arizona desert home with a german type home mix. They have HOA's there. Parks etc . You would be a hop skip and a jump from work. They are on Dobson road. If I still lived down there, I would snap some photos for you.

[bigtrees]

Originally Posted by mdxc90

We definitely want to stay within the Kyrene school district. Is Tempe considered nicer than Chandler or vice versa? My wife feels that if we buy in Scottsdale we will better protect ourselves against future downturns.

I'd recommend Scottsdale, but that's not the Kyrene School District.

Thing that's funny about Phoenix is you are where you live. (In California, they say you are what you drive). It's a huge deal down there and you want to be real careful about picking out a place. 500 -750k will buy a real nice house in Phoenix since the average house is about 220k. Scottsdale is definitealy the nicest place to live down there and I'd recommend it. North Scottsdale is even better than Scottsdale, and while it won't do your commute well, it will help your social status considerably.

I like Chandler (and used to live there) but I wouldn't do it for your price range and what it sounds like you are looking for. I'd avoid Tempe at all costs unless you like dense city living. Gilbert is nice but not like Scottsdale.

[AZ Tracy]

Originally Posted by mdxc90

We definitely want to stay within the Kyrene school district. Is Tempe considered nicer than Chandler or vice versa? My wife feels that if we buy in Scottsdale we will better protect ourselves against future downturns.

Tempe is land locked and south Tempe has the Kyrene School District. Those two factors keep the housing prices very stable in Tempe. There are several established neighborhoods with nice, big trees. You'd probably like Alisanos and Warner Ranch. Your commute would be a breeze. And, if your wife got a job at Good Sam, she could hop on the I-10...her commute wouldn't be as easy though.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by mdxc90

Or should I say a million mile question. Heard so much about the awful traffic in Phoenix.

I have been offered a job at Banner Desert Medical Center. We will be looking to move from the North East to PHX if everything works out in the next 6 months. BDMC is located at 1400 S. Dobson Rd, Mesa 85202. On the map it is near the intersection of HWY 60 and HWY 101. Ideally, I would like to stay within a 30 minutes commute. We are looking for a family friendly neighborhood with excellent schools (2 boys, 10 and 2). We are considering the cities of Mesa, Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert and Scottsdale. Our budget is somewhere between $500K and $750K. Would like to live in a quiet neighborhood with some trees, if possible. There is a possibility that my wife may be offered a job at the Good Samaritan hospital so she would need to commute also.

I want to thank all members for maintaining such a lively and useful forum and hope that you are able to help me narrow down some area that fulfills our needs.

Ahwatukee is in the Kyrene school district and is a very nice area of South PHoenix that is in the foothills.

Gilbert also has a very good school district. One community is Val Vista Lakes that is all lush green landscape with plenty of trees (no desert landscape allowed), and it's only 10-15 minutes from Banner Desert.

There are homes on the lake within your price range.

[mdxc90]

Wow! Thank you for all the helpful info. We would love to live in an upscale area with good schools. Looks like it would be possible in our budget.

We are planning to visit PHX for one week at the end of June for one week and would love to check out all these neighborhoods thet everyone mentioned. It is good to see that we have a few choices. I am wondering if we should rent for 6 months so that we can learn the lay of the land and the neighborhoods as well as the commute.

older son is is 5th grade and we need to find him a good school. Back here in the northeast the property taxes are crazy but at least we get good public schools. PHX schools look like a mixed bag so far. NOt sure if we should be looking into private schooling.