Possibly relocating- Scared to death! (Phoenix, Glendale: real estate, condo, trip)

[Melanie53]

I have friends who live in the Tramonto area, just north of Carefree highway, and just east of the I-17. It's beautiful there. Our friends love the area.

[yayamyers]

Ok...me again...the areas that are North of where he is going to be working and within a 45 min. drive (per mapquest) are:
1. New River- 10 mins. drive
2. Carefree- 25 mins. drive
3. Cave Creek- 20 mins. drive
4. Rock Springs- 15 mins. drive
5. Black Canyon city- 20 mins. drive
6. Castle Hot Springs- 45 mins. drive?
7. Camp Creek- 45 mins. drive

Soo...can anyone give me an idea as to what these places are like if you know? I would greatly appreciate it. It looks to me like these are very rural areas, which I don't mind, I love being in the boondocks, as long as it is a drive down the road to a supermarket, shopping center or something...I kinda like being secluded, lol.

[JoePAz]

Originally Posted by yayamyers

Ok, so he is going to be working 25 miles north of downtown Phoenix, off Interstate 17 at the Pioneer Road Exit (Exit 225). Any ideas if Surprise or Avondale are close enough to this place? How is traffic coming south in the morning as if we were going to Phoenix, and going back up in the afternoon? Most of the places I have found are in Surprise and seem to be great homes at great prices.

Don't Do Suprise or Avondale. Anthem, Tramonto, Happy Valley Norterra are all much better choices. Nice and much closer.

These area are nice and still close. I would look north of the 101 within a few miles of I-17 each way. From here rent short term and scan the entire are for the best place to work for your needs/budget.

[JoePAz]

Originally Posted by yayamyers

Well...I just discovered something....his job is actually in Anthem, zip 85086. No wonder Surprise is like 50 mins. away! wow...it seems like New River is the closest place I see. Oh lordy...the search begins again...

I live in Anthem, I have an 85086 zip code. There should be plenty of rentals in Anthem for 1100 (in fact we are renting our our old home 2000 Sqft 3 bedroom/den for $1100, we have tenant now so it is not available, but that is the going rate). Anthem is nice area and has all the needs you may have. I also grew up in New River. My parents still have a 5 acre lot they live on there. The smallest lots in New River are 1 acre.

BTW... few people work in Anthem. Most either work in Phoenix (like I do) or work from home. Many people would love to be able work there.

[crunchtime]

I would also recommend Anthem. Rents are cheap. Just make sure before renting that the owner is current with his mortgage payment and HOA dues. Alot of foreclosures here. Look up the www.Anthemstuff.com website. Good forum regarding what's happening there. Good luck.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by JoePAz

Really the best way is to rent something short term. Then spend the next few months look over the phoneix area. The metro area is large and their are nice pockets and others were you may wish you had not chosen them. These may not be "bad", but merely "not as nice" as you could have gotten. That is why you rent first so that you are not locked into the first area you chose. On the surface Phoneix can bee a sea of sameness, but overtime you see the differences in the areas. These differences can't be described as you need be there to see them to understand. Oh.. a 3 day in and out won't get it done either. One thing you can do to find a nice place to live is as co workers. This can often put you in place filled by people of similar interest/life styles that can lead you to nice places.

BINGO! Great response JoePa! Do not buy something before you move here. I will take it one step further, rent a place for a year. Phoenix is so spread out and each city has its own flair. We argue about everything on this forum but the one topic that is hands off is the "My city is better than yours" because there are so many factors you have to consider that no city is really better than the other. This is why you need to rent and check out the area because someone can tell you that something is nice and you could hate it.

See, unlike a lot of cities, there are no clear cut distinctions. I know in a lot of cities, the best neighborhoods are well defined and people can tell you pretty quickly where to live or where to avoid. Phoenix is pretty spread out and has a lot of nice neighborhoods that are similar to one another but have subtle differences. For example, Chandler and Gilbert look almost identical. Gilbert is more conservative and family oriented so it's a little safer but a little more boring too. Chandler is the more liberal and diverse version of Gilbert with more bars and nightlife hence the reason its a little more dangerous. Then you have cities like Fountain Hills that resemble Colorado like towns in which the houses are in the mountains with great views but you are more isolated and 30 minutes from the interior. You will figure out what you like but you need at least a year (in my opinion) to figure out what works for you.

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by tomahawk72

I moved here from Philly also. Phoenix is safe compared to Philly. You are not going to turn on the news Monday morning and have you typical 9 murder weekend.

This is how you tell if a neighborhood in Phoenix is okay to live in or not...

Just search the apartments or rental homes. Then see what school serves that neighborhood. It's usually listed on the website. Then go to www.greatschools.net.
Then type in the school name and click the search button. Then you can scroll down and click on the 'student stats' link. On the Studensts Stat page you can see how many kids qualify for free or reduced lunch and it also breaks it down by student ethnicity.

Basically I looked for a low percentage of free/reduced lunch and over 60% white. I know it sounds harsh to the bleeding hearts but the schools that met my criteria also had the highest scores. Go figure.

Good luck.

Hahahahah, LOLOLOLOL....This made me laugh...im not saying that its right, im not saying its wrong but i am saying it made me laugh!

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by yayamyers

Ok...me again...the areas that are North of where he is going to be working and within a 45 min. drive (per mapquest) are:
1. New River- 10 mins. drive
2. Carefree- 25 mins. drive
3. Cave Creek- 20 mins. drive
4. Rock Springs- 15 mins. drive
5. Black Canyon city- 20 mins. drive
6. Castle Hot Springs- 45 mins. drive?
7. Camp Creek- 45 mins. drive

Soo...can anyone give me an idea as to what these places are like if you know? I would greatly appreciate it. It looks to me like these are very rural areas, which I don't mind, I love being in the boondocks, as long as it is a drive down the road to a supermarket, shopping center or something...I kinda like being secluded, lol.

Hey, I got an idea. Since he is going to be working in Anthem, How about Anthem??? I hear great things about the area....but this one might be too obvious.

[dc1225]

Originally Posted by yayamyers

Hello everyone, my husband has been offered a job down in Phoenix that pays about $60,000. I am also hoping to be working down there and would probably pull in a good $30,000 a year.
Now, my question is, is Phoenix really as bad as people make it sound on this forum?
I'm scared to death cause all I have been reading is negative stuff. At first, before I started reading posts, I was sooooo excited about maybe moving to Phoenix, but now, I am not so sure.

I wanted to ask, with an income of about $90,000 a year, where could one move that will be peaceful, safe, quiet, and is close to Highway 17 in the northern area of Phoenix (where my husband will be working at)?

Please, if you could also provide me with links to communities where one can find rentals and such I would greatly appreciate it. Everything I have been looking at has been so broad, but I would like to pinpoint some locations and communities.
I don't think we will be buying a house until we been out there for about a year....so good rental sites or links would be good.

We are considering Philadelphia PA as well and Charlotte SC....but to me Phoenix is one of my tops...Philly....I lived there and know how things work...but I love adventure, so the AZ sounds like a fun, family oriented place....please help me out!

Can you tell me what is scarier? moving to phx or first time having sex?

[yayamyers]

Originally Posted by A2M69

Hey, I got an idea. Since he is going to be working in Anthem, How about Anthem??? I hear great things about the area....but this one might be too obvious.

Well, duh! LOL...I thought about that, but guess what? there might be other nicer places we can live at. I don't know nothing about AZ or Anthem, some people might say that it was on the rough side, I just wanted to keep my options open... that's why I asked...