laveen? (Phoenix, Surprise, Goodyear: real estate, rent, crime)

[peaseblossom]

what is the scope on laveen? home prices? quality of life?

[peaseblossom]

Sorry, I meant to say "what is the SCOOP" on Laveen? I have heard that it is a good place to move. I want ppl's opinions pls...thanks!

[AksarbeN]

Peaseblossom

Laveen is in an area of the metro Phoenix valley that may not be a good fit for many others as an area to live in. If you have to work and your place of employment is located in or near Laveen then you may want to live there. However if you need to commute from Laveen for more then 30 minutes each way to a job, then you will need to think about a different location to live. It’s not just Laveen ~ “anywhere” in the valley that you need to drive more then 30 minutes each way to work is the wrong location to live in.

In another topic here a person indicated that they bought a home in Surprise and worked in the north central Phoenix area and the drive was about an hour each way without being in rush hour traffic. This just doesn’t make any sense to “buy gas” and make Exxon and the oil industry wealthy because we choose to live too far away from our work location.

Laveen is in the southwest part of the valley and there is a new extension of the 101 loop being planned for the near future to handle the traffic going around the city. Any new housing development should inform you about the loop and how it will affect you choice of a new home in the area. It’s not fun to live next door to an entrance ramp, or have a lot of traffic noise in your backyard.

[peaseblossom]

I noticed the prices of the homes, even new, to be much lower that most cities around phoenix? Just kinda wondering about the scenery, town in general, schools, and ppl! Thanks for feedback about the commute!

[Ponderosa]

I'm not sure what is being called Laveen these days. It used to be a gas station and a corner grocery store on south 51st avenue. My guess is that the new "Laveen" is all the new homes going up in ssw Phoenix. This is the least expensive area in metro PHX.

For the time being, the area looks nice. There are thousands of new homes being built on former farmland near the base of South Mountain. The views are OK with south mountain in the background. Some of the area is higher elevation with city views but the prices are much higher there. It all looks nice and fresh there. The homes are new, the streets are new, the schools are new. Sounds great, heh? The problem is that low prices attract lower income people. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. But what happens historically to areas like this in Phoenix is that the lower income people move up and move out and rent the homes to even lower income people (aka illegal aliens) who have no stake in the neighborhood. Then you get drugs, gangs, and crime - basically suburban decay. That general area of town already has its share of run down housing and down and out people, so even if you find a nice enclave, you will be running into them in the stores and on the streets.

There is an area of town just north of I-10 from around 35th Ave to maybe 83rd Avenue that offers an interesting parallel. In the late 80s John F Long, a pioneering developer here put up hundreds upon hundreds of nice middle class homes in that area. They too were at the lower end of the market in price. Young people with families bought there, a big mall went up - American pie. But within 10 years the area totally transformed into a spanish-speaking haven for illegal workers complete with chop shops, crack houses, and coyote houses (places human smugglers keep the people after getting them into the country). The schools are at the very bottom of performance levels struggling with students who don't speak English and parents too busy to care about their education. The mall looks trashy and feels unsafe, and I wouldn't go in some of those neighborhoods in a tank after dark. Bullets fly, police helicopters buzz overhead, and sirens howl all night.

It is difficult to imagine when you see how nice it looks there now, but I really do believe that the area you are considering will go the same way in the next decade or so.

[sablebaby]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

I'm not sure what is being called Laveen these days. It used to be a gas station and a corner grocery store on south 51st avenue. My guess is that the new "Laveen" is all the new homes going up in ssw Phoenix. This is the least expensive area in metro PHX.

For the time being, the area looks nice. There are thousands of new homes being built on former farmland near the base of South Mountain. The views are OK with south mountain in the background. Some of the area is higher elevation with city views but the prices are much higher there. It all looks nice and fresh there. The homes are new, the streets are new, the schools are new. Sounds great, heh? The problem is that low prices attract lower income people. Nothing necessarily wrong with that. But what happens historically to areas like this in Phoenix is that the lower income people move up and move out and rent the homes to even lower income people (aka illegal aliens) who have no stake in the neighborhood. Then you get drugs, gangs, and crime - basically suburban decay. That general area of town already has its share of run down housing and down and out people, so even if you find a nice enclave, you will be running into them in the stores and on the streets.

There is an area of town just north of I-10 from around 35th Ave to maybe 83rd Avenue that offers an interesting parallel. In the late 80s John F Long, a pioneering developer here put up hundreds upon hundreds of nice middle class homes in that area. They too were at the lower end of the market in price. Young people with families bought there, a big mall went up - American pie. But within 10 years the area totally transformed into a spanish-speaking haven for illegal workers complete with chop shops, crack houses, and coyote houses (places human smugglers keep the people after getting them into the country). The schools are at the very bottom of performance levels struggling with students who don't speak English and parents too busy to care about their education. The mall looks trashy and feels unsafe, and I wouldn't go in some of those neighborhoods in a tank after dark. Bullets fly, police helicopters buzz overhead, and sirens howl all night.

It is difficult to imagine when you see how nice it looks there now, but I really do believe that the area you are considering will go the same way in the next decade or so.

I completely agree with this post. I feel most of the neighborhoods south of the 10 will be that way, I know some already are.

My motto is to "Stay North (as North as possible)." That's just me. I know there are great areas in the West and East. Staying north doesn't put you too far away from downtown (if that's where you need to be). The nice areas of the West are very far out, the same goes for the East.

[peaseblossom]

Hum....that is very interesting. From what I have read at least, Laveen is an old little farming/horse community. The ppl that have lived there before all this residential expansion has been happening, are protesting and completely opposing "cookie cutter type homes" The ppl are pushing for trails and parks and keeping to there equestrian type feel. They have formed an official group.

You definatley have a great point about becoming like the area N of i-10. Is that area still that bad or has it been cleaned up??
I want to stay East of Phx, but again, it seems all areas housing costs are just redic. I looked at the homes in Laveen, and they are resonable, but I wouldn't say they are cheap either. I live in Seattle/Renton, and we paid 260k for our 40 year old rambler home. I guess I just expected Phoenix and surrounding areas to be considerably less....well just more resonable than here.
So.....if Laveen is not a good place to relocate, any one got and idea of what towns are. Good realestate prices, and safe?????

Also, would the commute from Laveen to downtown be long??

[Ponderosa]

The Laveen you describe is as you describe. It was a horsey area with acre plus lots. What I think you might be hearing though is "Laveen" being used to describe what used to be called "South Phoenix", a name that has some baggage associated with it and developers and realtors selling the area speak only in whispers. The old Laveen is still there, and like you said, the natives are not happy about what is going on in their neighborhood.

$260,000 will get you a new home in parts of Goodyear and Buckeye right now because the builders are desperate. There are also a lot of acre-size properties out that way too along I-10 west of about Cotton Lane. Most of it is mobile homes with junky yards, but if you like the elbow room style that's the way it looks around here. You don't have grass and trees to hide the old refrigerator like in Seattle. The part of Buckeye being developed is along I-10 and not further south in the old town area. Buckeye is a ways out there, but is fairly convenient to the growth areas on the west side. Buckeye will also be one of the super growth areas over the next 10 years and I don't think it is going anywhere but up in property values and popularity.

[Ponderosa]

The commute from Laveen to downtown would be a relative piece of cake. Maybe 20 minutes.

BTW: I have a good friend who lives in Laveen. He has a custom home on about 3/4 acre with beautiful view. It's worth 600K, maybe more. If it were anywhere else it would be worth twice that. Laveen has an image problem and the development of inexpensive homes nearby is not helping. It's a shame too, because some of the prettiest real estate in Phoenix is in Laveen.

[peaseblossom]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

The Laveen you describe is as you describe. It was a horsey area with acre plus lots. What I think you might be hearing though is "Laveen" being used to describe what used to be called "South Phoenix", a name that has some baggage associated with it and developers and realtors selling the area speak only in whispers. The old Laveen is still there, and like you said, the natives are not happy about what is going on in their neighborhood.

$260,000 will get you a new home in parts of Goodyear and Buckeye right now because the builders are desperate. There are also a lot of acre-size properties out that way too along I-10 west of about Cotton Lane. Most of it is mobile homes with junky yards, but if you like the elbow room style that's the way it looks around here. You don't have grass and trees to hide the old refrigerator like in Seattle. The part of Buckeye being developed is along I-10 and not further south in the old town area. Buckeye is a ways out there, but is fairly convenient to the growth areas on the west side. Buckeye will also be one of the super growth areas over the next 10 years and I don't think it is going anywhere but up in property values and popularity.

LOL.....icky old refriderators! Ya, I guess the trees can be helpful...hehe
I guess well just have to come check it out. We really want to keep a home in out price range (under 300k) and want to stay out of the hustle bustle as much as possible. YES...of course we don't want to drive our lives away either!! It is hard to win these days