moving to Phoenix area (Paradise Valley: rent, homes, neighborhoods)

[rockynkelli]

HI, we are relocating to the Phoenix area, don't mind living outside of Pheonix, but we heard the Northern area is the best...also heard Laveen is not a good area. We have an Elementary school age and a High School child and obviously want the best school district. We are wanting to purchase a home rather than rent a home. Any suggestions on which areas around Pheonix are the best...
Looking forward to your input.

[AZNative1]

Stay out of the southwest and the "deep" west side (laveen, suprise, etc). Cheap stucco homes and you will spend 2 hours a day in the car. Laveen is the next Maryvale (ghetto). Drive just a few minutes north of Laveen and it gets midevil in a hurry. Stay north (Arrowhead, Desert Ridge). If you can afford it Moon Valley and North Central have nice neighborhoods with character. There's lots of "old money" so these neighborhoods will never go down.

[garisonthebull]

Paradise Valley far and away is the best school district in Phoenix.

[Finger Laker]

do some independent research as well and not listen to bitter old bias from the internet

you can look up aims scores online by district and by individual school - not every school in a district will be stellar

also the SW valley is being fairly well established as a great place to live - the litchfield elementary school district is very good and the cities of goodyear & litchfield park have two of the highest average household incomes in the metro

the main question I would ask though would center around where are you working, what are you looking to spend and what do you want to be near

there are great options in every part of the city - it's just a matter of what works best for your needs

[CheckM8]

Be careful of whom you obtain your opinions from. Some people here like to make judgements based off of generalities rather than hard facts or experience. That being said, Laveen is a fine area. Areas of Laveen do border south Phoenix, and may not be as nice as you would like. However, there are many very nice homes in the area. I'm not sure what you are looking for as price, and that will be a predominant factor in your decision.

Laveen is not very far from central Phoenix, and you could get a really nice home for the price in the area. At the very least it is worth checking out. Schools seem to be fine and are constantly improving. The district is one of the more well funded districts in comparison to the metro area, and is using this time to get caught up with the growth in population of the area. Traditionally, it has been sparsely populated and most agricultural, but has changed greatly over the last 5 years especially.

[MrLee1960]

Hello Rocky,
We moved here 8 months ago and love it! We live in the Arrowhead Ranch area and find it has everything you need within a five mile drive, schools, shopping, hundreds of restaurants, entertainment.
We live in Sierra Verde sub-division very family friendly with walking trails, lake, park and schools.
Good luck
Lee

[Azsmileym]

Hi,

It really depends on where you are working. Phoenix is very spread out. If you are living on the North side of town but working in the east valley it is a long commute.

also, here is a web site on schools.

[SIZE=3]Arizona Department of Education[/SIZE][SIZE=3] [/SIZE]
I hope it helps

Stephen

[rockynkelli]

Thank you all for your respones, we are traveling to Phoenix this week for job opportunities and that will help us determine where we want to live. I'm sure I will have more questions once we see everything first hand.