Which is more upscale Gilbert or Chandler? (Phoenix, Mesa: best neighborhoods, short sales)

[Todd TCE]

How do you put a 'rate' on high crime?

Let's see... crimes per square mile, population, income level....pick one. Or add your own.

I've been in Chandler since 1990. I've had a few things stolen from the garage, a truck broken into. Garage was my fault. Truck sat with a busted door latch. Do I like it? Of course not. Do I consider it 'city living'? Sure.

The more people, diversity of race, income, etc. etc. the more prone your community is to problems. I grew up on a small town in CO. You could leave the doors unlocked, keys in the car and so on. But we probably had 1/500th the population too.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Tempe has a relatively high crime rate. Much higher than Gilbert. Not sure why. Maybe ASU.

In the area right around ASU, (85281, 85287) there's probably a higher rate of property crime. In the other areas of Tempe (85282, 85283, (EXCEPT Guadalupe) and 85284), I suspect the crime rate is not a big deal, and no different than Gilbert. If you read the crime logs in the paper, there's not much going on down here.

[SpaceNeedle]

Originally Posted by Todd TCE

How do you put a 'rate' on high crime?

Let's see... crimes per square mile, population, income level....pick one. Or add your own.

I've been in Chandler since 1990. I've had a few things stolen from the garage, a truck broken into. Garage was my fault. Truck sat with a busted door latch. Do I like it? Of course not. Do I consider it 'city living'? Sure.

The more people, diversity of race, income, etc. etc. the more prone your community is to problems. I grew up on a small town in CO. You could leave the doors unlocked, keys in the car and so on. But we probably had 1/500th the population too.

Gotta love Fountain Hills as a one of the safest areas. We forgot to close our garage before we left for a 4-day trip to San Diego and nothing happened to our house. We don't even live in a gated community.

[homlish560]

Here's Chandler.










This is Gilbert.











Both kinda look the same, but then they're both right next to each other.

[Valley Native]

You're right. Both Chandler and Gilbert look and feel pretty much the same, since they are really just large Phoenix suburbs. However, I like the Chandler Fashion Mall area, which is on Chandler Blvd., right near the 101 freeway.

I think I've been in Gilbert once or twice in my entire lifetime ... not very impressisve. Mostly a bedroom community with rows of cookie cutter subdivisions and lots of strip malls. Gilbert's downtown area looks like an old cowboy village where all the business vanished & went to the strip malls. Maybe somebody can also explain why Gilbert, with a population of over 200,000, still calls itself a "town" instead of a "city".

[Howard Roark]

Things can change very fast in the next 3 years. Option ARM resets and ALT-A resets will mean mortgage payments will be going up 63% in a couple of years. This will mean a lot of areas in Phoenix will have more foreclosures and abandoned homes. Bubble central is the outlying areas such as Maricopa and Queen Creek, but Gilbert is also kind of outlying.

I'm thinking the question should be: Which areas will have fewer bars in the windows to fend off drive by shootings: Gilbert or Chandler?

Here's a link that will make you want to rent for several more years:

washingtonpost.com

Originally Posted by Tired of the Cold

Considering moving to Arizona from Utah. Want to live in an esthetically pleasing and safe area?

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

You're right. Both Chandler and Gilbert look and feel pretty much the same, since they are really just large Phoenix suburbs. However, I like the Chandler Fashion Mall area, which is on Chandler Blvd., right near the 101 freeway.

I think I've been in Gilbert once or twice in my entire lifetime ... not very impressisve. Mostly a bedroom community with rows of cookie cutter subdivisions and lots of strip malls. Gilbert's downtown area looks like an old cowboy village where all the business vanished & went to the strip malls. Maybe somebody can also explain why Gilbert, with a population of over 200,000, still calls itself a "town" instead of a "city".

Gilbert also has lots of custom homes, several lake communities, a ski lake community, horse communities with large lots, several golf communities, retirement golf communities, new hospitals, and there are even a few dairy farms left. Of course the dairy farms will disappear when the next wave of new building begins.

We also have the new soft ball statium which is a replica of 8 big league ball parks. http://www.phoenixrealestateguy.com/...pening-day/609

It has the new San Tan mall where they had the infamous Victoria Secrets huge poster controversy.

We're right next door to the General Motors proving grounds in Mesa, and I'm told that Gaylord bought the property and is planning to build a facility similar to the Opryland in Nashville.

Here's a review of the new Brunswick Bowling Alley in Gilbert written by someone on the internet.

"Gilbert's Brunswick Zone XL bowling center is unlike any bowling alley in Arizona and is too cool for G-Town. The new 58,000-square-foot venue features 44 bowling lanes -- one side, with chairs and tables, for league bowlers and the other, with plush couches, for open bowlers -- along with an interactive game room and a lounge and restaurant. The wait staff will even bring cocktails to your lane!

There's also a Gameworks-style arcade with 88 interactive video games such as Deal or No Deal, air hockey, Skee-Ball and Doc's Interactive Shootout. And the cafe offers a variety of food from three kids of soup to pastas to even a Philly cheesesteak."

Gilbert and Chandler are both good areas. Gilbert is my favorite, and that's why I live here.

Gilbert's downtown area has been preserved as an old town, and that is good, in my opinion. After all this was a huge farm area a few short years ago. And why not preserve some of the heritage. There are several popular eateries downtown, two of which have been there for years. There is an old barber shop that has some photos on the wall of the street as it was many years ago.

Danville, California, where I moved from had the same thing. When their downtown area began to expand they had tight controls on development where the old town flavor had to be retained. It was an upscale suburban area, and the down town area attracted some upscale shops and more restaurants. Before we left, it had become a very popular local tourist destination. People from all over the San Francisco Bay area would come there to spend time.

If the Gilbert town is smart they will control the downtown growth and preserve the old flavor, which could also become a local tourist destination bringing in revenue for the businesses and the town.

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Howard Roark

Things can change very fast in the next 3 years. Option ARM resets and ALT-A resets will mean mortgage payments will be going up 63% in a couple of years. This will mean a lot of areas in Phoenix will have more foreclosures and abandoned homes. Bubble central is the outlying areas such as Maricopa and Queen Creek, but Gilbert is also kind of outlying.

I'm thinking the question should be: Which areas will have fewer bars in the windows to fend off drive by shootings: Gilbert or Chandler?

Here's a link that will make you want to rent for several more years:

washingtonpost.com

Actually that article makes me wonder why the Washington Post is wasting their money having a writer repeat the same old negative news. It's really old news, and the country is getting beyond that. We know what is happening. What we want to know is what the government is going to do and if the new programs will work.

Why the WP having their writes be creative and get out ther and do some leg work to focus on the things that the government is trying to do to solve the economic problems now?

I think forecasting driveby shootings in Gilbert and Chandler in this manner is a bit over pessimistic. While the foreclosures are continuing, the investors are also buying many of these homes and fixing them up. You do not see as many overgrown front yards now because the banks have also learned that they have to maintain them, and they are.

HOA's in Gilbert and Chandler are also taking self help measures when houses are abandoned in the pre-foreclosure period. They get the grass cut and plants trimmed when they get reports of an abandoned property. They are not letting them continue to be a blight the way they were when the problem first began.

[Howard Roark]

Captain Bill, it's heartening to see that the HOAs are being proactive in Gilbert and Chandler.

The way around the option ARM and ALT-A resets is either 1) throw away contract law and force the bankers to rewrite the contracts for a fixed low rate or 2) keep interest rates aritificially low. The first one is unfair and unjust, given that other people paid off their mortgages or bailed themselves out. The second choice is inflationary and won't really help restore neighborhoods to good quality people instead of liars and burger flippers. I for instance, am avoiding real estate until the political climate changes from giveways and integration of low income into high income areas. My apartment complex has better quality people living in it than the SFH neighborhood around it.

[HOMESALE123]

The past few years Gilbert has developed into a more upscale area that rivals scottsdale. Chandler is still nice. You may want to check out Anthem or Sun Lakes or Maricopa if you are retiring. Maricopa actually has a higher per capita income than Scottsdale, according to the Arizona Republic Newspaper.