Hows Maricopa (Phoenix, Scottsdale: short sale, mortgage, loans)

[61scout80]

I live here and love it. its quiet, secluded, many local businesses are run by the proprietor and there is a ton of growth slowly working its way in. I can be in chandler within 15-20 minutes and to the airport in 30-40 minutes. (it used to take me 20-30 mins to get to work in chandler when i lived in chandler). i love that i can still see the stars at night. I'm also relieved to be out of that nasty brown cloud that lingers over phoenix! it looks so nasty when i'm looking towards the city.

yes, there are a lot of houses for sale and empty, but an average of 150 a month are selling in the city. in a city this small that is enough to notice. stay as far north of the tracks as you can to ease the commute. Don't consider near the tracks. 40 trains a day pass through, and the train traffic is planned to double over the next few years. The dairy stinks, but after 2 years i don't notice anymore. the 6 or so sit down restaurants menus get tired after a while. none of these things affect me enough to ever consider leaving maricopa for a closer suburb or phoenix itself.

check it out first, maricopa isn't for everyone, but it is perfect for me, and my neighbors who also moved from closer suburbs to be here.

Originally Posted by AZnative4Life

Just saw on the news last night in Maricopa there are a string of house burglarizes, and they are going right thru the wall. Plus its a city of foreclosures so your neighbor will be a vacant, unkept house.

got a link? i follow maricopa news very closely and have not heard of recent break ins. there were some in the 55+ gated community about 6 months ago, but those guys were caught.

[mattpresley]

Originally Posted by CodyW

How long has it been since you lived in Mesa?

a year or so. im not to incredibly worried by the crime is Gulfport is full of all kinds of ghettos since katrina that south phoenix sounds desireable in the aspect

[mattpresley]

Originally Posted by 61scout80

I live here and love it. its quiet, secluded, many local businesses are run by the proprietor and there is a ton of growth slowly working its way in. I can be in chandler within 15-20 minutes and to the airport in 30-40 minutes. (it used to take me 20-30 mins to get to work in chandler when i lived in chandler). i love that i can still see the stars at night. I'm also relieved to be out of that nasty brown cloud that lingers over phoenix! it looks so nasty when i'm looking towards the city.

yes, there are a lot of houses for sale and empty, but an average of 150 a month are selling in the city. in a city this small that is enough to notice. stay as far north of the tracks as you can to ease the commute. Don't consider near the tracks. 40 trains a day pass through, and the train traffic is planned to double over the next few years. The dairy stinks, but after 2 years i don't notice anymore. the 6 or so sit down restaurants menus get tired after a while. none of these things affect me enough to ever consider leaving maricopa for a closer suburb or phoenix itself.

check it out first, maricopa isn't for everyone, but it is perfect for me, and my neighbors who also moved from closer suburbs to be here.




got a link? i follow maricopa news very closely and have not heard of recent break ins. there were some in the 55+ gated community about 6 months ago, but those guys were caught.

is the burnt bun still there? nasty name but a great cheap restaurant on the corner of 347 and 84

[61scout80]

Originally Posted by mattpresley

is the burnt bun still there? nasty name but a great cheap restaurant on the corner of 347 and 84

now its called "the good times cafe". I have never been there, but the local 4x4 club meets up there before many of their trips.

[mwwwin]

A friend of mine moved to Maricopa with his fiance and two kids a year or so ago and he can only describe it as a "really strange place". I didn't get into it any further with him but I will. They are both 39 and 38. They're moving to Tucson...

[61scout80]

Originally Posted by AZnative4Life

Just saw on the news last night in Maricopa there are a string of house burglarizes, and they are going right thru the wall. Plus its a city of foreclosures so your neighbor will be a vacant, unkept house.

Found it. i love that 2 homes and a RV storage facility are a "string" of burglaries.

Thieves cut through walls, fence for burglaries

Whether through wall or fence, thieves in Maricopa the past month have exploited businesses and residences alike using a similar method to enter.
In the past two weeks, someone broke into two homes in the Maricopa Meadows subdivision by cutting a hole in an exterior wall and broke into a business by cutting a hole in the fence.
In the instance of the two homes, the burglars used blunt objects to pound holes through the wall, according to Maricopa Police spokesman Sgt. Stephen Judd. He said the burglars took small electronics, video games, jewelry and cash, along with luggage that they used to carry away the stolen goods.
“I have seen this method used in business break-ins, but never residential. It is very unusual,” Judd said.
One reason that Judd said the crimes were so odd is because of the amount of noise that pounding through a wall would generate. “Criminals typically try to be quiet,” he said.
However, noise may not have been an issue. One of the residential burglaries was committed at about 1 p.m. and the other at about 3 p.m., a time when many Maricopans are still at work.
Additionally, many of the homes in the neighborhood are vacant, so there are fewer neighbors around who might have heard or witnessed the burglaries.
“One piece of advice we can hand down is that if you are going to be gone awhile, leave on a television or a radio, that way a criminal thinks someone is home,” Judd said.


He added that it is also a good idea that residents familiarize themselves with the neighbors in the area.
While the two residential crimes were one-day operations, the break-in at Highway 238 RV Storage appears to be by thieves who targeted the business over a longer period of time.
The owner of the storage facility, Tom Buessing, said that three weekends ago he got a report from his tenants that their locks had been cut, but nothing was missing.
Buessing said that he relayed this information to police, hoping they would increase patrols in the area, but to his dismay they did not.
“It isn’t the responsibility of the police department to make sure a business is safe; we do not have the time or resources to set up surveillance for one business,” Judd said.
Buessing said exactly one week after the locks were cut, someone cut a hole in the fence that surrounds his business and stole close to 15 ATVs from various trailers.
“It was an inside job, because the criminals cut through the fence, but then used a gate code to exit the facility with the vehicles,” he said.
Since the thefts, Buessing added that police have not been very cooperative in helping him gather information on the crime.
“I saw a suspicious car the week after the crime and called in the license plate. They told me they couldn’t run it though,” he said.
Buessing said he believes members of the community need to form a type of citywide neighborhood block watch network, with representatives across the city.
“This city has gotten away from the point of neighbors communicating with one another,” Buessing said.
Police are currently investigating all three crimes and encourage anyone with information to call (520) 866-5111.

http://www.85239.com/NEWS/NewsArticl...&&name=c&&id=1

[chandlerguy]

Originally Posted by mattpresley

i am looking at relocating from mississippi to az. i like the house prices in maricopa and it seems like a nice town. i just need all the pros and cons and yes i have seen the whole valley as i am a former mesa resident. any help y'all can provide would be appreciated

Housing is cheap because it's all going into foreclosure. The bottom dropped out of the place when gas prices went up since Maricopa is in the middle of nothing and everyone has long commutes. If you don't mind living next door to vacant houses you will like Maricopa.

The other problem they won't tell you is that water is scarce. Expect to pay premiums on your water bill as the water table drops. In Maricopa the homeowners own the water system, so anything that goes wrong is out of their pockets.

Other than those problems Maricopa is wonderful.

[Master Shake]

Originally Posted by chandlerguy

The other problem they won't tell you is that water is scarce. Expect to pay premiums on your water bill as the water table drops. In Maricopa the homeowners own the water system, so anything that goes wrong is out of their pockets.

Just curious where you got this information from. In Maricopa, water is supplied by Global Water, which I believe is a subsidiary of Santa Cruz water.

It is true that Global Water does charge a premium for their services, which is much higher than any other city in the greater Phoenix area, and most residents will tell you that they are not very happy with Global Water. Somehow they do not seem to be regulated by any state or local agency (as far as customer service goes), and therefore can do as they please.

However, many of the subdivisions in Maricopa use water reclamation programs for the common areas (including watering the grass, etc.), which really cuts down on overall usage. There is actually plenty of water available for quite some time, throughout the greater Phoenix area.

[mattpresley]

can i have a well in maricopa. i have a well in the house i rent here and have no water bill

[Master Shake]

Originally Posted by mattpresley

can i have a well in maricopa. i have a well in the house i rent here and have no water bill

Assuming potable water is available on your property, you can contract for a well to be installed. You can then also have your own septic system.

This is, of course, assuming you are not in a community with an HOA. I'm not sure if an HOA would allow a well/septic system -- even if you had the space in your back yard!