Any info on Avondale or Goodyear, AZ? (Phoenix, Queen Creek: renting, crime)

[mwyrobeck]

Looking to move to Avondale or Goodyear, AZ. Any info on the area would be great. Thanks!

[AzDreamer]

If you are buying be sure to check out the area for yourself before coming to any conclusions. Visit the local businesses, parks and schools. Walk around the area to see if there are signs of crime and vandalism. Your threshold for graffiti is going to be different than other posters here.

I stayed in a house in Avondale north of I-10 for a week last March. Although the house was nice, when walking around the neighborhood we noticed a large number of barking dogs, more than a few were pit bulls. What this means exactly I'm not sure, but if I was looking to buy it would be someplace else.

[Finger Laker]

I live in goodyear and absolutely love it - what are you looking to know?

[mwyrobeck]

The job market in the area? We will need to find jobs. I have over 25 years working in HR. Do most commute to Phoenix and if so how long is the commute. Is there shopping in the area? Housing........does all housing have association fees. What does that all include. What are water costs? I heard scorpions are nasty in the area?? We were also looking at the Queen Creek area? What do you really love about Goodyear? Any info would be great! Thanks!

[foma]

I suggest you do a search for Goodyear and Avondale in this forum. There's been discussion about this before with some pretty good info. Whatever you do, you have to visit first before purchasing a home or renting a place. There's great parts of GY and bad ones. There's really bad parts of Avondale and a couple of good ones. That's how I see it. You've got all your major retail stores. No really good mall though but it's not too far away. There is a plan to build one, however, but with the slowing economy, it's all been delayed for a year or so.

[observer53]

And Queen Creek is way on the opposite side of the Valley, not as close to the freeway system as Avondale or Goodyear. There is some public transit from the west side, NONE from Queen Creek.

Association fees do not apply to every neighborhood, and when they do, what they cover varies too.

Scorpion issue is WAY overblown. Water is RELATIVELY cheap, strange as that seems.

You really do need to come and look. But moving here with no job, unless you have a good cushion, is not a great idea. The economy here is slumping like everywhere else, and people are still coming here to "start over".. so, there's more and more people looking for less and less jobs.

[Finger Laker]

yeah - the regional mall is scheduled for fall of '11 - however, arrowhead mall is like 20 minutes away if you must go to a mall

however, you can get most shopping you need locally

jobs are scattered throughout the city so it's hard to say

what I like about goodyear is as follows:

easy access to I-10 & 303

great access to white tanks & estrella mountain regional parks (hiking & the like)

good network of parks in goodyear

nice variety of restaurants

great access to spring training, sports & concerts (real close to westgate, cricket pavilion, PIR and 5 spring training parks) along with golf courses & driving ranges

quiet - it still get fairly dark at night and the neighborhoods are

pretty quiet - doesn't feel like the bustle of a city

convenient shopping

active city programs - lots of little festivals, community outreach programs, youth activities, etc

[foma]

Originally Posted by Finger Laker

nice variety of restaurants

I agree with you on everything but this one!! I have a hard time finding places to eat. We usually have to venture off to the east side of town!

[Finger Laker]

what are you looking for?

we have about everything on the west side except a great seafood place - although admittedly a couple you need to trek to arrowhead for

in the general goodyear area there is thai, bbq, soul food, cajun, greek, french, pizza & wings, chains, chinese, etc ....... they're building an indian restaurant as well

[foma]

I love anything ethnic so you'll have to tell me where the Indian restaurant is gonna get built!

Everything you mentioned sounds goooood!

Maybe we just don't venture out much. We pretty much stick to the Litchfield park and Dysart streets near I-10. The only ethnic place we LOVE is Ararat's where the movie theatre is between 99th and 107th Ave. Good stuff!