Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 03-30-2009, 11:35 AM
 
2 posts, read 3,776 times
Reputation: 10

Advertisements

Hi,

Hopefully some of the Gilbert and Chandler residents may be able to give me some insight. My hubby and I live in North NJ right now 10 mins from NYC. He hates the winters and high cost of living. His best friend lives in Gilbert, Arizona and raves about how great of a place to live it is. Hubby wants to go and visit to see how it is. I am more on the skeptical side. I have lived in a big city metro area my whole life. I don't want the country small town thing at all.
I know nothing about Arizona and have read the other threads to get an idea but what do you all have to say? I want a place for us with great nightlife, lower cost of living, not horrible crime, not trashy people, clean well taken care of area, not sky high housing. Any comments on these areas are greatly appreciated....

Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 03-30-2009, 11:47 AM
 
Location: USA
3,966 posts, read 10,697,875 times
Reputation: 2228
Im going to steal what another poster said to someone else. Fly out here and spend a week here driving around various neighbors and areas.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-30-2009, 01:33 PM
 
Location: Metro Phoenix, AZ USA
17,914 posts, read 43,408,068 times
Reputation: 10726
Agreed. Come and visit and look. Much of Gilbert is not a farming community-country store type place any more. (that said, you would have to go outside of Gilbert for anything approaching "great nightlife") Once you see for yourselves, you can decide.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-30-2009, 02:14 PM
 
549 posts, read 1,559,198 times
Reputation: 441
Quote:
Originally Posted by LolaBK View Post
Hi,

Hopefully some of the Gilbert and Chandler residents may be able to give me some insight. My hubby and I live in North NJ right now 10 mins from NYC. He hates the winters and high cost of living. His best friend lives in Gilbert, Arizona and raves about how great of a place to live it is. Hubby wants to go and visit to see how it is. I am more on the skeptical side. I have lived in a big city metro area my whole life. I don't want the country small town thing at all.
I know nothing about Arizona and have read the other threads to get an idea but what do you all have to say? I want a place for us with great nightlife, lower cost of living, not horrible crime, not trashy people, clean well taken care of area, not sky high housing. Any comments on these areas are greatly appreciated....

Thanks!

Gilbert isn't exactly country small town - there's shopping centers and parks, several excellent restaurants and bars, and it's not far from one of Arizona's largest universities - but it's not central Phoenix, either, where the sports areans and symphony and opera and theaters are. And on the other hand, the center of Phoenix itsself looks like a very small town compared to New York City.

Gilbert has nightlife, a low cost of living, low crime, nice people, and is clean and largely quite pretty. But it's as different from New York as you can get. So you'd really have to visit to get a sense for whether you'd like it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-31-2009, 09:31 PM
 
Location: Phoenix, AZ
173 posts, read 465,372 times
Reputation: 117
I was born and raised in NYC, then moved to the Long Island suburbs after getting married.

We have now lived in AZ 15 yrs, the last 6 in Gilbert. We love it here - the only thing I sometimes miss about NYC are the Broadway shows. Other than that, AZ wins hands down; well, except for nightlife - none to be found in Gilbert since it's very (young) family oriented. You might consider Tempe instead if you don't have children.

There are other threads about "areas to avoid" in the Valley. Most suburbs in Tempe/Chandler/Gilbert are very well maintained.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 03-31-2009, 11:04 PM
 
Location: Sunny Phoenix Arizona...wishing for a beach.
4,300 posts, read 14,955,153 times
Reputation: 813
Quote:
Originally Posted by LolaBK View Post
Hi,

Hopefully some of the Gilbert and Chandler residents may be able to give me some insight. My hubby and I live in North NJ right now 10 mins from NYC. He hates the winters and high cost of living. His best friend lives in Gilbert, Arizona and raves about how great of a place to live it is. Hubby wants to go and visit to see how it is. I am more on the skeptical side. I have lived in a big city metro area my whole life. I don't want the country small town thing at all.
I know nothing about Arizona and have read the other threads to get an idea but what do you all have to say? I want a place for us with great nightlife, lower cost of living, not horrible crime, not trashy people, clean well taken care of area, not sky high housing. Any comments on these areas are greatly appreciated....

Thanks!

I'm from NY, born in the Bronx but raised up state in the Hudson Valley and spent 2 years in North Bergen NJ, West NY area. I live in Gilbert and I don't consider this small town or country. Small town and country is where I was raised in upstate NY......

I like Arizona mainly because I do not like the cold weather. I like the seeing the sun everyday and I like the newness and cleanliness of the area.

You will have to come and look for youself I know many that like it and many that don't. I do miss the green and changing leaves though but I don't think I could ever do another Winter back there. In fact I know I couldn't! I couldn't be without my palm trees either.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-01-2009, 04:07 PM
 
235 posts, read 755,804 times
Reputation: 114
If you are a older couple, then I would suggest you guys come out here. Being from NY my self, I can out as a kid. My great aunt suggested my family come out. She loves it here(shes mentally insane btw)
She told us it had everything she needed. I grew up a bored teenager. Even with many friends, drinking and drugs always seemed to be what to on a Friday night in Phoenix. I always missed NY and never touched a drug until I came to Phoenix. Luckily I was born in another state, that giving me a stronger will then most the native druggies, and I got out of that. As for older couples, south
Scottsdale is the home of the wine o's, and the wannabe wine o's. You might fit in.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-01-2009, 10:07 PM
 
Location: Anchored in Phoenix
1,942 posts, read 4,569,502 times
Reputation: 1784
Hey LolaBK,

I worked in Clifton, NJ for nearly a year in the early part of the decade. I have an address in Ahwatukee and currently work in Los Angeles.

My preference (emotional) is Los Angeles within a mile and a half from the beach. This is where the advantage out in the far west ends. See, unemployment is high, and bad. It will get worse. This applies to Arizona and Las Vegas. Why? Housing bubble. Can you say Option ARM resets and ALT-A resets? They peak the next two years.

I think it will bottom in 2011 and stay flat for a few years. If you can wait two years, do so! Take it from me!

Otherwise, Phoenix is beautiful! It's just that you will not be able to afford to live in Phoenix before 2012 because there will be a lot of job cuts between now and then. Unafordable? Why? Housing prices and rents will certainly fall. When you buy an asset that deflates in value after you buy it, you CANNOT afford it! You don't want a twelve month lease now when You can get a lower priced lease in three years. My apartment advertises 25% less monthly rent on a corporate site. I'm going to renew my lease later this year and go for lower rent. I expect even much lower rent by the Fall of 2011.

So make sure your husband reads this.

BTW: I lived off of exit 35 of route 80 (in Dover) for ten months early this decade. Found an apartment complex that was not victorian or colonial (I hate both, and anything other than 1770s style or 1910 style is very rare in NNJ). I booked the place right on the spot. west coast style architecture.

Quote:
Originally Posted by LolaBK View Post
Hi,

Hopefully some of the Gilbert and Chandler residents may be able to give me some insight. My hubby and I live in North NJ right now 10 mins from NYC. He hates the winters and high cost of living. His best friend lives in Gilbert, Arizona and raves about how great of a place to live it is. Hubby wants to go and visit to see how it is. I am more on the skeptical side. I have lived in a big city metro area my whole life. I don't want the country small town thing at all.
I know nothing about Arizona and have read the other threads to get an idea but what do you all have to say? I want a place for us with great nightlife, lower cost of living, not horrible crime, not trashy people, clean well taken care of area, not sky high housing. Any comments on these areas are greatly appreciated....

Thanks!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-01-2009, 10:11 PM
 
Location: Anchored in Phoenix
1,942 posts, read 4,569,502 times
Reputation: 1784
Quote:
Originally Posted by w1ngzer0 View Post
Im going to steal what another poster said to someone else. Fly out here and spend a week here driving around various neighbors and areas.
Umm...unless you are a thunderstorm fan, do not come here between May 1 and November 1. It will be HOT! But I love the heat because I lived in hot places many years.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 04-01-2009, 11:39 PM
 
10,719 posts, read 20,294,643 times
Reputation: 10021
Quote:
Originally Posted by LolaBK View Post
Hi,

Hopefully some of the Gilbert and Chandler residents may be able to give me some insight. My hubby and I live in North NJ right now 10 mins from NYC. He hates the winters and high cost of living. His best friend lives in Gilbert, Arizona and raves about how great of a place to live it is. Hubby wants to go and visit to see how it is. I am more on the skeptical side. I have lived in a big city metro area my whole life. I don't want the country small town thing at all.
I know nothing about Arizona and have read the other threads to get an idea but what do you all have to say? I want a place for us with great nightlife, lower cost of living, not horrible crime, not trashy people, clean well taken care of area, not sky high housing. Any comments on these areas are greatly appreciated....

Thanks!
The west coast is so different from the east coast. I hate to be vague but you just have to see it.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Arizona > Phoenix area

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top