Gilbert-AZ (Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale: foreclosures, rentals, crime)

[rfp1999]

Thinking of moving to AZ but I have so many questions and looking for some help.

The background is, I live in Nassau county, Long Island NY. I am married with two young children younger than 10. We are looking for a great neighborhood, I need a commute that is 45 minutes or less and would like our kids to go to a great Catholic school.

Our questions are:

1/ Does the Gilbert area (zip 85296/85297/85299) meet the criteria?

2/ What are the best Catholic schools? Here are some that we found: St. Mary-Basha Catholic School; St. Timothy Catholic Academy; Christ the King Catholic School: Queen of Peace Catholic Church; Queen of Peace School;
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School; St Daniel's Catholic Church; Saint Mary's Catholic High School; St. Theresa Catholic School

3/ How is the traffic to/from downtown phoenix? I plan to be at work between 5 and 6AM then leave between 3 and 4 PM

4/ What other areas should we consider? Chandler?

Any help will be most appreciated. Just want to make the right decision for the family, this is a big and difficult decision.

THANKS

[observer53]

If your commute is to downtown Phx, making it from Gilbert in 45 min is on the edge, even if you are leaving early enough to get to work between 5 and 6. In the afternoon, the freeways start backing up between 3 and 4- you'll likely have a harder time getting home in 45 min.

I don't think you need to move out that far to find what you want. And, the Catholic schools you mention are not in Gilbert, so your travel to take kids to school is farther. Chandler, parts of Mesa, Tempe, and Scottsdale, if you are thinking OLPH, are easier commutes.

I don't have first hand experience with the Catholic schools (I note that some you list are well into Phoenix), you've left off SS Simon and Jude in Phoenix and Seton High School in Chandler.

[KK85297]

Originally Posted by rfp1999

Thinking of moving to AZ but I have so many questions and looking for some help.

The background is, I live in Nassau county, Long Island NY. I am married with two young children younger than 10. We are looking for a great neighborhood, I need a commute that is 45 minutes or less and would like our kids to go to a great Catholic school.

Our questions are:

1/ Does the Gilbert area (zip 85296/85297/85299) meet the criteria?

2/ What are the best Catholic schools? Here are some that we found: St. Mary-Basha Catholic School; St. Timothy Catholic Academy; Christ the King Catholic School: Queen of Peace Catholic Church; Queen of Peace School;
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School; St Daniel's Catholic Church; Saint Mary's Catholic High School; St. Theresa Catholic School

3/ How is the traffic to/from downtown phoenix? I plan to be at work between 5 and 6AM then leave between 3 and 4 PM

4/ What other areas should we consider? Chandler?

Any help will be most appreciated. Just want to make the right decision for the family, this is a big and difficult decision.

THANKS

First of all, I'm not a realtor or anything- so what I know about zip codes is purely anecdotal. 85297 is mostly the very, very newest part of Gilbert- the far southeast corner. Nice homes, newer stores and public areas- slightly higher incidence of foreclosures/rentals because these areas built up during the boom BIG TIME. 85296 is more central Gilbert- older homes, older buildings, BUT...more established area. Still foreclosures and rentals and stuff- but in 85297, there are entire subdivisions that were almost all investment property. 85296 is also Gilbert school district, whereas most of 85297 is Higley. Double check to make sure, but watch out for Higley. Google it

I cannot speak to Catholic school issues (guess if you were going that route, district wouldn't matter so much?)

My husband commutes to Phoenix (airport area) from our home in Gilbert and works similar hours to those you mentioned. It takes him about 20-25 minutes each way- not much traffic at all at these times unless there is an accident or something. If you live at the far SE corner of Gilbert, that could easily bump your commute to 35-40 minutes, though. Gilbert is a pretty large swath of land.

I love Gilbert and would always recommend Gilbert- but there are nice areas of Chandler, too. It depends on what you need and what you want to spend and how close you want to be to civilization/crime

[azriverfan.]

Your commute in the morning would be fine and be approximately 40 minutes at the soonest without traffic to downtown. The Gilbert/202 exchange is the eastern border of Gilbert next to a freeway and it is 23 miles from the airport. At the Gilbert/60 exchange, you are 17 miles to the airport. I would add another 15 minutes to that drive if you are going to downtown. The problem is your driveback could take you a really long time. Realistically, you are looking at an hour on your way back from downtown and if you leave at 4, it could get worse. The traffic in Phoenix starts at 3 PM and ends is really bad at 4 PM. Unlike other cities in which the traffic starts at 4:30 our traffic starts at 3. People get off work earlier here for some reason and the traffic seems to start early and end early (6-6:30). I live in West Chandler near I-10 and Ray and it takes me 40 minutes to St. Joes hospital during rush hour in the morning and an hour during rush hour (4-6) on the way back and I live much closer to downtown than anyone in Gilbert.

[pbenjamin]

You left out the best Catholic high schools, Brophy Prep, which is a Jesuit school. and Xavier, its girls' school equivalent. They are in midtown Phoenix but students come from all over the Valley.

[thegirlinaz]

I live in 85297. It is a nice, newer area. It is right near the San Tan Mall and Williams Field Airport. There is also easy access to the 202 (San Tan Freeway).

Can't really tell you anything about Catholic schools or churches though.

[azriverfan.]

Originally Posted by thegirlinaz

I live in 85297. It is a nice, newer area. It is right near the San Tan Mall and Williams Field Airport. There is also easy access to the 202 (San Tan Freeway).

Can't really tell you anything about Catholic schools or churches though.

I love that area. Very nice!

[mikec34]

Originally Posted by rfp1999

Thinking of moving to AZ but I have so many questions and looking for some help.

The background is, I live in Nassau county, Long Island NY. I am married with two young children younger than 10. We are looking for a great neighborhood, I need a commute that is 45 minutes or less and would like our kids to go to a great Catholic school.

Our questions are:

1/ Does the Gilbert area (zip 85296/85297/85299) meet the criteria?

2/ What are the best Catholic schools? Here are some that we found: St. Mary-Basha Catholic School; St. Timothy Catholic Academy; Christ the King Catholic School: Queen of Peace Catholic Church; Queen of Peace School;
Our Lady of Perpetual Help Elementary School; St Daniel's Catholic Church; Saint Mary's Catholic High School; St. Theresa Catholic School

3/ How is the traffic to/from downtown phoenix? I plan to be at work between 5 and 6AM then leave between 3 and 4 PM

4/ What other areas should we consider? Chandler?

Any help will be most appreciated. Just want to make the right decision for the family, this is a big and difficult decision.

THANKS

1- Not sure. Gilbert is small, but I think the 85233 area is one of the better areas in terms of established neighborhoods, stores/malls, proximity to freeway , schools, etc. Just don't move to Baseline and Stapely/Cooper area where the wally world is, or you'll regret it for the traffic there is just plain nasty. I think if you stay west of Greenfield, east of mesa drive/mcqueen, south of guadalupe and north of williams field, you won't regret it.

2- I don't know about Catholic schools.

3 - If you wake up that early it doesn't matter where you drive from. However, driving back is a different matter. You can look at google maps to see the different free ways and which cities they go through (mesa, gilbert, etc). Tempe is really the best choice for being sort of inbetween work and family considerations...somewhat family friendly and pretty close to work (depends on what you do of course). Gilbert, I think, is the best place to raise a family though. If driving to work is the main focus, go for S/SW Scottsdale, West Mesa (mostly icky in my opinion), or Tempe (many college students with ASU being there fyi). If family is focus, I'd say Gilbert should be first choice, then somewhere nice in Scottsdale. I would never consider living in the west valley unless my job dictated me too, but it never has, so I don't mention those places. East Valley bias. ;-]

4 - I think 3 answers this one.

[rfp1999]

Thanks for the terrific opinions, definitely helpful