10 reasons NOT to move to Scottsdale, Chandler, Goodyear, Paradise Valley and Gilbert? (Phoenix: best cities)

[love that sunshine!]

Narrowing it down so looking for reasons why I should or should not move to Scottsdale, Chandler, Goodyear, Paradise Valley and Gilbert
Single mom with a middle school child. Will work. Where? Not sure yet. Will look once I settle on a town. Schools are important so is appreciation of home, safety, life....

Thanks!

[w1ngzer0]

Scottsdale: A lot of old people, plastic people, old town has a lot of resturants. A dog park, lots of parks, new parks, one of the large school districts in Phoenix, large jewish community in northern scottsdale if you're into that.

Chandler: Seems like a family oriented place, lots of tech companies, don't know much about it.

Paradise valley: Enjoy how Tucson'ish it looks.

Here is a quote from here

Originally Posted by [URL="http://www.city-data.com/forum/8408045-post31.html"

http://www.city-data.com/forum/8408045-post31.html[/url]]
Ok - I'm going to chime in for Scottsdale. We have lived in Biltmore and liked it too. We lived through the road construction and managed to navigate that long over-due upgrade. But we really love Scottsdale and the greenway among other outdoor areas. Scottsdale has great restaurants, is very walking and bike friendly (which Biltmore and Camelback Road are not). We love the Scottsdale library and the local hang-outs. Yes - if you are into the club scene - Scottsdale can certainly feed that need. But as middle-aged retirees, we find so many other things to do in Scottsdale than in Biltmore. If you're a sport shopper both have plenty of shopping opportunities - but then Phoenix is the shopping capitol of the southwest. Scottsdale is very civic-minded and you can be as involved or as uninvolved as you want. It is also very children friendly where Biltmore seems less so.

We live in a gated condo community in a nice residential south Scottsdale area and have had no crime problems. The area is clean, quiet, and neighbor friendly. We find that we get more bang for the buck in the Scottsdale rental market than in Biltmore - though this may have changed during the recent real estate market. It is very easy to find nicely furnished, short-term properties in Scottsdale as many visitors are prone to do in the winter.

Good luck to you and welcome to AZ!

Those are my views, im sure the rest will tune in.

[azriverfan.]

I'm biased because I live in northwest Chandler. I'm a strong poponent of the West Chandler/East Ahwautukee/South Tempe area. It's close enough to downtown Phoenix on the I-10 so that you are not isolated from the central corridor. You are close to Mill avenue in Tempe. Yet you have the family atmosphere. Also, it's more diverse due to it's strong South Asian presence (Indians, Vietnamese, Chinese). It has a lot of technology jobs (Intel). The community is very educated as many of the valley's engineers, doctors and dentists live here. There is great shopping (Casa Paloma and Chandler Mall). We go to downtown Phoenix frequently as we are only 15 minutes from downtown without traffic.

[observer53]

I agree with Azriverfan, for similar reasons... I live in south Tempe. I still think you should not be looking for reasons NOT to live in places. And, there's plenty to read here about all thoe places you list already. We don't need to start all those threads over again.

A LOT is going to be based on where you end up working. There are plenty of nice areas to live in the Valley, that will meet the general criteria you have.

Paradise Valley-- I don't know what the "Tucsonish" comment above is all about. I'm also not sure which Paradise Valley you are talking about. That term is applied to both the actual TOWN of Paradise Valley and to a very large area of northeast Phoenix. I don't see the town of Paradise Valley as a place for a single mom and two kids, (generally wealthy, not many kids) but there are lots of nice areas in what is generically called Paradise Valley that will work.

Scottsdale-- Sure there are some people in Scottsdale that are "plastic" -- but there are many really nice neighborhoods with more regular people, too.

I know you are looking at areas in California, too. Once you narrow down what you want, or maybe before you do, you are going to have to come and look. You're going to need a job first, too. And that's not easy right now.

[deckdoc]

ten reasons not to move into valley?

HEAT~ lack of jobs~ they are laying off thousands of teachers in the valley, with corresponding affects on quality of education.~ better have some money if you are planning on moving here, you will need it.~ Arizona drivers would rather run out of state plates off the road than be courtious~ That is only 1/2 but just add HEAT to the list a bunch more times!

[lkober]

I have lived in Gilbert for 3/4 of my life and I love it. There are some great schools and the neighborhoods are fairly safe (depends on the neighborhood). If you are looking for a place to live I would recommend Gilbert or Chandler, I believe that these are the two best cities/towns in AZ. Mind you, there isn't too much to do around here, unless you try to find something. Good Luck!

[Jnvlv247]

Originally Posted by w1ngzer0

Scottsdale: A lot of old people, plastic people, old town has a lot of resturants. A dog park, lots of parks, new parks, one of the large school districts in Phoenix, large jewish community in northern scottsdale if you're into that.

Hey it's better than big huge city of that LOL (LA)

[w1ngzer0]

I'm not against any kind of community, it is present in north scottsdale.