HELP! Relocating to Phoenix area (Gilbert) from LA (Queen Creek: foreclosures, rental homes)

[gabe_LA]

Hi, we are planning to move to the Phoenix area by the end of the year from L.A. I am 38, my wife 32 and our daughter will be 3 soon. We are basically looking for a safe place with good schools to raise our girl and based in our research Gilbert seems to be close to that. I will like to hear from people who live in the area.
Now, I have a couple of concerns here... I read in this forum that the neighbors in this area are extremely conservative! and since we run an online retail business that basically offers "sexy" lingerie and clothing (NOT NUDE OR PORN!!) we don't want to be crucified because of this... We are all raised Catholics and believe in a healthy environment for our daughter so we don't discriminate anybody for their color, religion or way of living (as long as is legal).
The plan is renting a house (WITH POOL!!!!) for less than $2000 a month in the beginning to taste the waters and see from there (is the price realistic?). Right now we leave in the city of Downey but unfortunately is not what it used to be. Crime is getting bad and the schools literally sucks!!
We welcome any help, comments and other suggestions that might feet our needs better.

[azcater]

Renting is a great idea until you get a feel for the area and the different neighborhoods. You will have no problem finding a house with a pool for under $2,000/mo.. in fact, I just did a search and there are many under 1500 even in nice areas.

As far as Gilbert, Yes, I've heard it's conservative too.. but I just don't get it how it affects someone's everyday life. It's never been a problem for me and if it wasn't for City Data and the mormon temples here and there, I would have no idea the mormon religion is so prevalent here. Go figure. :-) I highly doubt you will have any problems with your online website. My neighbors couldn't care less what I do on or offline. So, don't worry.. you'll love it here! By the way, I have an almost 3 year old too. :-)

[gabe_LA]

Thank you for your reply azcater. May I ask where you do the research for houses?

[andrzejn]

Originally Posted by gabe_LA

Thank you for your reply azcater. May I ask where you do the research for houses?

I would start with azcentral.com and their rental site.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by gabe_LA

Hi, we are planning to move to the Phoenix area by the end of the year from L.A. I am 38, my wife 32 and our daughter will be 3 soon. We are basically looking for a safe place with good schools to raise our girl and based in our research Gilbert seems to be close to that. I will like to hear from people who live in the area.
Now, I have a couple of concerns here... I read in this forum that the neighbors in this area are extremely conservative! and since we run an online retail business that basically offers "sexy" lingerie and clothing (NOT NUDE OR PORN!!) we don't want to be crucified because of this... We are all raised Catholics and believe in a healthy environment for our daughter so we don't discriminate anybody for their color, religion or way of living (as long as is legal).
The plan is renting a house (WITH POOL!!!!) for less than $2000 a month in the beginning to taste the waters and see from there (is the price realistic?). Right now we leave in the city of Downey but unfortunately is not what it used to be. Crime is getting bad and the schools literally sucks!!
We welcome any help, comments and other suggestions that might feet our needs better.

Your in-home business should be fine. The people in Gilbert did make Victoria's Secret change some large exterior signs/pictures at a store they opened at the mall there a while back.

Victoria’s Secret ads toned down at Gilbert mall | Gilbert Arizona News - Gilbert News - Gilbert, AZ news | eastvalleytribune.com (http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/107299 - broken link)



I agree that meeting/beating your price point should be no problem. It is a good idea to rent to get a feel for the area both inside and outside Gilbert (as it would be for any area that is new to anyone) before you buy.

Good luck!

[azcater]

Gabe_LA- I'm a realtor, so I use the MLS to search rental homes, but I also have a list of homes that is not on the MLS (I like to call them FRBO, for rent by owner).

Observer53: Oh yea, I forgot about that whole Victoria Secret thing.. they had the HUGE ads of scantily clad women out at San Tall Mall. I did think that was a bit ridiculous. Did you have to go dragging that article back out?? LOL!

[thegirlinaz]

Yes, you will be able to rent a house for under $2000 with a pool (you can probably find a house for around $1000 actually, depending on the size you need).

And you shouldn't have any problems with conservative neighbors. One thing everyone complains about is mormons here. Yes, there may be mormon churches on just about every corner, but I have never ran into problems with the people themselves.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by azcater

Observer53: Oh yea, I forgot about that whole Victoria Secret thing.. they had the HUGE ads of scantily clad women out at San Tall Mall. I did think that was a bit ridiculous. Did you have to go dragging that article back out?? LOL!

I couldn't help myself.... LOL

[crisis182]

I will advise that Gilbert is relatively conservative. There is a huge Mormon community in Gilbert which I believe probably leads to their conservativeness. Overall though, its a very nice area that is pretty close to everything. You can definitely get a house with a pool for under 2K here. Probably a quite large house. Gilbert is pretty cheap overall considering how nice and new everything is. If you don't mind the drive you could live in Queen Creek for next to nothing, but it will add 15-20 minutes and you will probably encounter quite a few foreclosures as neighbors.

My advise though would be to not talk about it if you are liberal. I'm a liberal atheist living in probably the most conservative part of this state. I can only tell my good friends, because people seem to be very judgmental. Somehow it came up in front of a customer (I work at a bank, so who knows) that I was ok with gay marriage. She is a Mormon with multiple children on missions and she began to insist that gay marriage would ruin society. Obviously she is just one person, but that thought process seems to be pretty prevalent.

Anyways, I hope this helps.

[thegirlinaz]

Last year I worked in a company that was probably 75% mormon. They expressed themselves and so did I (not mormon), and they never tried to change me or say that I was "wrong". They have their beliefs and I have mine and we all live in peace