Chandler or Scottsdale? (Phoenix, Cave Creek: crime, custom home, neighborhood)

[cancerrph]

I am relocating to the Phoenix area in the next two months with my husband and two small kids (6 and 4). We have narrowed our search to Scottsdale or Chanlder but want some opinions on where the best areas within each city are. We are looking for top schools, nice fairly new homes(<15 years old) nice size lots, around 400-475K. We want to be in an area that is nice, safe and clean. We are in our 40's and are medical professionals. We would like to live about 30-40 minutes from the airport.

We have searched some homes and keep finding the zip code 85249 coming up. Is this a nice area? or full of forclosures? What subdivisions should we focus on?

Any advice and opinions are welcome as we don't know alot about the areas and are trying to get a feel for it before we come out to house hunt.

Thanks

[tymike]

We relocated from the Metro NY area to Scottsdale ( Cave Creek - 85331 ) 4 months ago and love it. We are in the same age group but our kids are a little older - 15 and 12. The schools in our area are excelling schools and the kids have adjusted great. I do a decent amount of traveling and we are about 35 minutes from PHX. We wanted to live in a new development ( last 10 years ) and got a great home in a great development. If you want specifics shoot me your e-mail

Scott

[asufan]

85249 is probably a little far away from the airport to make it in 30 minutes. 85248 is the top zip code in Chandler as far as income, and is home to one of the top master plans in the PHX area (Ocotillo Master Planned community). There's a golf course/country club, waterfront houses and plenty of shopping and dining nearby. Right across the street from Ocotillo is a neighborhood called Fulton Ranch, which is a new home community. I suggest you google both of those areas and check them out. There's also plenty of gated custom home subdivisions that you might be lucky enough to get something for under $450K in. 85226 is another good zip code in Chandler, even closer to the airport, but most of those houses are approaching 15-20 years old. You may still want to check that area out.

As for Scottsdale, most of it is nice. I like Chandler better for kids because there seems to be a lot more kids in the area, and youth sports are top notch in Chandler. There's also plenty of good public and private schools. The one thing I didn't like about Scottsdale was that there are a lot of 2nd home owners there, and that means lots of houses sit vacant a portion of the year. This increases the further North you go. Also a lot of the residents are a little older, and are empty nesters. There's still lots of kids, just not at all like Chandler.

[finnari]

Love Chandler live there. It's scottsdale without the snobbishness. I live in the zip code 85286, we were 85249 but just changed it. We have two little ones. We send them to summit school of awahtukee, it's private and the best.
I would never consider anything but chandler. I love everything about it. crime is low too.

[AksarbeN]

You’ll need to make up your mind for where you live based on where you’ll be working. You’ll find it very difficult to live in Chandler and work in Scottsdale or vice-versa. Rush hour traffic in most metro areas is difficult ~ even with the freeways. One accident and everything becomes a parking lot. So home and work locations should be as close as reasonably possible to avoid traffic congestion, gas prices, and loss of time. Depending on locations and time of day, you could spend an hour on the freeway getting to or from work.

I was spending 40 +/- minutes traveling 11 miles during rush hour driving.

[exlexisnexis]

I lke Chandler better than Scottsdale,less congested but 85249 is a bit far out from the Freeway.

[KarmaPhx]

If you enjoy living far from everything, go with Scottsdale, much nicer city.

[joninaz]

Both are good places.

In terms of the overall metro area, Scottsdale is a better choice is you want to be in the NE part of the metro area. Chandler is the cornerstone of the SE area. Very similar cities. As mentioned before, it really might come down to where you work.

[cancerrph]

I'll be working from home so that isn't much of an issue. Distance to the airport is more important 30-40 minutes.

[KarmaPhx]

Scottsdale is closer, depending on where you're at. I work in Old Town Scottsdale and I can get to the airport in 15-20 minutes tops. I usually take the 143 down.