Buying a Home in North Phoenix

[_Charles_]

Originally Posted by azdr0710

"I've been told to stay away from the West side and anything with "Avenue" in the address. But I'm not sure exactly what areas that pertains to."


in Phoenix, avenues, courts, drives, and lanes (A-L) are W of Central Ave, the primary N-S street.....streets, places, ways (M-Z) are E of Central....

your "friend" made a very sweeping generalization that everything W of Central is not good....and, in fact, that has been a long-held, albeit incorrect, belief among Phoenicians...

but there are good and bad 'hoods all over the valley...and, as the others showed, great spots on the west side and horrible stuff on the east side....

Many people erroneoulsy believe central Phoenix to be ghetto like. I attribute this to hype coming from real estate agents that want to hustle folks into the cookie cutter subvisions all around the Valley fringes.

[Nanny Goat]

I like older homes 100% better than newer ones. They have more personality and charm in general. And, just more solid.

[MGotcha]

Originally Posted by Phoenix lady

I like older homes 100% better than newer ones. They have more personality and charm in general. And, just more solid.

The older homes (1950-1970's) tend to be block construction which is much more durable than the typical single coat stucco over wood frame builds you find in newer areas. They are also less insulated, so your electricity bills will run a bit more than newer homes. And don't go near any of the 1970's wood framed homes that are clad in sheets of embossed hardboard/pressboard. Being a Native here, I also agree with the general fact the the west side tends to be rougher than the east side, but this tends to apply to older east central (Central to 56 st) vs older west central (Central to 51st av) in general. There are always exceptions, so always drive around a bit on a weekend night to take in the local night life before considering. And the less apartments close by, the better!