Are There Any Smaller Areas That Are Nice To Live In Outside Of Phoenix? (Glendale: house prices, transfer)

[observer53]

Originally Posted by AZ Tracy

Sun City is an unincorporated area of Maricopa County. Most of it is age restricted, but not all of it. Click HERE and view the map to see where the homes are that aren't age restricted.

Given the OP's focus on schools, I don't think any part of Sun City is really what they are looking for. That, and the commute from there to practically anywhere is LONG, in terms of miles and time.

To the OP-- not all of Scottsdale is "Beverly Hillsy". The McCormick Ranch area, the area around Greenway Road west of Scottsdale Rd (at least part of which has a Scottsdale address, but lies in the city of Phoenix, and some of the other areas not so far to the north) are quite nice, and don't have that stereotype that you refer to.

We do need to know what your idea of a reasonable commute is, in terms of time. That will help sort things out.

[midmod]

Well, given the fact that right now the commute for us is 2 hrs. each way, I was thinking that maybe a 1/2 hour or 45 minutes might be a bit more pleasant Our commute would be into Phoenix. A few areas that we liked before when we lived out there were Cave Creek, Gilbert, Chandler, Peoria, Avondale and Anthem...maybe this will help a bit more when getting opinions on areas.

[Finger Laker]

what part of phoenix?

Downtown core that is boxed by I-10/I-10?

Biltmore area around 24th st & Camelback?

Metro-center area of I-17?

Mid-town area moving up central ave N. of downtown?

some other pocket?

[observer53]

Originally Posted by midmod

Well, given the fact that right now the commute for us is 2 hrs. each way, I was thinking that maybe a 1/2 hour or 45 minutes might be a bit more pleasant Our commute would be into Phoenix. A few areas that we liked before when we lived out there were Cave Creek, Gilbert, Chandler, Peoria, Avondale and Anthem...maybe this will help a bit more when getting opinions on areas.

That helps some, but where in Phoenix? (the city limits include a huge area) Downtown, north central, east, west? You've named suburbs all over the Valley as possibilities. Of those, schools best in Chandler, Gilbert, and northern parts of Peoria. Cave Creek and Anthem pretty much have one way in and one way out (assuming you don't mean anything in the Cave Creek ZIP code), so the commute could be more problematic from there at times.

(EDIT: above poster and I were posting at the same time)

[Ponderosa]

Don't know when you lived here but if your memories are that Gilbert or Chandler feel small, things have changed. On the east side Queen Creek is the new Gilbert and on the west its mostly Goodyear that still has cotton fields among the subdivisions. Buckeye sprouted thousands of houses and the western burbs run miles past even Buckeye (though with much emptiness in between). The Indian lands stopped growth to the northeast and south but they leap frogged the rez in the south and Maricopa exploded and then imploded in the bust.

[S. Chris Webb]

North Peoria, North Glendale and far NW Phoenix have very nice suburban pockets with great schools. Try Stetson Valley, Sonoran Mountain Ranch, Westwing, and other areas close to 67th Ave & Happy Valley Road. Beautiful Mountain views & less commercial than the central core of the Valley give this area a great feel to come home to. A little more pricey than Surprise, but much less expensive than Scottsdale/Carefree/Cave Creek, & well worth it.

[Captain Bill]

Any of these areas may work for you, depending on exactly where in Phoenix your job is.

This may help. Do a google map search from your work address to an address in Gilbert and Chandler on the east valley, because either of these may work. That would give you a distance an estimated driving time. You'll need to add some time for commute hours.

Then do the same thing for some locations on the west and north side.

That can begin to narrow down your search to a couple of cities. Then begin to look at a few of the communities within those cities to see how the feel is.

I should also mention north east Mesa in the Las Sendas area because that's a nice area with good schools and easy commute to Phoenix.

When you look at communities you'll then decide if you prefer a community like Las Sendas which is all desert and in the Usery Mountain Foothills by the Tonto National Forest; or a lake community such as Val Vista Lakes where it's all lush green landscape; no desert landscape.

Those are two extremely different community themes.

[Jkgourmet]

You're working in Phoenix (someplace) and in your OP were asking about living in Bisbee?????

And you used to live in Scottsdale, but expect to find small towns around here????

Just sayin'

[midmod]

Thanks for all the thoughtful and informative suggestions. There were a few places on here that I was not familiar with, so I will definitely check those out! And just to rephrase, by small towns I mean smaller, more intimate communities that's all. I do realize that it is a very large, spread out city. As far as Scottsdale goes, don't get me wrong it's lovely for sure, but I just don't want to send my children to school there...working under the assumption that schools there might be a little bit Beverly Hills 90210 for us...this is certainly not a put down, so please don't take offense to this comment. I always enjoyed Arizona, and never really ran into anyone that I felt was rude or snobby...I am from the East Coast so trust me, I know what abrasive really means lol!

[AZ Tracy]

Originally Posted by observer53

Given the OP's focus on schools, I don't think any part of Sun City is really what they are looking for. That, and the commute from there to practically anywhere is LONG, in terms of miles and time.

I believe the part of Sun City that isn't age restricted is in the Peoria School District - not bad.