Relocating to Surprise, AZ (Peoria: houses, high school, subdivision)

[lsaulibio]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

Homebuilders busy again in corners of metro Phoenix

Article from az central about the home market heating up, Surprise us mentioned as one of the areas heating up.

Yep! Tell me about it! I have enough for a hefty down payment and am pre-qualified for a loan. Made 7 offers for the asking price, and still didn't get one! How frustrating!

[thump9]

Originally Posted by lsaulibio

I just visited Surprise about three weeks ago, looking to buy a home there. I didn't see a whole lot of bad stuff there described in earlier replies. But one night I drove through El Mirage, and Wow! What an experience. Would not buy a house there and spend the money to barricade. The neighborhood looked very rough. I am impressed with the area enough to want to buy a house there. I have my realtor doing the legwork for me, and soon I'll have a home there. Unfortunately, I won't be able to occupy the home for several more years as I plan to stay overseas and work to pay off the house and make enough to buy some toys like a boat, truck, car, RV, etc. My son plans on moving to Phoenix. Incidently, I didn't find the traffic intimidating at all. I found it worse in Honolulu.

I live in El Mirage just east of Dysart and north of Cactus. Im thinking you mustve been driving thru Old Town El Mirage..........El Mirage has some nice subdivisions, Cactus Park being one of them (which is the community i live in). El Mirage is a smaller community of about 18,000 but the city is working to upgrade the older sections which has a very crappy look at the moment but businesses are moving to the city and tax revenues are going to help revitalize the older section of town

El Mirage is no Surprise but its not anywhere close to being the worst. I love the area actually.

[lsaulibio]

The area I saw was near the post office. I didn't realize that there were some really nice areas in El Mirage. The major criteria that I wanted was to be close to Luke AFB. I am retired military and want to take advantage of the community activities in Luke. My wife wants to be close to shopping and I want to be close to Cabela's.

[lsaulibio]

Originally Posted by pandaundercover

I agree with this guy. It is a great place, regardless of opinions that it is "Boring." Obviously some people prefer partying and bars and clubs, while others know how to entertain themselves and enjoy silence. While I agree with Ray, don't limit yourself to just east of the 303. lol. I live just west of it off Cotton and it's a nice area down here too. Further west is also just as nice, but of course, just an extra few minutes of driving to get to Point B at any time. But traffic out on this part of Surprise is usually not so bad compared to east Surprise.

Boring? How can it be boring with all that stuff in the greater Phoenix area? You want boring, you ought to come live with me! For one, I live on a desert island, the nearest mall is 2200 miles away in Honolulu. We get two supply planes a week ( mail twice a week, and fresh produce once a week). We have twelve channel TV...if you count the weather radar and the community channel. Dial up Internet. No cars. no rise to the ground. The island is 3 1/2 miles long by a quarter mile wide. Takes 4 minutes for me to jog coast to coast. A whole lot of coconut trees, sand and coral. The temperature remains the same all year: 76 degrees at night, and 87 degrees during the day with better than a 50% humidity. Google Kwajalein. When I come to the US twice a year, I stay up all night watching commercials and flipping through all those channels. When I go into the stores, I have a dumbfounded look of disbelief at all the counters full of stuff. Its hard to make a choice. Do you think you can be bored here? I'm not. I don't have enough hours in the day to complete everything I need to do, and that's in addition to work! I think I am going to love Surprise when I finally leave Kwajalein. Hope the fishing is good.

[ibarrio]

the new uptown alley is really nice, it is way more than just a bowling alley.

[LindaNJtoAZ]

I recently moved here with my four year old daughter and love Surprise. We moved here from NJ about 15 minutes from NYC. So for me the commute to Phx is hardly impossible - yet quite nice actually.

I love Surprise because it is growing, and the room for potential is great. I just have to find a nice community that my daughter will like. One with great parks, kids, etc.

[lewdog_5]

Made it here last week! Like the house I am in and the weather has been nice so far. Can't really gauge the neighborhood too well as I rarely see anyone out. Read somewhere that there were a rash a burglaries out here in Surprise so probably won't keep the windows open if I go to bed or leave the house. Could just be paranoid community members though too.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by lewdog_5

Made it here last week! Like the house I am in and the weather has been nice so far. Can't really gauge the neighborhood too well as I rarely see anyone out. Read somewhere that there were a rash a burglaries out here in Surprise so probably won't keep the windows open if I go to bed or leave the house. Could just be paranoid community members though too.

I can confirm that there has been a rash of burglaries in Surprise. It has been going on for about a year or so and they have been making progress. I have a couple of police friends on the Surprise squad.

Most of the burglaries are high schoolers that hop walls and steal personal items like automatic pool cleaners etc. Others are more aggressive and physically breaking in to steal TV's, jewelry etc. They have caught a few of the groups and they attend the high school in Surprise.

If there is ONE state I'd be hesitant to seal in that would be AZ. With the gun laws around here, a teen burglar would have to be a complete FOOL to break in. I for one would not hesitate to shoot anyone who broke into my home.

[pandaundercover]

Originally Posted by lsaulibio

Boring? How can it be boring with all that stuff in the greater Phoenix area? You want boring, you ought to come live with me! For one, I live on a desert island, the nearest mall is 2200 miles away in Honolulu. We get two supply planes a week ( mail twice a week, and fresh produce once a week). We have twelve channel TV...if you count the weather radar and the community channel. Dial up Internet. No cars. no rise to the ground. The island is 3 1/2 miles long by a quarter mile wide. Takes 4 minutes for me to jog coast to coast. A whole lot of coconut trees, sand and coral. The temperature remains the same all year: 76 degrees at night, and 87 degrees during the day with better than a 50% humidity. Google Kwajalein. When I come to the US twice a year, I stay up all night watching commercials and flipping through all those channels. When I go into the stores, I have a dumbfounded look of disbelief at all the counters full of stuff. Its hard to make a choice. Do you think you can be bored here? I'm not. I don't have enough hours in the day to complete everything I need to do, and that's in addition to work! I think I am going to love Surprise when I finally leave Kwajalein. Hope the fishing is good.

If you'd read the whole thread, i'm not the one that was saying this place is boring. I agree with you, I've had a way more boring life in northern california than I've ever had here in Surprise. You will love it here!

[lewdog_5]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I can confirm that there has been a rash of burglaries in Surprise. It has been going on for about a year or so and they have been making progress. I have a couple of police friends on the Surprise squad.

Most of the burglaries are high schoolers that hop walls and steal personal items like automatic pool cleaners etc. Others are more aggressive and physically breaking in to steal TV's, jewelry etc. They have caught a few of the groups and they attend the high school in Surprise.

If there is ONE state I'd be hesitant to seal in that would be AZ. With the gun laws around here, a teen burglar would have to be a complete FOOL to break in. I for one would not hesitate to shoot anyone who broke into my home.

Yea sounds about what I have read about and heard. Young kids around here breaking in if an opportunity presents itself like unlocked screens on windows. The other night a car full of teens was driving through the neighborhood over and over bumping their music at about 10 pm. At one point they parked in the middle of the street by a park down the street and turned the car lights off and sat there for about 15 minutes in the middle of the road. Thought about calling it in but didn't.

I try to take the necessary steps to make sure no one has easy access but be sure if someone does get in, my handgun will be very handy.