MOVING TO PHOENIX, AZ June 2012

[goolsbyjazz]

Originally Posted by Kimballette

You are completely wrong. Surprise is not a retirement community.

No Surprise is not a retirement community and lots of families live there.
Again, Glendale, Litchfield and Peoria might be places to consider.

[Shadow Dude]

If you're worried about crime check out CrimeMapping.com - National Map

**Keep in mind that not every police department reports. Surprise, Peoria and Glendale do but Phoenix does not. So the map will look like it's not showing a lot of crime but there is definitely more.**

[LadyRamos]

Hello again.....its 35 days until we arrive in Phoenix, and we are very excited. We have been stationed overseas in South Korea for the last 2 years.
Thank you to those of you who sent me info on potential realtors for renting a home.
Has anyone tried Desert Edge Property Management?

[pandaundercover]

I live in Surprise; it is very nice and has a nice family oriented feel, and feels safe to live out here. I've heard the Dysart district is pretty good as far as schools go. There was a publishment earlier this year of school ratings around here... lots of Dysart rated a B, with a few A's.

I'd check into the following cities: Litchfield Park, Avondale, Surprise, Peoria, and Goodyear. Parts of El Mirage are very un-ideal and crime ridden, but the areas of it that border Surprise and Glendale are fairly newer communities. We rented there for a year and it wasn't horrible. It's not as nice as Surprise, but you WILL be able to find a 4/2 house in your rent range there, that is near the schools and would be a much closer drive to the two community colleges, than living in west Surprise, Goodyear, or Peoria would offer. southeast ends of Surprise may also have good options for your rent range, and are again, nearly 10 minutes closer to those colleges than west Surprise. (West Surprise is much nicer, in my opinion, but it adds 10 minutes to commute). Litchfield Park is my favorite city out here, close to everything (especially both highways), but it is the toughest to find homes available in. But if you do some intensive rental hunting, I'd suggest you be open to checking out what is offered in all those cities and viewing pictures and even and using google satelite to see how it looks. (Good satelite is a nearly 4+ years out of date, but it offers some general good views of what neighborhoods look like and if there's parks around and so on; do keep in mind there have been developments everywhere though).