Young Married Couple Relocating from Raleigh to Phoenix Metro area

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by azriverfan.

For someone who is going to purchase a 300-400K home, renting an apartment including a nice one will not be 50% higher than purchase costs. I would never advocate buying without renting here first. There are so many variables to consider that you can't attain until you move here. Furthermore, everything looks nice on the internet and you truly can't appreciate an area until you see it in person AND spend some time living there. During the day, everything looks great with the bright sunshine and the stucoo homes with red tiled roof. At night and on weekends, it's a different story. Plus when you make friends and meet people in the area, they can share information and insight that you won't get from people posting opinions on this forum.

My comment was relative to buying a new versus a "used" home, not renting. You have to rent while it is built whereas you can move right in on a resale.

[Goober13]

Learn the areas before buying. Maybe find an apartment with a minimal lease, or get an extended stay 1 bedroom full kitchen suite for several months at somewhere like Budget Suites in Central or North Phoenix for around $250 a week or so. There is no lease on those, or you can pay by the month for less than $800 all utilities and cable paid. You can put your stuff that won't fit in the suite in storage.

Then you are not tied to a lease, and on your time off you can explore different areas for shopping, night life, demographics, and types of housing before you get stuck with a home somewhere that you will have a hard time selling should it not work out.

Plus with your wife not working, you can see which direction her employment takes her.

[khuntrevor]

I would buy in North Central Phoenix, between the 7s, and between Missouri and Northern. Best public and private schools. A home in a good school district is rarely hard to sell. The cautious way is to rent, but...consider moving costs, and living in Budget Suites? Yuck. I bought my last three homes, sight unseen. I just assumed everything was broken and made my offer accordingly. You can do a lot more research about properties from your home computer than you can getting herded to multiple offer situations by a realtor.

[observer53]

Be careful about what you see about homes online. I went and looked at a home for a member here who was moving from out of state. The pictures on whichever homes for sale website looked really nice with a lovely backyard and pool. On personal inspection, I don't see how the yard in the picture could have been the same house, unless it was taken years ago. There was no landscaping, the pool was empty, and the porch roof ripped down. Overall, the pictures grossly misrepresented the home.

[breakingbad]

I very recently felt that renting is a waste of money, but I think it is a good idea for all the reasons AZRIVERFAN mentioned. I think that pretty much any where you go in the PHX area you can find good food and shopping. Ditto for golf? Maybe....I shop I like the west side of I-10 near Chandler/Ahwatukee because it is easy to get downtown for sports, but I think it is congested and traffic is bad. I went out to Queen Creek because I used to live there and the streets are familiar (I am moving from Houston, TX in two weeks). Actually, the road system is very easy compared to the VA, MD, MN, TX, WI etc because they run east/west and north/south...give us an update...and good luck.

[duckfan123]

Thank you all for the comments. We will likely do what many suggested and get an apartment on month-to-month terms while we look for a house. Given what everyone is saying about traffic, it probably makes sense to get my wife a job before we settle down somewhere.

I did not know there was a lot of cash buyers snapping up the good buys.. so thank you for that knowledge.

We hadn't previously considered buying a new home, but that is not a half bad idea. If we were to do a new construction, where would one find information on the internet? Is there a good site to use? We have primarily been using Zillow thus far.

We have found quite a few options in the 350-400 range that we would be happy with. Excited to come out there, now if only we weren't moving in the middle of summer!!!

[Java Jolt]

Originally Posted by autism360

I recommend the East Valley, Chandler,Ahwatukee,Tempe or Gilbert. Low crime,lots to do and good highway access

I would also recommend east valley locations such as these.

West valley has lots of newer homes for good prices in safe areas but freeways and mass transit aren't as good.

East valley has a better transportation network and better choices for restaurants I think.

[PlainWhite]

Originally Posted by Java Jolt

I would also recommend east valley locations such as these.

West valley has lots of newer homes for good prices in safe areas but freeways and mass transit aren't as good.

East valley has a better transportation network and better choices for restaurants I think.

And let's not overlook Scottsdale, which has better restaurants and more things to do than all the other suburbs combined, plus great schools.

[Skywayy2001]

Originally Posted by PlainWhite

And let's not overlook Scottsdale, which has better restaurants and more things to do than all the other suburbs combined, plus great schools.

Because most people on this board hate Scottsdale for whatever reason. I second this recommendation to look at scottsdale though. Rent in n. phx or Scottsdale and get to know the valley...area codes 85050, 85254, 85028, 85258, 85016, 85021 might be good to start looking at.