5 Up-and-Coming PHX Areas (Phoenix: 2014, rent, crime)

[WSPHXPELON]

Thought this was cool:

5 Up-and-Coming Phoenix Neighborhoods

[LagunaMom]

Oh, ick.
West of the Coliseum? Within walking distance of the Capitol?

[Burning Madolf]

These might be great places, I don't know, but the term "up and coming neighborhood" is not appealing.

[Zippyman]

This is classic Phoenix "culture clash" - the author is advocating these tired / tough neighborhoods as a "good investment", yet he doesnt have any data to back that claim up, which is both silly and irresponsible.

It's one thing to pine for the past and talk about the "glory days" in America, (which really werent as great as we like to remember them) - it's another thing entirely to infer that "getting your hands dirty" owning one of these properties is all about just polishing off the neglect of previous ill-informed former owners. Getting your hands dirty in "gunny-slope" might mean evicting the meth-heads from your new treasure, cleaning up the needles & finding some way to secure the front door while you're at work so the druggies can't break in, steal (and pawn) all the electronics in your house.

you can complain all you want about the rows of "styrofoam & stucco McHouses", all within sight of a Costco - there's a *reason* those houses cost more than the ones in the neighborhoods mentioned.. newer houses are more comfortable to live in - and they were built *after* we had invented building codes..

for every "historic" home that was built like a tank by a "craftsman", there's at least *two* "historic" homes built out of old billboards and pallets, and covered in so many layers of drywall & cobbled DIY repairs that a tornado or a fire would be a merciful ending.

[pbenjamin]

Yes, but there are also plenty of neighborhoods where people did take the chance and renovate and now those homes are worth more than the styrofoam and chickenwire places that you refer to. The challenge is to find the next place that that is going to happen to. It is humorous to listen to the people in the suburbs who have distorted notions of what life in the city is like, as in the previous post about meth-heads and crime.

[AZgarden]

OH MY ! I totally agree Zippyman, but its nice to pretend isn't it?

[asufan]

Yeah that Woodland one is 100% still a crap area. I just looked at a 4-plex investment property a few streets North of there and there was drug dealing and prostitution going on in plain sight. Lots of people out mid day with no job to go to, gang tattoo's everywhere including eyebrows and the top of shaved heads lol. And the woodland description is a narrow strip of houses, one block from North to South, how "good" can an area be if all of this is going on a 30 second walk to the North.

I believe the Garfield area truly is up and coming, but it's been a slooow process. I remember developers speaking in my classes at ASU in 1999 or so about the revitalization going on there, but 15 years later it still seems to be in it's infancy.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by pbenjamin

Yes, but there are also plenty of neighborhoods where people did take the chance and renovate and now those homes are worth more than the styrofoam and chickenwire places that you refer to. The challenge is to find the next place that that is going to happen to. It is humorous to listen to the people in the suburbs who have distorted notions of what life in the city is like, as in the previous post about meth-heads and crime.

Not in the suburbs - my homes are *in* Phoenix, and I'm firmly in the camp that supports living in the city if you work here. But I'm also of a mind to fire up the bulldozers when necessary to clear up poorly-planned, poorly built, obsolete & blighted neighborhoods before the rot sets in.

There arent enough people with good incomes who want two-bedroom, one bath homes as a long-term lifestyle choice. That's the house you buy because it's cheaper than rent until you can afford your "real" house. Bankrupting yourself and/or wasting your free time overimproving a tiny house in a bad neighborhood isn't an "investment", it's foolish. If people wanted them, builders would be building new ones - how many builders offer a two-bed, one bath option currently?

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Not in the suburbs - my homes are *in* Phoenix, and I'm firmly in the camp that supports living in the city if you work here. But I'm also of a mind to fire up the bulldozers when necessary to clear up poorly-planned, poorly built, obsolete & blighted neighborhoods before the rot sets in.

There arent enough people with good incomes who want two-bedroom, one bath homes as a long-term lifestyle choice. That's the house you buy because it's cheaper than rent until you can afford your "real" house. Bankrupting yourself and/or wasting your free time overimproving a tiny house in a bad neighborhood isn't an "investment", it's foolish. If people wanted them, builders would be building new ones - how many builders offer a two-bed, one bath option currently?

When I say suburbs, I really mean "suburban areas" which include a sizable portion of the city of Phoenix. I would venture to say that a much larger percentage of pre-1950 homes are well built than the ones that are being thrown up today. Cheap housing in the area really got its start when John F. Long built Maryvale in the 50s.

I think that you are confused as to the nature of the houses in the historic areas. There are small homes like you describe but many are not. Our house, for example, has 3 bedrooms (one is now a den) and 3 baths and we have a guest house with another bed and bath. The smaller homes that exist are often appealing to young professionals, empty nesters and the like. The reason that such homes aren't being built these days is that the people that want them prefer an urban lifestyle and the places that new homes are being built are on the edge of town.

[kytoaz]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Not in the suburbs - my homes are *in* Phoenix, and I'm firmly in the camp that supports living in the city if you work here. But I'm also of a mind to fire up the bulldozers when necessary to clear up poorly-planned, poorly built, obsolete & blighted neighborhoods before the rot sets in.

There arent enough people with good incomes who want two-bedroom, one bath homes as a long-term lifestyle choice. That's the house you buy because it's cheaper than rent until you can afford your "real" house. Bankrupting yourself and/or wasting your free time overimproving a tiny house in a bad neighborhood isn't an "investment", it's foolish. If people wanted them, builders would be building new ones - how many builders offer a two-bed, one bath option currently?

There is a whole new generation of people who have decided that they don't need over a thousand square feet per person to live or to be happy. these same people are moving in droves to urban historic properties and downsizing their lives and their debt. This isn't just a phoenix thing, it's happening in just about every major American city. I do agree that the only neighborhood on this list I would even consider would be Garfield and it's even a little sketchy for me, but to call someone foolish for wanting to revitalize an area is just that. Foolish. I live in Roosevelt district and from what I understand it was VERY crime riddled not that long ago. Pretty sure that if you purchased a property here ten years ago you've done pretty well for yourself and you are continuing to watch you equity grow as the neighborhood continues to improve.