Advice for Family Relocating!!! (Mesa, Chandler: real estate, home builders, transfer)

[keryld]

Hi. We are a Canadian family with two boys (elementary and high school) being transferred to Az in July this year. My husband will be working near Gilbert and we are researching homes, schools and neighborhoods in Gilbert, Chandler and Mesa. Our hometown here is smallish and quiet and the boys are shy and are very uncomfortable moving. We need to move to a really nice, quiet, family neighborhood where the boys will be safe walking to school and finding their way around. We know nothing, so we need some guidance. We need an active Christian church for all 4 of us, we need good schools (public vs private?) WE don't have private here. I think most importantly for us is deciding between the 3 areas so we can start looking at real estate. Can anyone tell us things we would not know in beginning this search? Thanks ahead of time!!!!

[WriterDude]

Well, statistically, Gilbert is the 2nd safest city in the US. Chandler is very nice.

I'm not exactly sure about the housing market or your budget, but the Bridges at Gilbert development has something like 12 home builders with nice homes starting in the $200k range (US$$). For "nice, quiet, and safe," I don't think you can go wrong with any of the new build developments in Gilbert south of the 202 Loop. Just google Bridges at Gilbert. ‘The Bridges’ at Gilbert steps up as region’s next big housing development - East Valley Tribune: Real Estate

Gilbert seems to have a very strong religious community. Lots of LDS churches, for sure. I don't have a problem at all with Mormons (knew a lot of Mormons when I served in the Marines, and they were terrific), but I know that may be an issue for some people.

Sorry, I don't know enough about the schools to give advice there.

[JTW2013]

Our family is also transferring so I did a lot of research on the schools and the towns, etc.

One unusual thing about the East Valley is that the school district lines do not match up with the city boundaries. You really want to look in a particular school district instead of looking for a city. Does that make sense?

Mesa's school are not comparable to Gilbert and Chandler so I'd cross that off your list. However, like I wrote above there are subdivisions in Mesa that are in other school districts. For example, Eastmark is a new master planned community that is in Mesa but in the Gilbert and Queen Creek school districts which are both well regarded school districts.

All of the subdivisions we looked at in the East were very family friendly. They are full of kids. I worried about the LDS issue in some of the Gilbert subdivisions. I don't know if that's a legitimate concern though. We looked in some of the new developments in Gilbert (Higley schools which are highly ranked). The communities and homes are very nice and there are nice amenities like parks and pools. They are full of kids. But I noticed Mormon churches built into the neighborhoods which made me feel like an outsider.

How far of a commute does your DH want? Have you done some googling to find a church in your denomination or worship style? If your church is going to be a big part of your social life, I'd start with looking for a church first and then look for a neighborhood close to the church.

[ajonesaz]

I live in Gilbert and I always get so irritated with the whole mormon thing. I think there might be one or two mormon families on my street. Percentage wise, that's like 10-20%....

They are perfectly nice people so I don't know why this always comes up making it sound like Gilbert is some mormon cult town where you will be shunned if you are not part of mormon religion.

Rant over... Gilbert is a great place to live and I feel it has maintained it's small town feel even though the town has gotten so big. They have a great downtown are now full of some really great restaurants and a very good farmers market every Saturday. The schools in Gilbert are very good and overall provide a good learning environment.

Also, what kind of Christian church are you guys looking for? A larger church or a more intimate church, I can recommend one.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by ajonesaz

I live in Gilbert and I always get so irritated with the whole mormon thing. I think there might be one or two mormon families on my street. Percentage wise, that's like 10-20%....

They are perfectly nice people so I don't know why this always comes up making it sound like Gilbert is some mormon cult town where you will be shunned if you are not part of mormon religion.

Rant over... Gilbert is a great place to live and I feel it has maintained it's small town feel even though the town has gotten so big. They have a great downtown are now full of some really great restaurants and a very good farmers market every Saturday. The schools in Gilbert are very good and overall provide a good learning environment.

Also, what kind of Christian church are you guys looking for? A larger church or a more intimate church, I can recommend one.

Well, as a search of threads here will indicate, there are some issues in the Gillbert elementary district.

//www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...l#post35217910 //www.city-data.com/forum/phoen...t-schools.html So, as indicated above, the OP might want to look at areas of Gilbert that are served by other districts.

The rest of your post is spot on.

[ibarrio]

Gilbert has issues like any other city. The district is still in turmoil, the city is run by religious interest (even if the population is only 10-20% Mormon). It is a good place to live but is not perfect as no cities are.

[JTW2013]

I don't think it tells the whole story to simply look at the percentage of the total population that is Mormon.

What percent of non-Hispanic caucasians are Mormon? If you are a non-Hispanic caucasian, your perceptions will be based on the people who live in your neighborhood, go to school with your kids, etc. I would bet that the percentage of non-Hispanic caucasians in Gilbert is significantly higher than 10-20% Mormon.

It also generalizes too much to apply the small percent to the whole city of Gilbert. There are surely parts of town that have a higher percentage of Mormons than others. I would guess it's much higher in areas right around the temple.

[keryld]

Thanks everyone. We sure appreciate this.
Would you be able to suggest a bigger, but yet very genuine Christian community church that has a strong youth component? We are in an alliance church here but are comfortable with Baptist, Lutheran, anything truly Bible based.
Also, are there particular areas in Gilbert you would definitely recommend we look at? We are looking around the 300 mark for a house.
Wouuld you recommend that we stay with just Gilbert schools, Chandler or Higley? I think those are the 3 regions. I have printed out the boundary maps. Is there one that you think is really outstanding? I know they are all unified, but would you recommend one?
Do you think we are best to go north, south, east or west Gilbert? I'd like our boys to be able to walk to school eventually. So, I am looking at schools with a 9-10 rating and then trying to look in those areas. We will look up the Bridges area, as suggested.
Really appreciate all your kindness!!!!
Thankyou

[M.Unit]

Originally Posted by keryld

Thanks everyone. We sure appreciate this.
Would you be able to suggest a bigger, but yet very genuine Christian community church that has a strong youth component? We are in an alliance church here but are comfortable with Baptist, Lutheran, anything truly Bible based.
Also, are there particular areas in Gilbert you would definitely recommend we look at? We are looking around the 300 mark for a house.
Wouuld you recommend that we stay with just Gilbert schools, Chandler or Higley? I think those are the 3 regions. I have printed out the boundary maps. Is there one that you think is really outstanding? I know they are all unified, but would you recommend one?
Do you think we are best to go north, south, east or west Gilbert? I'd like our boys to be able to walk to school eventually. So, I am looking at schools with a 9-10 rating and then trying to look in those areas. We will look up the Bridges area, as suggested.
Really appreciate all your kindness!!!!
Thankyou

So we just moved to the Eastmark area which is north of the Bridges (but a little East of it too) and has much easier access to the highways...they're building a brand new elementary school right at the corner which will open for the new school year (part of the Queen Creek district which is an A rated district). There are also a couple of charter schools onsite within the community which are also free.
You can find several homes within that $300k mark for brand new depending on the size of house/lot you want.
There are quite a few non-denominational, Bible-based Christian churches nearby that are big enough to provide strong youth sevices.
That's just our situation and you can find yourself in a very similar spot if you look anywhere throughout Gilbert/Higley area (both of those districts are A districts)...Chandler also has nice areas and very good schools but it's an older suburb so there are certainly areas that are more run down but you would notice that immediately. You'd just have to double check the school in your area.
There are many churches throughout all these suburbs that will fit the bill...you can PM me if you want more specific info.

[slowdude222]

A lot of Gilbert smells like cow poop.