Anyone know anything about Surprise, AZ (Phoenix, Glendale: foreclosures, loans, how much)

[ibarrio]

Personally, I wouldn't go north of Bell simply because of the renter to homeowner ratio in the neighborhoods. A lot of those houses were purchased as investments.

Really? North of Bell and West of Grand you actually have less rental homes and more established neighborhoods. Sun City West, Sun Village, Kingswood Parke, and Sun City Grand...

[jco]

Originally Posted by blisterpeanuts

Speaking of renters, how can you find out this ratio? Is there a website somewhere, or do you just find out by driving through the neighborhood and observing the neglected lawns etc.

I'm sure that there is a way. We know because we were "watching" for about a year before we built a home here. We went to all the communities (and every builder in the community) to see if they were selling to investors. We purchased in a community where all the builders sold to owner occupied buyers. We also have family living in or having lived in eight different subdivisions in Surprise.

[jco]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

Really? North of Bell and West of Grand you actually have less rental homes and more established neighborhoods. Sun City West, Sun Village, Kingswood Parke, and Sun City Grand...

I'm talking about the few communities that aren't retirement communities. Sun City is a whole different topic. As I've said, Surprise is a safe city. You're not going to move into a "ghetto" neighborhood if you live in Surprise, but commute and renter communities are a factor. I told my husband that I said south of Bell for the easy commute and he said I should have stated south of Greenway as most of the residential neighborhoods right of Bell are more towards Reems. Everyone has their own opinion!

[ibarrio]

Google the Map and look North of Bell. There are not many neighborhoods north of bell that are not retirement. Kingswood Parke and maybe another. I live in Kingswood Parke and there are very few renters (I think the HOA sets a limit).. so most are owned and occupied by families.

I think a better assessment would be North of Bell has more parks and more Golf Courses...Feel free to use your zoom to see all the green parks, green belts, and golfing.


Link to Google Map of Surprise.

[earthmama2organic1z]

middle of nowhere comes to mind...

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

We bought in Surprise Farms and had to sign a document stating that we intended to live in the home as our primary or secondary residence. I think there was something in there that stated if we were going to rent it out that we needed to have lived in the home for a two year period before we could do that. Guess it just depends on the HOA that monitors your area. We are hoping that there will be mostly families that are also buying there homes when everyone moves in. Guess it is possible for some renters to move in unnoticed by anyone.

[wit-nit]

1..there is traffic all over the valley, no one area is immune to that. 2...there is drug use all over the valley, no one area is immune to that either.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by nitram

1..there is traffic all over the valley, no one area is immune to that. 2...there is drug use all over the valley, no one area is immune to that either.

Nitram,

I even heard that there was a drug problem across the nation. Guess it doesn't matter where you live. One thing about that. I knew people that put there kids in private school to keep them safe and away from drug's. Turns out they said that there is just access to more expensive drugs. Guess no one is imune. Better not move to Surprise. Some one might be using drugs there.

[diggitydot]

We've lived in Surprise for almost 4 years and have had a pretty good experience. I'm not overly fond of AZ, in general, but living in Surprise makes it easily endured. Our family really enjoys the libraries, (particularly the one across the street from the Spring Training Center...they have a great program for beginning readers so they can practice reading to therapy dogs), the spring training centers in both Surprise and Peoria, the easy access to shopping and dining, and some pretty decent schools.

If someone held a gun to my head and made me choose somewhere live in AZ for the rest of my life, I'd pick Surprise.

[DreamworksSKG]

They have lots of surprise parties for birthdays?

- jeff
Winchester, MA