Future outlook of Queen Creek - affluent or ghetto? (Phoenix: 2014, rent)

[SageCats]

Originally Posted by Ranger21

Depends if the majority of the population out there is as under educated, under employed, and rife with single parent households as the majority of the valley is.

Hmm, I'd say that's true in parts of Mesa, Glendale, and Phoenix (regarding the single parent household.)
And yes, undereducation or undervaluing education is a problem. People will say that certain school systems are better like Chandler and Tempe. Those towns probably won't go downhill as fast as the areas that have problematic school systems, too.

[Ponderosa]

Development patterns over time in the metro suggest exactly the opposite of what you imply. Older areas decline and newer areas improve. Maryvale did not start out at the top of affluence, but that whole area was middle class in the 1980s. It declined as people moved out to the exurbs. People move further and further out for new homes, the latest in shopping malls, theaters, etc and the old areas turn into, while not Maryvales, certainly less desirable areas. It's already happened to vast areas of Phoenix proper, Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale, and even Chandler.

[elcajones]

Ponderosa, while I agree with your point, where in Scottsdale is an undesirable area? It seems to be a well rounded city. There is some older less fancy spots but, still well kept safe, nice areas to me.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by elcajones

Ponderosa, while I agree with your point, where in Scottsdale is an undesirable area? It seems to be a well rounded city. There is some older less fancy spots but, still well kept safe, nice areas to me.

South side. It's not a dump and it is better than it was a few years ago, but when people of means move to Scottsdale they don't live down by McDowell anymore. The high rollers live way up north far up north.

I didn't mean to imply that everything turns into Maryvale. Those kind of decays tend to occur when something is contiguous to a bad area. I expect much of the area people call Laveen to eventually go that way because south Phoenix is there. I have to say though, that that area still looks rather decent, maybe attributed to the HOAs that are in place now as opposed to 30 or so years ago. I don't expect Chandler to turn into Maryvale either - just to get dated and populated by older, empty-nesters. My own hood is like that now, too and many of the newcomers to the area are looking to the latest builds farther down the road.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by elcajones

I lean more toward affluent for QC for sure. There are a lot of high end houses there. It's too far out to have the inner city issues of Maryvale for certain.

If the ghetto were to ever spread that far I'd be truly shocked. Phoenix would have to be Detroit at that point. I say this as someone who lives very close to Maryvale, and it takes me forever to visit my friends in Queen Creek. To me I don't understand... it's so far out! It felt even further when I lived at the Peoria/Sun City border.

[Sandduner]

Originally Posted by Pink Jazz

Currently, Queen Creek is a town where families cannot afford to live in Gilbert. This used to be a similar situation for Gilbert when it used to be the town where families cannot afford to live in Chandler.

For Queen Creek, it seems there are two possible future outcomes - will it become another affluent area like Chandler and Gilbert, or will it become another low-income ghetto area like Maryvale? I would like to hear some opinions.

That's a really inaccurate statement about not being able to afford to live in gilbert.
Just curious, have you been into The Pecans, circle G, ranchettes, orchard ranch, or Pegasus ??
I'm a home builder and build valley wide. I live in circle G and can afford to buy in gilbert, but some of us like a little more space. I building my new home in the pecans right now.
Just like any area of town, there are 150k homes in Gilbert and 950k homes in qc.
Hopefully it won't become like many of the newer areas in gilbert with homes on zero lot lines. (Cooley station for example). You asked for opinions, so that's mine.
Was there a point to your topic?, or were you just wanting opinions because the subject had you curious?

[ibarrio]

affluent or ghetto? No more middle class? It is ok if Queen Creek remains a solid middle class community.

[PoppySead]

QC has an awful lot of new cool stuff going on for a ghetto. lol This is silly. QC is for people with enough money to get ranches and mini farms. Plus the home prices are rising by the day, even in San Tan. I'd suggest if buying, make your move before the MaryVeez sets in a hundred years from now.

Now if you want an east side Maryvale, you should look into Florence.

[PoppySead]

Originally Posted by ibarrio

affluent or ghetto? No more middle class? It is ok if Queen Creek remains a solid middle class community.

We're melting.....melting......melting.......

[JTW2013]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

Development patterns over time in the metro suggest exactly the opposite of what you imply. Older areas decline and newer areas improve. Maryvale did not start out at the top of affluence, but that whole area was middle class in the 1980s. It declined as people moved out to the exurbs. People move further and further out for new homes, the latest in shopping malls, theaters, etc and the old areas turn into, while not Maryvales, certainly less desirable areas. It's already happened to vast areas of Phoenix proper, Mesa, Scottsdale, Glendale, and even Chandler.

There comes a point where the drive is too far. Why would Phoenix be different than any other metro area? In most metro areas, close in suburbs with good districts and good transportation options have higher prices and appreciate better than exurbs. I've read here before how Phoenix is unique and everyone will keep moving out further and further to find a shiny new house. But I don't understand why Phoenix's growth patterns would be different than other cities.

In other cities, people moved to the suburbs and the suburbs kept growing further out from the city center. The jobs followed the freeways. But then the exurbs became less desirable than the suburbs that were close to the jobs.