Moving to Phoenix from DC

[DetroitN8V]

Originally Posted by PHX2013

You may want to research Gilbert too. It's rated one of the safest places to live in the U.S. Also very cost effective and family friendly.

Personally I think it's too far away from downtown and the neighborhoods I prefer. And I'm not sure the commute would be ideal. But if safety is number one on your list can't go wrong here.

Commuting from Gilbert to the PV Mall area? Why? OP, there's no reason to subject yourself to an extra commute to live in Gilbert of all places.

I'd look in 85254 or 85258 personally.

[smoochaz]

There are plenty of nice areas that you can rent for <=$1600

[ScottsdaleMark]

It's amazing how many different directions this thread has gone. Truly, we all have our own opinions!

I think the area immediately surrounding the PV Mall is a great place to live. There are a lot of apartment complexes to the immediate northwest and southwest of the mall but other than that it's mostly suburban, single-family homes in the most immediate vicinity. Particularly to the east of Tatum it is extremely desirable (85254) but I also like most of 85028 and 85032. A little future north is Desert Ridge which is very much has the safe, clean, new look a lot of people are going for.

For just renting you should have no problem finding a home in any of these areas for your budget, therefore, why don't you look a bit to the east, just west of Scottsdale in the Shea/Cactus corridor. Minutes to work, Scottsdale-adjacent, only 30 minutes from downtown on the weekends, plenty of rental options, and if you like the area, homes are currently listed in the area just east of the mall for 350K and higher.

I would say that that part of northeast Phoenix is one of my favorite areas in the Valley. There are so many nice and interesting neighborhoods, from the homes nestled up against the mountains as you get over toward the Dreamy Draw area, to some lovely older brick or block home neighborhoods tucked in all over the place. It's a very pleasant area. I believe that area would all feed into either Scottsdale Horizon or other Paradise Valley Union schools, which are generally regarded as decent to good depending on who you talk to.

[KurtAZ]

I second ScottsdaleMark's advice. The area around PV Mall...especially East of the mall and into Scottsdale is a great place to live. PVUSD is a good district as is Scottsdale Unified. If you are looking at Great Schools...AZ schools recently took a huge hit due to the adoption of a new standardized test. If you are going purely off of ratings then take that into consideration.