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My wife and I will be moving down to the Phoenix area at the end of 2008 from upstate New York. Both of us are easterners and have lived in relatively rural areas the last 5 to 10 years (basically, during schooling).
My job is in Chandler right near the I10/202 junction. My wife works in biotechnology and hasn't lined up a job yet (and possibly may not line one up until we move down there).
I've been down there twice, and my wife came along the second time and we were pretty happy with the area overall and took a lot of time to look around on the second trip. Our plan right now is to rent something (probably a house or town house) for at least the first year we are down there. We want to try to keep the cost down as we both have debt from schooling to take care of, plus we want to try to save money for a down payment on a house as rapidly as possible. We are both used to having some open space and really liked the Queen Creek area, and also looked around towards Cave Creek and Carefree. We absolutely loved Fountain Hills, but I think it's out of our price range fro the time being, and didn't really seem like somewhere that rental property would be available. We liked areas that started to get off the valley floor with more scenary. Nevertheless, there were some areas of Chandler and Gilbert that we saw that would be fine to live in for a year (just not ideal). We figure we'll head down once or twice to try to line up housing starting around the late summer, but naturally narrowing things down as much as possible would probably make our lives easier.
I'd generally prefer to live more northern if possible since I expect us to be heading up towards Sedona and Flagstaff a lot on weekends. We both like hiking and skiing a lot. Having some open space to walk our 125 pound Great Pyrenees is also going to be important.
I don't mind a commuting time of an hour if it's necessary, most of the places I could have taken a job in the east would have required just as much time if not longer. My work hours will probably be typically around 8 AM till 6 PM, but I think I'll have some freedom to flex that a little bit if it would help out the commute.
I know Queen Creek and the southeastern out-lying areas do not have the roads that I'd have access to up towards Cave Creek. Any suggestions about specific places we should be looking or not looking? Is working in Chandler and still living in a bit less paved over area just not realistic?
Good lluck in your move. We are looking to do the same from Michigan. I have
found that Realtor.com has been helpful in pinpointing houses, especially in Queen Creek to be helpful. Alot of excellent buys. Where is this Fountain Hills that you are mentioning. Hope this is helpful, God Bless, Tina T.
Fountain Hills is east of Scottsdale, but from what I can tell is an extremely affluent area (I think the cost of housing there is very high). Take a look on google maps or something and you should be able to find it pretty quickly.
i moved from wilkes-barre pa to phoenix 2 years ago. i rented for a while in tempe, chandler, maricopa and now i'm considering buying in maricopa.
I personally like the maricopa area. i work near the i-10 and south side 202 intersection near chandler blvd. My commute to work is about 20 minutes on a fresh paved 4 lane highway, that crosses an indian reservation. right now maricopa is still small with a lot of newer homes available for very good prices. there is a lot of new commercial construction in town to give us the conveniences of the valley.
i also like the fact that maricopa has very little crime, mostly upscale housing and you can see the stars at night.
the bad: there is a very large dairy farm south of the town that brings an unpleasant odor when the wind comes from the south. the ride to phoenix is quite boring, a lot of flat wide open desert, but occasionally you get to see the wild horses on the reservation.
if you do choose maricopa i would also suggest staying in the northernmost developments. i have a co worker that has a 30 minute longer commute time since he is on the south side of town. Rancho El Dorado, Villages at Rancho el dorado, lakes at rancho el dorado, cobblestone farms are just a few that you can surely find a decent rental or for sale home in.
i suggest living near work. you may go play on the weekends elsewhere, but you gotta commute to work every day. In my opinion much of queen creek is too far away, and on too many 2 lane roads with too many people trying to get through them, i think that commute would push an hour- 1:15 to get you to work. but i never drove it so i'm not sure...
I came to Arizona 25 years ago also from upstate NY (Albany area). I currently live in Chandler just a couple miles from where you will be working. I have some friends that live in the Queen Creek area and their commute time is about 45-50 minutes to the same general area you would be working.
As far as Fountain Hills, Carefree and Cave Creek I think those would be killer commutes. It takes nearly an hour to get there on a good day with little traffic. Add rush hour in and you would probably be lucky to make it in 1 1/2 hours.
I agree with the previous poster in that you are probably better off living closer to where you work. You may wish to take a closer look at some of the developments in the east valley. It is not a bad drive from there north to Payson and some of the other rim communities where you can get your fill of outdoors activities. Also in the cooler months you are not far from the Superstitions where you can find all kinds of hiking and open spaces for your dog.
Concerning Maricopa, is it dead flat (like the heart of the valley), or does it have some more rolling/hilliness/topography to it? I assume 347 is the 2 lane highway you were speaking of? Is traffic on it generally pretty reasonably?
Along the lines of living in outlying towns, how is the commute from Casa Grande if you tried to shoot up I10 to Chandler and is there anything desirable about living there? There is a slight chance my wife may have a job waiting for her in Tucson (she's really specialized unfortunately and is trying to avoid switching careers if possible), and I know Casa Grande would kind of split the difference for us and make this possible. I've tried to persuade her against the whole crazy commute to Tucson thing, but she's already going through quite an upheaval leaving her job to follow me down there, thus and if it's an option I think she may need to try doing it and realize how unpleasant it is first.
Concerning Maricopa, is it dead flat (like the heart of the valley), or does it have some more rolling/hilliness/topography to it?
very flat, with mountains in the distance. no rolling hills. there are some BLM land areas around and wilderness areas for your winter hiking. i'm not all that familiar with them.
I assume 347 is the 2 lane highway you were speaking of? Is traffic on it generally pretty reasonably?
yes, 347 is the 4 lane road. 2 north, 2 south. the traffic is pretty resonable. my average commute speed is probably 50 mph when i come to work @ 6:30a, and 70 on my way home @ 3:30p.
Along the lines of living in outlying towns, how is the commute from Casa Grande if you tried to shoot up I10 to Chandler and is there anything desirable about living there? There is a slight chance my wife may have a job waiting for her in Tucson (she's really specialized unfortunately and is trying to avoid switching careers if possible), and I know Casa Grande would kind of split the difference for us and make this possible. I've tried to persuade her against the whole crazy commute to Tucson thing, but she's already going through quite an upheaval leaving her job to follow me down there, thus and if it's an option I think she may need to try doing it and realize how unpleasant it is first.
-Craig
My responses are in red
about tucson, it is one rough ride. it takes about 2 hours for me to get there on the rare occasion i have been that way. traffic along the 10 in tucson has been horrendous each time i was there. maybe someone else that makes that ride more often can speak up and help you out.
My job is in Chandler right near the I10/202 junction. My wife works in biotechnology and hasn't lined up a job yet (and possibly may not line one up until we move down there).
That area of town is an excellent part of town to live in. South Chandler/ Ocotillo, the Chandler Mall area, south Tempe, Ahwatukee are all great areas. Why waste precious time and money commuting from the other side of town when Chandler itself, or Ahwatukee is plenty good?
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I'd generally prefer to live more northern if possible since I expect us to be heading up towards Sedona and Flagstaff a lot on weekends. We both like hiking and skiing a lot. Having some open space to walk our 125 pound Great Pyrenees is also going to be important.
That's what I thought I was going to be doing too when I came here. Reality check: I-17 is an extremely dangerous, stressful drive, with hours-long backups and accidents all the time. I'm sure you'll go up north from time to time, but I doubt you'll want to do that every weekend when you find out what the drive is like. And driving on the Phoenix freeway system to the point where I-17 becomes 2 lanes north of town is the easy part-- it's from the 101 junction north to Anthem and beyond that's bad. Suggestion: Live right in Chandler or Ahwatukee, because not only is it right by the job, it's the closest part of the Phoenix metro area to Tucson. Tucson, you ask? What I've found living here after four years, and I'm a hiking nut, is that the mountains just north, east, and south of Tucson (such as the Catalinas, but there are other beautiful ranges too in SE Arizona) are some of the most scenic mountains in Arizona with some of the best hiking. The drive on I-10 to Tucson, which can also be pretty crowded and with frequent accidents, is still much easier of a drive and less stressful than the drive on I-17 heading north.
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I don't mind a commuting time of an hour if it's necessary, most of the places I could have taken a job in the east would have required just as much time if not longer. My work hours will probably be typically around 8 AM till 6 PM, but I think I'll have some freedom to flex that a little bit if it would help out the commute.
You might want to get more honest with yourself about what it is you "don't mind." Please don't kid yourself that an hour long commute on stop and go, stressful freeways is no biggie.
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I know Queen Creek and the southeastern out-lying areas do not have the roads that I'd have access to up towards Cave Creek. Any suggestions about specific places we should be looking or not looking? Is working in Chandler and still living in a bit less paved over area just not realistic?
Welcome to the West! Wide open spaces and wilderness once you're out of the city, but the metropolitan areas themselves are actually more dense than back east, believe it or not. Unless if you have several million dollars to spend, forget about having any kind of acreage out here! Pretty much everybody, except for the most affluent of the affluent, lives in a relatively tight subdivision with homes more or less close together. I'd say either accept the reality of what life in Phoenix (or other western cities, which are just as packed in) is all about, or don't move here.
That's what I thought I was going to be doing too when I came here. Reality check: I-17 is an extremely dangerous, stressful drive, with hours-long backups and accidents all the time. I'm sure you'll go up north from time to time, but I doubt you'll want to do that every weekend when you find out what the drive is like. And driving on the Phoenix freeway system to the point where I-17 becomes 2 lanes north of town is the easy part-- it's from the 101 junction north to Anthem and beyond that's bad. Suggestion: Live right in Chandler or Ahwatukee, because not only is it right by the job, it's the closest part of the Phoenix metro area to Tucson. Tucson, you ask? What I've found living here after four years, and I'm a hiking nut, is that the mountains just north, east, and south of Tucson (such as the Catalinas, but there are other beautiful ranges too in SE Arizona) are some of the most scenic mountains in Arizona with some of the best hiking. The drive on I-10 to Tucson, which can also be pretty crowded and with frequent accidents, is still much easier of a drive and less stressful than the drive on I-17 heading north.
You might want to get more honest with yourself about what it is you "don't mind." Please don't kid yourself that an hour long commute on stop and go, stressful freeways is no biggie.
Welcome to the West! Wide open spaces and wilderness once you're out of the city, but the metropolitan areas themselves are actually more dense than back east, believe it or not. Unless if you have several million dollars to spend, forget about having any kind of acreage out here! Pretty much everybody, except for the most affluent of the affluent, lives in a relatively tight subdivision with homes more or less close together. I'd say either accept the reality of what life in Phoenix (or other western cities, which are just as packed in) is all about, or don't move here.
So true!!! I live real close the 17 up in the northern area of Phx and don't ever want to travel north anywhere. I cringe whenever anyone says they want to start taking day or weekend trips up north. No thanks!! If you don't live up here (I'm only talking Happy Valley rd) then most likely you don't know how the traffic is getting in and out of town!
Fountain Hills is east of Scottsdale, but from what I can tell is an extremely affluent area (I think the cost of housing there is very high). Take a look on google maps or something and you should be able to find it pretty quickly.
-Craig
Craig, if you tell us what your price range is then it's easier to tell you if that works out in certain areas.
As has been mentioned, South Chandler and Ahwatukee, and Gilbert are all nice areas with good schools. Being close to your work is important because of the commute time and the cost of operating the vehicle, and spending two hours on the road every day. Why spend two hours driving during the week only to save a one hour drive on the week end you go to Sedona?
Queen Creek is not a good commute for you, unless you are in the areas that are to the north of Hunt Rd. Home prices are low out there, but for a reason, and they will be slower to recover than other areas.
Since you're going to be renting first, then I recommend that you rent in Chandler so you'll have more time at home, and then research these other areas. You'll know more about the distances, and the commutes, and will be able to make a good decision on the areas.
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Response to your Relocation
Good lluck in your move. We are looking to do the same from Michigan. I have
