aa moving to phoenix where should i live (Avondale: condo, crime)

[cactusland]

Originally Posted by LuvHighDesert

https://www.city-data.com/forum/calif...llennials.html

**** back off to your CA loving thread and leave this one alone, it has nothing to do with the crap you're spewing.

[Thomasaz]

I'm going to laugh my you know what off if I find out your grandmother lives in Gilbert.

[goolsbyjazz]

Someone mentioned the baseline corridor better known as South Phoenix! The area has undergone some gentrification and while homes have been built your $150k price point may still be a bit low. It would not be a bad commute to downtown Phoenix, though. You also may want to try some of the new condos being built downtown.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by TempeAZnative

Sounds like 24th st and Broadway is more what you a looking for.

No it is not. That is a snide remark with questionable motivation that is better ignored. 24th and Broadway is the heart of the Phoenix "ghetto". It is a crime ridden AA/Latino area that people live in when they can't live somewhere else. It's got liquor stores and people on the corners drinking from paper bags, needles on the sidewalk etc. You don't want to be there.

Maryvale too is not a great choice. I would not advise it. It's populated by long term, lower income people and new "arrivals" from Mexico and points south. There are better choices though I think the only place you will find homes for $150 near downtown would be there.

You are constrained by budget, of course, but the nicest homes you are going to find under 200K (but not much) are going to be in an area southwest of downtown generally known as Laveen. Look for homes in the area along roads like Southern, Broadway, Lower Buckeye, with cross streets from 51st Ave to 99th Ave. This is a newer area, the homes are modern. It's working class, diverse. There are new, modern strip malls with Walmarts, and Costcos, and dozens of chain restaurants, nail salons, etc. You are going to see more crime than sleepy Gilbert, but if you are not involved in drugs and human smuggling that is not really going to affect you.

Laveen is very convenient to downtown, too. Probably a 1/2 hour commute at the worst.

Locate a realtor that specializes in Laveen properties.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by malefiscen

thx for the input guys. i realize 150k won't work but it doesn't make me feel better staring down the barrel of 200k. i'm a solid midwest rust belt kind of girl. .

You will be better off if you come to terms that it is not the Midwest here and things are different. Quit trying to compare what is here compared to what is there, just accept what is here, if that makes sense. I'm from the Midwest, too, and find housing to be pretty reasonable here for the most part. It's Phoenix.

[ShampooBanana]

Keep in mind that a $150 home in the midwest is approximately equal to a $225k home here as far as what you're all-in payment will be (not including HOA if you have one). The property tax difference has that big of an effect. If you're going to be working Central Phoenix, though, your best best is perhaps along the Baseline Corridor as someone suggested (for less commute), but if you don't mind the commute as much as you say you will get a good amount for your money and better overall neighborhood in a place like Goodyear, north Glendale, or parts of Surprise where you'll still have a commute under 45 minutes to downtown.

[Java Jolt]

Start your search in the west valley but avoid Maryvale and some of the south Glendale neighborhoods, very sketchy.

Avoid Tolleson too.

If you don't mind a heavy traffic commute try searching in northern Avondale, Goodyear, or Litchfield Park, they are some of the nicer areas in the southwest valley.

The west valley as a whole is fast-growing with reasonable home prices and good safe family-friendly neighborhoods.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by malefiscen

thx for the input guys. i realize 150k won't work but it doesn't make me feel better staring down the barrel of 200k. i'm a solid midwest rust belt kind of girl. the only upside is the property tax is virtually nonexistent so the note when it comes down to it won't be too different but 200k holy moly. unfortunately i don't have the luxury of flying down every weekend so i'm relying on threads like this as well as my realtor to help me figure out where to go. i'll be down to look around and make an offer. if i'm missing anything let me know. appreciate it.

Be prepared for zero architecture, housing stock that is all-too-similar, endless strip malls, and beige everything. Are you sure you wanna make this move?

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by BIG CATS

Be prepared for zero architecture, housing stock that is all-too-similar, endless strip malls, and beige everything. Are you sure you wanna make this move?

No. No. No. It's OK to hate on Phoenix, especially in August but your implication that things are "prettier" in the rust belt is just wrong. Sure there are great streetscapes back there but where you average Joe lives and shops is so much nicer here it defies comparison. Phoenix is landscaped to the nines with colorful shrubs, art work along the freeways, trees and shrubbery in even Walmart parking lots. Most cities have standards for commercial building landscaping, color, lighting etc. Most new developments have green areas and parks/play areas for kids. . There are very few abandoned boarded up buildings and no collapsing factories dotting the city in the parts where almost all of us live. No potholes, no heaved and broken sidewalks. It is all fresh, clean, and new. Honestly if your average small town rust belt look is what one wants, Maryvale is the place to go. If a rust belter wants an idea of how it looks here, think about the new part of your town or the nearest bigger town with the new houses, and stores and roads - out by the highway. That is Phoenix, except here it extends 25 miles in every direction from the center.

[BIG CATS]

Originally Posted by Ponderosa

No. No. No. It's OK to hate on Phoenix, especially in August but your implication that things are "prettier" in the rust belt is just wrong. Sure there are great streetscapes back there but where you average Joe lives and shops is so much nicer here it defies comparison. Phoenix is landscaped to the nines with colorful shrubs, art work along the freeways, trees and shrubbery in even Walmart parking lots. Most cities have standards for commercial building landscaping, color, lighting etc. Most new developments have green areas and parks/play areas for kids. . There are very few abandoned boarded up buildings and no collapsing factories dotting the city in the parts where almost all of us live. No potholes, no heaved and broken sidewalks. It is all fresh, clean, and new. Honestly if your average small town rust belt look is what one wants, Maryvale is the place to go. If a rust belter wants an idea of how it looks here, think about the new part of your town or the nearest bigger town with the new houses, and stores and roads - out by the highway. That is Phoenix, except here it extends 25 miles in every direction from the center.

Ill give PHX the highway nod, as well as the landscaping, no doubt. But the landscaping also only paints a pretty picture. Drive down Central and youll see pretty cacti landscaping, but go just around the corner south of the tracks and there are empty lots everywhere, graffiti'd everything, potholed streets, bums, etc. Its no different than anywhere else! But as far as homes, shopping, city life, etc, goes? No comparison. Its an endless sea of brown here. Rust belt cities can sometimes showcase a dozen or more housing styles on one block alone. No joke. We just don't have that here. And strip malls are strip malls, no matter where you go. I see nothing different between strip malls in El Mirage, AZ as I did in St. Charles, IL.


I cant help but think that your idea of Rust Belt is centered around Detroit. That's not the case. Rust Belt pertains to an entire region, not just cities. And what you describe only really fits horrid ghettos or old neighborhoods in poverty-stricken cities. Most of the Midwest is clean as a whistle, with fresh air, lush forests, clear lakes and rivers, thick, lush grass and towering greenery. Its not like Detroit at all. And besides, Detroit is on a massive rebound. Sad to say, but their downtown is still eons better than ours. How depressing is that?!?!?!