Moving to Phoenix from Seattle! (Mesa, Glendale: real estate, renting, movers) - Arizona (AZ) - City-Data Forum

arodrigues88 · 09-22-2009, 01:23 PM

Hello everyone. My boyfriend and I are very interested in relocating to Phoenix sometime soon. We recently paid a visit to Phoenix during the month of August and absolutely loved it. We practically drove around everywhere just to take everything in. We have narrowed down our favorite cities to live in to Scottsdale, Glendale, Maricopa, Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, and Anthem. I am wanting to know if these are nice places to live and to start a family in. Any good jobs around in those areas? We are looking to buy a house, near good school districts. Please give me any insight what you know. Also, can you tell me how much it would cost to move from Seattle to Phoenix? I am getting a price of about $4,000 and that seems a little high. Thanks!

observer53 · 09-22-2009, 01:34 PM

You've narrowed down your choices to seven cities spread all over the Valley.

Got it!

What a lot of us here suggest is that where you live needs to be largely associated with where you work. This is a very spread out area, and commute times can be long and traffic heavy. The job market is not great anywhere in the area right now; you haven't mentioned what sort of field either of you are in. You should not move here until you find work, unless you have a huge financial cushion to hold you over.

I would take Maricopa off your list unless you find work in the southeast Valley/Foothills area. Even then, the commute in and out of Maricopa can be a bear. The schools were getting better, but are now getting worse, as the housing collapse there has allowed people to move in who could never have afforded to live there before, and the school population is changing for the worse.

arodrigues88 · 09-22-2009, 01:46 PM

I guess those were just the areas we liked. I mean we stayed in Scottsdale and drove down Indian School road and there were some parts where I wasn't impressed. What about Tempe? I have been reading about Maricopa and saw the housing situation which (in a way) works for us because we are looking at buying for under $175,000. I have also been reading other forums where people say that the schools are not the best in Phoenix. I am in the Travel industry and my boyfriend is in IT. Seattle doesn't have the greatest traffic either and I spend about an hour to and from work on most days. Is that what the traffic is like there? Most of the job offers have been in downtown Phoenix, Tempe, the airport, or Scottsdale. Money is obviously an issue so I'm trying to get a sense of how much it is down there in order for us to move. Any more thoughts?

observer53 · 09-22-2009, 02:43 PM

Tempe is a great place to live, but then I am biased. Good schools, excellent parks and recreation department, public transportation (including light rail to downtown Phoenix), etc.

Parts of central Scottsdale are older, but if you drove down Indian School, you are very close to Old Town Scottsdale, which is a great entertainment/shopping area; homes in that section of town are older, but may be reasonably priced. Scottsdale schools are generally rated as good.

Maricopa housing is cheap because home values simply COLLAPSED there. Many people upside down on their mortgages.

You could get on Realtor.com or some of the other real estate sites and see what you can get in your price range in these various areas.

Some school districts in Phoenix are very good. It's a LARGE city, with many separate school districts. So, you need to sort that out... there are some websites that rate/rank school districts that might help you.

An hour commute is not unusual here, that's why a lot of people who get tired of that try to put work and home closer together.

pbenjamin · 09-22-2009, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arodrigues88

I have also been reading other forums where people say that the schools are not the best in Phoenix.

That is a pretty broad statement and a bit inaccurate. School districts here have nothing to do with city boundaries. While the city of Phoenix has districts that are not well thought of -- Phoenix Union High School District and most but not all of the elementary districts that feed into it come to mind -- there are parts of Phoenix where the school districts are among the better ones, such as Scottsdale Unified, Paradise Valley Unified, Kyrene Elementary and so forth. I would not avoid a home in Phoenix until I knew more about what district it was in and what schools would be serving the neighborhood.

rjrcm · 09-22-2009, 11:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by observer53

tempe is a great place to live, but then i am biased. Good schools, excellent parks and recreation department, public transportation (including light rail to downtown phoenix), etc. ...

texan4me · 09-22-2009, 11:57 PM

Are you just renting a truck and car hauler or hiring a moving company? We moved here (Seattle) from Phoenix 2 yrs, ago It cost us about $1900 for the truck $300 for the car hauler and the killer was the 1200.00 in gas!!! I hate it here...BTW We are considering moving back in June if not their Dallas,TX. We lived in Litchfield Park and never had any problems.. North Phoenix, Peoria Surprise I feel are good areas. My husband was in the Air Force so we were close to the base. How long have you lived in Seattle?? I would be lying if I didn't say that I am really concerned about the economy in AZ, like alot of places. I have several friends there that are unemployed and have been for quite some time, so I am not sure what the problem is there.????? I find it hard to get the interest of interviewers from afar. I have always just moved and then found a job, I am in the accounting field. With the state of economy being what it is it is definately a scarier endeavor. I am confused as to what to do and I am tired of being confused. My whole family lives in AZ but I do not want to make a move I will regret.

arodrigues88 · 09-23-2009, 09:03 AM

Hello. Well I have been in WA for about 3 years but my boyfriend has been here his whole life. I just hate it here. I mean Seattle is nice and the seasons are good but it's way too depressing here. Yeah we were looking into Peoria or Surprise as well. I have applied for many jobs in AZ and received some replies but they want me to start like next week and I obviously won't be there. So yeah we might just have to wait until we get there. If it comes to that we might just move there for a few months and then find a job but I know there has to be places where they will hire you from afar. I was looking at the UHAUL trucks and the car hauler but it might be better to just hire movers. Well I think you should go where your heart tells you to go. If it's AZ then move back. :-)

LocoAZnative · 09-23-2009, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by observer53

Tempe is a great place to live, but then I am biased. Good schools, excellent parks and recreation department, public transportation (including light rail to downtown Phoenix), etc.

Parts of central Scottsdale are older, but if you drove down Indian School, you are very close to Old Town Scottsdale, which is a great entertainment/shopping area; homes in that section of town are older, but may be reasonably priced. Scottsdale schools are generally rated as good.

Maricopa housing is cheap because home values simply COLLAPSED there. Many people upside down on their mortgages.

You could get on Realtor.com or some of the other real estate sites and see what you can get in your price range in these various areas.

Some school districts in Phoenix are very good. It's a LARGE city, with many separate school districts. So, you need to sort that out... there are some websites that rate/rank school districts that might help you.

An hour commute is not unusual here, that's why a lot of people who get tired of that try to put work and home closer together.

Quoted for Truth.
Tempe is pretty much what you are probably looking for. Don't listen to the westside folks you will be stuck in a hour commute no reason to deal with that.

fcorrales80 · 09-23-2009, 01:45 PM

Hey welcome! I'm "from" the Seattle area. Lived in Olympia, Stadium District (Tacoma), and Magnolia and Eastlake (Seattle). My father was stationed at Ft. Lewis the most out of any world wide location during his 25 year career and we were lucky to have lived in the area for the longest amount of time. We (my mom and brother) even stayed in Seattle when my father was stationed overseas in Korea/Guam, etc. We visited but didn't want to live in those places, LOL, and was an excuse to stay/live in Seattle again! Graduated from high school there. From what you describe, I would also go with Tempe and I personally love that it is close to light rail. Also, look into the Central City (Phoenix). The Madison S.D. is an extremely good district and is located near Central Ave and the historic neighborhoods in Uptown and Melrose District (area and neighborhood not school district).