Old ASU grad wants to relocate to Tucson from Kentucky, needs advice on neighborhoods (Phoenix: best neighborhoods, sale)
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So, how's that for a descriptive title? I tried to get it all in there. My husband and I are 50 and 53, our youngest child is 13, and my 83-year-old mom lives with us. We will probably move when our youngest is out of high school in five years, which means it will likely just be the two of us, since my mom's health is poor, but it's awfully tempting to move in the next year if the right situation presented itself.
I know the Tucson area a little, having lived there one summer in 1992 when I was a college student at ASU. I loved it then, but I also loved Phoenix back in the day. I lived in Phoenix from 1989 to 1996. However I haven't been to Phoenix since 2002 and it's too big now and traffic is too crazy. I lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, until 2006, but left and moved to my home state of Kentucky due to the traffic and home prices and crime of Los Angeles. I looked up stats and the population of Phoenix was 1 million when I moved there in 1989 and now it's 4 million. Too big. Tucson had 450,000 residents back then, and now it's 900,000. Much more manageable. I always found the mountains circling Tucson, the trails, the culture, and the food really appealing. A city that didn't want to be Phoenix. I worked at the newspaper that summer and really got to know the city. At the time, I rented a charming house in the Sam Hughes district. The professors from the university were away for the summer and rented it to me for super cheap just to keep it occupied.
My husband and I want to move west and we've been considering several different states for pre-retirement and Tucson keeps popping up because I love Arizona so much and he loves the west, but he's not familiar with the desert. So we're going to plan several trips out to Arizona/Tucson so he can get to know the area and make a firm decision. I have two friends who live in Tucson who have given me advice, but I'm seeking multiple points of view so that I can find out the best neighborhoods for us to consider as we look at homes and areas to live.
Here are the important points: We both work remotely, and we will continue to work at those same jobs after we move, so jobs aren't an issue. We do need very good connectivity for online access. We want it to be a one-story house since we intend to age in place and live here into our 60's and 70's and beyond if possible. We also want to have at least a 3-car garage and at least a half acre of land if possible. We are spoiled living in Kentucky and we don't like to live on top of our neighbors. So living down in the city area is probably out.
We are looking for homes in the $800,000 to $1.1 million price range. We both need a home office, which can be a bedroom turned into an office, so at least 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, and definitely a pool. A mountain view is essential. We like a luxurious home with nice finishes, we're not into fixer-uppers. I do want it to have a good school district for resale, and in case we move while our youngest is still in high school, so places like Oro Valley are totally out, since it seems they don't even have a good high school in place.
So far, our friends are telling us to look at Catalina Foothills, Vail and Corona de Tucson, and to avoid places like Tanque Verde and Oro Valley. I'd love to get opinions on this and thoughts, whether it's pro or con for these suggestions, and any other neighborhoods we should consider. I reached out to a few builders, but the amount of spam they sent me back was a total turnoff.
I live a stone's throw out of Oro Valley, my take is you'd want either the Foothills or Oro Valley. Personally I like the Oro Valley area due to quick and easy access to Phoenix when you need it. We have horse properties out here on 1-5 acre lots with mountain views. In fact we just shopped around for something like that and with your budget you should be able to find something already fixed up.
In Arizona, none of the school districts are great, just some are better off than TUSD. The local school district doesn't seem to mean squat in terms of resale. Between open enrollment between districts, private schools and charter schools it isn't as important to pick a school based on the school district as it was twenty years ago. Some of the most expensive homes and neighborhoods in Tucson are in lousy school districts.
My son just graduated a few years back from one of the Basis Charter Schools. If all you want to do is be able to send your children to ASU, U of A or NAU any public high school in the foothills or Oro Valley will suffice. But for anything else, highly recommend Basis. Out of my son's class of 55 graduating seniors, 3 got into actual Ivy League schools, another dozen got into almost Ivy's like U of Chicago, Stanford, etc... Then another handful into competitive state colleges like USC, U of Michigan and the like. One student got an appointment to the Naval Academy and everyone left over got a full ride scholarship to one of the Arizona colleges.
If you decide the heat will be too much, and you don't care that much about big city amenities, and you decide the rush hour traffic is crazy (it's crazy), then take a look at Prescott. If you don't live way out of town you can get gigabit internet speeds. Views are great, quality of life is high, living expenses are cheaper.
I lived in the 85745 zip code... not the Grant/Ironwood Hills area but the Tucson Mountains foothills. The Vista del Cerro area, south end of Tortolita off El Camino del Cerro. Large lots, mine was 2+ acres with a view. Most of the homes were built in the 80s and 90s. Quiet, country-like, yet convenient to I-10.
There is one place a lot like what the OP describes, in the price range, etc:
As an ASU grad myself, I found it best not to advertise it if you wander about in the UofA area. Especially if/when the Devils beat the Wildcats in football.
Not sure why you have an aversion for the Tanque Verde area. That is a nice area and the schools are better than others. You just need to avoid the TUSD school district. They have poor schools and property taxes in this district are constantly getting raised to try to compensate the poor performance.
Here are some homes that sound like what you described in your post
As an ASU grad myself, I found it best not to advertise it if you wander about in the UofA area. Especially if/when the Devils beat the Wildcats in football.
LOL. I was an ASU student when I lived in the Sam Hughes district the summer I interned in Tucson. I learned to keep it on the down low.
Quote:
Originally Posted by beckerd2
Not sure why you have an aversion for the Tanque Verde area. That is a nice area and the schools are better than others. You just need to avoid the TUSD school district. They have poor schools and property taxes in this district are constantly getting raised to try to compensate the poor performance.
One of my friends who lived there told me that the schools in that area ranked low compared to others in the state. Obviously I need to do my own research. Thanks for the link!
Quote:
Originally Posted by grmi66
I live a stone's throw out of Oro Valley, my take is you'd want either the Foothills or Oro Valley. Personally I like the Oro Valley area due to quick and easy access to Phoenix when you need it.
Another friend mentioned to me that Oro Valley is politically very conservative and filled with a lot of retired individuals who contribute to that statistic. Is this accurate? One of the reasons we're leaving Kentucky is to have a more liberal political climate. I see Tucson as a blue dot in a state that is slowly turning away from being red. So I don't want to move into a red pocket. (not to make this a political conversation, but trying to gather information.)
Another friend mentioned to me that Oro Valley is politically very conservative and filled with a lot of retired individuals who contribute to that statistic. Is this accurate? One of the reasons we're leaving Kentucky is to have a more liberal political climate. I see Tucson as a blue dot in a state that is slowly turning away from being red. So I don't want to move into a red pocket. (not to make this a political conversation, but trying to gather information.)
It is a bit more conservative than Tucson, but just on my block I have about the most diverse block I've ever lived on. Couple of retired military families, a married gay couple, Black and Hispanic families, Asian families and some old school liberals from east coast cities.
Arizona is not like Kentucky, we tend to lean more Libertarian than anything. Not much "God & Country" around here.
LOL. I was an ASU student when I lived in the Sam Hughes district the summer I interned in Tucson. I learned to keep it on the down low.
One of my friends who lived there told me that the schools in that area ranked low compared to others in the state. Obviously I need to do my own research. Thanks for the link!
Another friend mentioned to me that Oro Valley is politically very conservative and filled with a lot of retired individuals who contribute to that statistic. Is this accurate? One of the reasons we're leaving Kentucky is to have a more liberal political climate. I see Tucson as a blue dot in a state that is slowly turning away from being red. So I don't want to move into a red pocket. (not to make this a political conversation, but trying to gather information.)
First, your friend is mistaken. Tanque Verde is a relatively new school district in terms of K-12. I'd bet it is actually one of the better public school districts in the state. The HS was built about 15 years ago.
The area is made up more of acreage type lots than most other parts of suburban Tucson. It's also got a unique feel as it is nestled up in the crook between two mountain ranges. It is quieter out there because there is no reason to go out there unless you live there or are going to Reddington Pass to hike or something. No through roads to anywhere else. Lot of horse people are out that way. The terrain is less rugged out there and probably has less saguaro cacti than the foothills but a lot of palo verde and other desert plants.
As far as the political makeup Tucson is "mostly blue around the U". In other words if you want a more liberal environment you are going to get that closer to campus and less so in the suburban areas of Tucson. Not a perfect analogy but it is somewhat similar to Austin, Tx area in that respect.
My son just graduated a few years back from one of the Basis Charter Schools. If all you want to do is be able to send your children to ASU, U of A or NAU any public high school in the foothills or Oro Valley will suffice. But for anything else, highly recommend Basis. Out of my son's class of 55 graduating seniors, 3 got into actual Ivy League schools, another dozen got into almost Ivy's like U of Chicago, Stanford, etc... Then another handful into competitive state colleges like USC, U of Michigan and the like. One student got an appointment to the Naval Academy and everyone left over got a full ride scholarship to one of the Arizona colleges.
I am well aware of this mindset. The alternative is to go in-state and wait until graduate school for elite out-of-state schools. I remember a guy from Brophy Prep in Phoenix told me a lot of his classmates went to Georgetown, Harvard, Princeton, Notre Dame, Yale, Dartmouth, etc. But he chose U of Arizona because it was only about 1/10 as much in total cost while still getting a good engineering education.
With that said, there are Tucson schools that have good AP programs if the student is motivated. One doesn't just have to go to a Basis school.
As for the living, I tend to prefer northwest Tucson towards Marana. There are neat neighborhoods growing out off of Ina and I-10. It's also real close to Phoenix via I-10 to get to ASU for alumni activities. I went to both ASU and U of A. Bear Down!
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