Yet ANOTHER neighborhood question! Need YOUR expertise... (Tucson, Oro Valley: for sale, apartment)

[brooks2007]

Hi all, I know these questions get tiresome, but I have been looking through your threads and can't find as much information as I am looking for so please bear with me!

We are moving to Tucson from NC, hubby already has job in the foothills area, yeah!

Where near the foothills would YOU move if you had 2 boys ages 12 & 14? This will be their 6th move and at this age transition can be tough. Are there family oriented neighborhoods that have a bit of space between them, but may allow the boys to meet other kids and or places to walk or bike to?

I've looked on the tarmls and seem to prefer the "mature" n'hoods with mesquite trees, but can't really get a sense of the overall neighborhood. I'd prefer a place with 3 - 4 bedrooms (3 with a guesthouse or studio) and some n'hoods may have more of that type of arrangement than others.

Looking at SE to foothills to NE up to Oro Valley, and excellent schools (MS & HS) are a must.

Any ideas of particularly cool neighborhoods? I will be workign with a realtor, but they cannot comment on people or family status of neighborhoods so wanted the local opinion on great n'hoods near the foothills.

Thanks in advance!!!

[RickTucsonHomes]

Originally Posted by brooks2007

Hi all, I know these questions get tiresome, but I have been looking through your threads and can't find as much information as I am looking for so please bear with me!

We are moving to Tucson from NC, hubby already has job in the foothills area, yeah!

Where near the foothills would YOU move if you had 2 boys ages 12 & 14? This will be their 6th move and at this age transition can be tough. Are there family oriented neighborhoods that have a bit of space between them, but may allow the boys to meet other kids and or places to walk or bike to?

I've looked on the tarmls and seem to prefer the "mature" n'hoods with mesquite trees, but can't really get a sense of the overall neighborhood. I'd prefer a place with 3 - 4 bedrooms (3 with a guesthouse or studio) and some n'hoods may have more of that type of arrangement than others.

Looking at SE to foothills to NE up to Oro Valley, and excellent schools (MS & HS) are a must.

Any ideas of particularly cool neighborhoods? I will be workign with a realtor, but they cannot comment on people or family status of neighborhoods so wanted the local opinion on great n'hoods near the foothills.

Thanks in advance!!!

This is very true, it is a fine line we realtors walk trying to assist a client.
While your realtor can't recomend neighborhoods and schools I certainly hope they directed to the tools to use to do your research. For demogrpahic information, City-Data is hard to beat. I live in Oro Valley, the link will provide you tremendous amount of demographic information on Oro Valley, and depending on where in the Foothills your husband will be working, not a bad commute from Oro Valley to the foothills area.

As for schools, I was very happy with the schools here from a parents standpoint. I am in the Copper Creek Elementary, Wislon Middle School and Ironwood Ridge HS area. So from a personal experience I am happy with them, but also if you looks at the Great Schools website, they all rate very high. You can use this website to research other schools in town as well as use the individual schools website.

Looking for an area with mature trees etc? On the tarmls search, set the "year built" for the home to say prior to 1990, this will give you areas that will tend to have more mature landscaping. Out here where I live we have brand new subdivisions with newly planted mesquites, and we have 25 year old areas with plenty of mature landscaping. FYI, though many homes builtprior to 1995 will have polubutylene piping. Just be aware if that is a concern to you.

I am sure you will gets lots of valuable input from the other posters. Use that along with your own research to help guide you. But more importantly come out and take a look around and get a feel for the area. There are many great areas to live all over Tucson, and all can have a different feel to them. Come visit and see what suits your needs.

P.S. Good Carolina BBQ is hard to find here, so load up on sauce and bring it with you!

[brooks2007]

Thanks for all of the information, Rick. I have seen a couple nice listings in Oro and see the prices are not as high as being right in the Foothills.

I appreciate your suggestion to fine tune the search by year to help with the landscape issues, but had not given much thought to the PolyB pipes. Do you all have a lot of problem with them?

There are a lOT of things I'll miss about NC, but looking forward to finding new positives in AZ. BBQ is definitely one of them - maybe I'll have to open a NC Q Shack!

Any posters live in or near the foothills or can recommend any commutable n'hoods with good schools and character?

[Bummer]

Originally Posted by brooks2007

We are moving to Tucson from NC, hubby already has job in the foothills area, yeah!

Thanks in advance!!!

Out of curiosity, Brooks . . . what do you mean by job in the foothills area?

The Foothills Area to many of us could include everything from around the Foothills Mall on the West all the way to Sabino Canyon and beyond on the East.

Not trying to "pin you down" but commuting in Tucson can be a booger, especially during the Winter months. For example, commuting from Oro Valley to the La Encantada area, or vice versa, could be a nightmare for your husband.

[brooks2007]

Thanks for asking for the clarification... it is closer to Sabino near North Campbell and Skyline area (near La Encantada). I have heard about your famous traffic!

I am curious though, why would Oro Valley be bad in the winter... on "paper" it does not appear to be a bad commute? THIS is why C-D is so amazing... only locals can give you this kind of insight.

Thanks!

[RickTucsonHomes]

Originally Posted by brooks2007

Thanks for asking for the clarification... it is closer to Sabino near North Campbell and Skyline area (near La Encantada). I have heard about your famous traffic!

I am curious though, why would Oro Valley be bad in the winter... on "paper" it does not appear to be a bad commute? THIS is why C-D is so amazing... only locals can give you this kind of insight.

Thanks!

Traffic in Oro Valley is heavier in winter months because we have quite a few winter visitors from out of state. The whole commute thing can be tricky. A good commute or bad commute time can be subjective depending on what you're accustomed to. Also where you live in Oro Valley will be a factor. If you live on the southern end down around Magee, the La encantada area is a fairly quick drive. If your are buried in a subdivision on the NW edge of OV then you can add a good 20 minutes to your commute. And of course if you are driving in rush hour, then it can be a "booger" as Bummer said. I'm at LaCanada & Tangerine, in non rush hour traffic time I can get to La Encantada in 20-25 minutes.
Never drive durring rush hour!

[brooks2007]

AH... gotcha. I'd forgotten about the Snowbirds! Great info about commute & locations, I really do appreciate that.

Can you or anyone else tell me if you were to pick a neighborhood with character near La Encantada (commutable ANY direction- it could go east and south, as well as toward Oro) where would you look?

Can you also tell me about pros & cons of "unsubdivided" properties? I noted one that you had to grade your driveway and I imagine near a wash that could get pretty ugly. Good news, no HOA dues. Here in NC wea re in LAND OF HOAs. They are omnipotent and all powerful- LOL! Or they like to think they are... I had permission from my neighbor to put a (Home Depot) directional "Home For Sale" sign on HER lawn to help to drive traffic up my culdesac (she's on the corner by the main entrance) and our HOA asked my neighbor to remove it. She refused as it is NOT against convenants, but they still didn't like it.

[phoenixscorpiogirl]

I think around the Sabino Cannyon area is nice. My son stayed with his dad out there for a while and he really liked Catalina High School- (Not to be confused with Catalina Magnet Hish school which is in town)CHS has really good sports teams too.
Just a few words of caution, Ive lived in Tucson for many years b/f moving to Phx, I gotta tell you the traffic is bad there. It's very slow and the freeway system sucks! Also, I don't know how you feel about wildlife but if you live arounnd the foothills be prepared to maybe onne day square off with a javelina or deal with tranantulas, coyotes, and scorpions. I've worked out there and have seen with my own eyes trantulas walking across peoples driveways and had families of deer and javelinas walk through the yards of the place I was working at.
And during monsoon seasonn you could end up with a washed out road!
Other than that-it's very beautiful up there, I like to hike there and the serenity and peaceful ness are wonderful.

[brooks2007]

Good to know - I guess we will try to narrow the search down to a smaller radius, which will automatically limit the number of n'hoods.

I lived in Tucson in the late 80's but am asking questions as I know it has changed dramatically since I was last there. I lived in an apartment on the north side and had a scorpion INSIDE my apartment and a tarantula on the step. No getting around those critters, but I agree the farther you go into the desert the wilder it is.

I used to crack up at the people living in the foothills were interviewed on TV after their pocket dog got carried off by a coyote. They moved to the hills to enjoy the inherent beauty and nature of the area, but were shocked when it crossed their property line!

Might need to start hitting those practice ranges that were just mentioned in another thread!

[phoenixscorpiogirl]

I remember a few years ago a BEAR had wandered into a busy city park ....it was a park that was out there more(off Tanque Verde) and the animal had wandered in through the many washes that run through Tucson....crazy stuff-u just never know what you may come into contact with.