Possibly moving to AZ. Q&A time.

[Irish]

My wife and I are contemplating moving to Arizona from Las Vegas with our 3 month old baby. I know there are several members who live and reside there and would like to get your opinions on moving to the state.

We're no strangers to desert heat after having lived in Vegas for quite a few years and we've spent a few nights in the Scottsdale area for work but I'd like a more well rounded viewpoint. My experience there is limited to work meetings, the Salty Senorita and a few really good restaurants, Bandera was excellent.

We'd be looking to purchase a home within the greater PHX metro area due to my job requirements and frequently flying out of Sky Harbor airport, about 3 round trips a month. My wife is a stay at home mom so there isn't any need to worry about commuting stuff for her.

What are the pros & cons of living in the PHX area? Where would you recommend looking at purchasing a house? Our obvious preference is a good neighborhood and somewhere with the possibility of having a nice sized yard without your neighbors being on top of you. I've read good things about Scottsdale (pricey), Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert & Goodyear. What about going north or west to be closer to the Tonto National Forest for hiking, camping, etc?

I'm open to hearing any and all recommendations and advice.

[500grains]

Very nice area: Cave Creek. Prices are down and you can get a really nice place for 300K. Anthem is more affordable and still very nice. Scottsdale is way overpriced. And huge.

Want to get out of the metro feel entirely into donkey desert? New River is the place. One exit north of Anthem, which is the northernmost real suburb, and easily commutable to PHX.

Stay out of Phoenix proper due to the Mexican drug gangs. Also Phoenix proper is way hot. Get up to Cave Creek, Anthem or New River and enjoy summer temps that are 10 degrees less than PHX proper.

The buffet restaurants in Las Vegas are better than in PHX.

[Irish]

500G - Thanks for the recommendations. I'll be down that way next week for work but I'm going to try to set some time aside to check out the areas you mentioned. It'll be a busy week and I have a Vickers/VSM class in Casa Grande on Saturday but I definitely want to start looking while I'm down that way.

How's the Ben Avery shooting facility? Are there any other shooting areas people typically use in that area? What about Lake Pleasant? In that area is there easy access to Tonto National Forest for camping, hiking, etc?

[Cecil Burch]

Anthem and Cave Creek are nice. So is the far NW Phoenix/Glendale area. Nice and affordable, good schools. Look at Happy Valley Rd, Pinnacle Peak Rd, west of the I-17.

I will be at the VSM course if you want to chat more.

[mkemmerl]

It has been a couple years since I lived out there, but I concur with what everyone else said regarding the places to live..

Ben Avery is a nice range. I spent more of my shooting time at Usery Mountain as it was much closer for me. We used to do our informal shooting in the washes and hills near Saguaro Lake. Lots of opportunities in that area for 4-wheeling too, if you are so inclined.

We did a lot of camping along the Mogollon Rim. I even named my son Payson .

Good luck,
mk

[Irish]

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I'm in the process of mapping out a day for checking out different areas/cities in the PHX area.

[M4arc]

I spend a lot of time in Phoenix around the Biltmore/Scottsdale area and it's nice. My buddy lives in Fountain Hills and if I moved out there that's where I'd start looking.

There's some property just up the road from there that butts up to Tanto National Forest and I spent a good deal of time looking in that area. There are screaming deals and you could walk right out your back yard into the national forest.

1.6-1.7 million dollar homes were going for 500-600K back in November. Massive, beautiful homes that overlook the valley are being blown out. The last time I was there 8 out of 10 were for sale so it's still risky even at 500-600K but if you can afford to hold onto it until things turn around I think you'd be sitting pretty.

The only thing that sucks are the rattlesnakes. My buddy gets them on his driveway all the time and when I was out there in early November one of his dogs got nailed by one right where my rental car was parked. That's bullshit.

Keep in mind that I'm an outsider that just travels to Phoenix so I don't know the area all that well but I think I've identified a few nice ones

[Iraqgunz]

Irish,

Make sure to contact me when you are down here. As for looking at property near the forest, all I can say is that eveything is fairly close so you can still live elsewhere and make the drive. The area where markm and I go shooting is where Tonto is and I can drive there in a little over an hour.

There are also mountain close to where I live and they can be reached in about 30-45 minutes. I have spent the last few days exploring out there.

[LHS]

I wouldn't recommend Anthem or New River if you plan to go into Phoenix for a daily commute. You're stuck on the I-17 to get into town, and if there's a wreck, you're hosed for your commute until you can divert to the 101 and the 51 Southbound. They are nice places to actually live, provided you don't need to drive into metro Phx daily. The far West side (Avondale, Tolleson, parts of Glendale) are similar, in that you're either on surface streets or stuck on the I-10. At least the east side has multiple inbound freeways (US 60, SR 202, etc)

The Arcadia neighborhood (on the border of Phoenix and Scottsdale) has some nice homes, and as others have mentioned, everything is coming way down in price. Steer clear of anything on the north slope of South Mountain, it's ghetto central. Similarly, avoid Maryvale (north-central Phoenix) for the same reasons. Parts of Mesa (around Fiesta Mall, for example) are shitholes. Most of Chandler and east Mesa are nice. Tempe's pretty much dedicated to Arizona State University, so it's pricey and crowded by comparison.

Way south you have Maricopa and Casa Grande, which are just too far for a daily commute IMHO.

If you've got the bucks, Fountain Hills and Paradise Valley have some really nice homes that are heavily cut down in price.

[500grains]

Regarding shooting, Ben Avery can be very crowded at times. If you just want to shoot out in the desert, a cop told me you have to do it outside of Maricopa County. I am not sure if that is true, but apparently his department thought it was because he made me pack up my stuff and leave (no citation though).