Phoenix area, Queen Creek, Chandler Info request : V-Twin Forum: Harley Davidson Forums

Peacekeeper · 07-30-2007, 08:19 PM

Out of the blue I have a chance to go. Good career opportunity. Been looking at AZ for a couple of years. The wife FINALLY said yes!
Looking for info on everything, houses seem dirt cheap and taxes seem low. School info, traffic info, demographics, crime, anything else pertinent. I know the riding is second to none out there! Thanks.

06deuce · 07-30-2007, 09:09 PM

I know a lot of guys from work that live in the area and really like it. My wife and I have checked it out a bit but didn't really like it. The public schools are hit and miss. I think most of the good ones are in Scottsdale. The private schools are great but really, did I say really expensive (www.greatschools.com is a good resource if you have school aged kids)

Make sure you check out the houses carefully, especially the cheap ones. There has been a lot of abandonment and that pool that hasn't been cared for in some time may be more trouble than its worth. I think the main thing that has kept us from moving out there is that everything is pretty prefab and cookie cutter. If this isn't a concern for you then I think the consensus is that its a great place.

I'm sure someone who lives there can provide much better info than I. Good luck with your move.

DesertRat · 08-06-2007, 11:25 AM

I would think you might want to look close to where you work. Rush hour in Phoenix can really suck. Also, housing in the Phoenix area isn't what I would call cheap. My daughter just bought a nice little three bedroom for only $370,000. Good luck, though, and enjoy Arizona, I know I do.

route66paul · 08-06-2007, 01:07 PM

There are other citise to live in there. The eastern side of the state is Higher elevation and is cooler in the summer, but does get snow. 3 mos of 100+ degrees is quite hot. It is even hot at 3 am sometimes.

nixdad · 08-06-2007, 01:22 PM

I guess one of the main questions is how far you want to drive. Where ar you going to be working? How old are the kid(s)? What are you looking for in a house, and how much are you willing to pay? How close, or far, do you want to be from Phoenix, if that's where you are looking.

Peacekeeper · 08-06-2007, 01:41 PM

The position I am looking at is in Chandler. The folks there now are telling me 13 miles SE of Chandle is Queen Creek. Suppose to be a little bedroom community that is well taken care of. I don't do urban well so in or around Phoenix is a no go. I drove through Phoenix during rush hour and it still was not as bad as here in NC. My daughter is 10 months old so schools are important but I will have time to learn the area and do what I have to do to get her in the good districts. Real estate still seems very cheap compared to Charlotte but I am wondering what the problem is, 3br 3ba 2000sf pool home with garage for 180,000. Thats cheap where I live. Can't touch that here for under 250000. BTW it is 100 deg in charlotte today with 90% humidity. A dry heat is always welcome but hot is still hot! The 330 days of riding a year really has me motivated...Thanks for all the replies.

DesertRat · 08-06-2007, 02:36 PM

That's cheap around here too. Check very carefully. Sounds too good to be true for the Chandler area.

DesertRat · 08-06-2007, 02:53 PM

Well, I have to take back what I said...Queen Creek looks to have some pretty good prices. Hope it works out for ya. You'll love riding in AZ. When it's cold, ride in the valleys and when it's hot ride in the mountains.

Peacekeeper · 08-06-2007, 02:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesertRat

Well, I have to take back what I said...Queen Creek looks to have some pretty good prices. Hope it works out for ya. You'll love riding in AZ. When it's cold, ride in the valleys and when it's hot ride in the mountains.

I love it out there, rode out last year for the first time, cancelled the rest of the tour and stayed in AZ, took one day and scooted up to vegas, took a picture, lost a grand and came back to AZ. Camped out in the desert outside of Tombstone, Sedona, Flagstaff and marble canyon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it all works out. Thanks for the info.

nixdad · 08-07-2007, 04:17 AM

If you haven't checked out ziprealty.com, try that web site out. That is one we used when we moved from Washington State to Az. They seemed to have the best search results when looking for specifics on a home.

detailer57 · 08-08-2007, 07:30 PM

Yeah, ziprealty.com. Pretty good site, lots of information.

Queen Creek is just growing and now with the housing market what it is, it is a buyers market.

I am on the west side of phoenix, glendale. Moved from NJ in 95. Never regretted the move.

They have what are called "charter schools" in AZ. If you do not like the regular public schools, look into them. Classes are smaller and teachers are more attentive. There are good and bad in them also.

As far as making contact with a lot of people from the east side, (where you are looking) Check out this site. It is a "meetup" site, but not a dating site. I have met a lot of good riding people, well just good people. Tell them MARK sent ya. They will be very receptive and helpful. My profile is there.
If I an help, let me know.(Don't be scared of ERIC)

You WILL NOT regret the move. Year round riding.

http://motorcycle.meetup.com/59/

Mark

azhole · 08-26-2007, 02:20 AM

Housing in the valley has gone up alot in the last 4 years. Queen Creek is growing, and has some of the less expensive pricing left in the valley, but I think they're catching up on the ability to overcharge for the housing.
If you can get through the summer heat, the rest of the year is great. You can be here in the desert and ride near year round. I ride year round, but then I'm nuts. You can ride 2 hours and get into snow in the winter, and great cool weather riding in the summer in 2-3 hours.
If you want to run to LA it's only 6 hours or so. I don't need LA, but maybe somebody else would for a change of pace.
Vegas is only 5 hours away if you need to 'get away'. What happens in vegas...is you lose your money
We've got ghost towns, caverns, canyons, mining towns, skiing, hiking, hunting with high power rifles, fishing and lakes, 4 wheeling, mexican drugs if you're into that, ultralight flying, several small airports if you're into flying, the colorado river to play and gamble at, indian casinos for shows and gambling, many golf courses, aggressive drivers since our population increase, really nice riding areas

We used to have massive desert partys, but they've built housing over the old great places. They've also built over most of the farm fields, but we still have a few, till the moneys too attractive, who needs food anyway

bill corkey · 08-26-2007, 07:45 AM

i live in laughlin and visit phoenix occasionaly. The summers in phoenix are as hot as laughlin; that is brutally hot, some days are close to 120 degrees. And it does not cool much at night. Right now in laughlin it is 93 degrees at 5:14 am.
Think about the heat before you decide to move. ; your garage will be like an oven all summer, hard to do any work on a bike unless you can afford to air condition the garage. Me and the wife are looking to move back to North Carolina soon.

route66paul · 08-26-2007, 11:04 AM

A lot of speculators have invested in realty in that area. You may get a bargain from what it was last year from one who invested to late. If you are working in the area, it is a good idea to be within 10 mi of work. There are many nice sections to live in and they do have good schools. If you go too far out, the traffic will drive you nuts. It is worse that most parts of L.A., even on the weekend.
The heat is killer and the sun can burn your hide in 5 min, be prepared with sunscreen.

Peacekeeper · 08-26-2007, 12:06 PM

Quite a dilema here, have to decide between Phoenix and Denver. Researching both intensly.
Thanks for all of the post.