relocating this summer...

sweetie6609

from central PA! 

What tips can you ladies give me?  What areas should we stay away from? What hospitals are the good ones/bad ones?? I'm a Registered Nurse & DH is a carpenter.  From what I've found, I should be able to find a job out there fairly easily, but what about him?  Thanks so much...i look forward to talking to you ladies more & hopefully meeting some of you once we get out there. 

NesJas

Hello and welcome to AZ, soon I guess. As far as hospitals go, St Joe's is a good one. My SIL is a RN there and loves it. As far as where to live, I would say Chandler, only because I live here. But we have a lot of ladies from different areas here so I will let them tell you how they feel about it. But it's been great living where I do and I love it and so does DH. I was raised in Phoenix, lived in Tempe for a year and now I am in Chandler and I like it.

 

Good Luck on your search.

jasnem

Hi there!  I would definitely rent before deciding for sure where you want to be.  There are so many areas to live in and so widespread, you don't want to end with a long commute for the long term.  I live in Surprise, and it is a beautiful, safe, and cute little community in the northwest.  I also really like Litchfield Park, Gilbert, Chandler... If you are thinking about starting a family soon, I would definitely look online at the school districts too.

A friend of ours is going into nursing and got a job no problem just a month ago, so I don't think you will have any issues at all.  I know construction is way down here, but not that familiar with other areas of carpentry so not too sure on this one.

 Good luck with your job hunt and move!  Look forward to meeting you when you get down here!

PS The weather is no fun in the summer.  I moved here in the summer too! Just stick it out, the winters are GORGEOUS!
 

cnj050607

Hi and welcome!

We just moved here this past summer in July. I think it wasn't so horrible moving here in the summer, but we also had movers to bring all of our stuff in the house. We moved here from MA and my husband's company paid for movers so we did not have to do much of anything.

We also live in Surprise. We did a lot of research before chosing to live up here. My husband works in downtown Phoenix, but he doesnt mind the 45 minute commute because his commute into Boston was an hour and a half each way on a good day. But if you dont want to drive far to work, you'll want to chose a town / city near where you want to work.

The schools up here turned out to be pretty good. I noticed that the schools in Peoria were high up on the list as well. We have not had to use any of the hospitals so I cant help you there. I know construction is going to be a hard field to get into right now but who knows. Anything can happen.

Again, welcome to the board! Looking forward to meeting you when you make it out here.

Future Mrs.Amador

Welcome (soon)!!! We moved here at the end of May from Upstate NY and we love it!!

We currectly live in Tempe and really like it because it's close to everything.

We are starting too look for a house next week and we'll be looking in Chandler, Gilbert and Ahwatukee (if that's how it's spelled). We really love the "East Valley" because of how close it is to everything!

I haven't had to use a hospital yet so I can't help you out in that aspect.

What are you guys moving for? Just something new? I look forward to seeing you more and maybe having another GTG once you get here.

Texasbride109

We rented in Tempe/Chandler before buying and I am SO GLAD WE DID!

We now own in North Scottsdale and I love it here! It dpends on what you want. We wanted a new home...and Tempe and Chandlier are all pretty much built out and no new homes going on out there...unless you want to live way out and deal with traffic.

Have you ever heard of MD Anderson. #1 Cancer hospital according to US Worold Reports for the last 3 years. They are building an affiliate hospital here. I went to MDA back in Texas and all the staff has worked there forever  and loves it. It says something when people never leave and they love it! I would take a peek!

http://www.bannerhealth.com/Locations/Arizona/MD+Anderson+Banner+Cancer+Center/_homepage.htm

jj4ever04

Hi and welcome. prepare for the hot summer and don't let it scare you. you'll love the weather the rest of the year but July and August are pretty HOT here. I agree with the PP; rent before you buy so that you become familar with the areas and that way you can choose a home not far from work. The valley is pretty spread out but i'm an east sider and can tell you that Gilbert is a great area to live in as well as Chandler. Growing though is Queen Creek. I took a drive out there and was really suprised how much it's matured over the past couple of years. the homes are nice and very affordable and they have all the comforts of the more central cities along with shopping. I live in east Mesa which is the newer side of Mesa and it's nice. pretty quiet and there is construction planned in the coming years for massive shopping centers and hotels. pretty much it's gonna be a tourist attraction similar to scottsdale. but we have the best of both worlds. It's central to 2 freeways and it's mesa taxes with Gilberts school district. For hospitals the Banner hospitals I've heard are great to work for and I've always had pleasant experiences with them. Although a smaller hospital but growing rapidly would be Gilbert hospital. the service there is Outstanding! A doctor was fed up and started his own chain of hospitals and their promise is from door to Doc in 31 minutes. (they keep that promise) It's been quite successful and I've watched them grow. I know the marketing guy there. However for the larger hospitals i would have to go with either St Joes or any of the Banner hospitals (theres quite a few)

Good luck and feel free to ask many questions the ladies here are very friendly.

sweetie6609

Thanks for all your replies so far.  We're very excited to be coming out.  We're just moving for a life change & because that's somewhere I've wanted to be for a long time.  I hate the cold & crappy weather here in PA & am fed up w/the job & housing market.  And we don't have anything holding us here, besides that both of our fams are in PA, but there will be trips planned & such.  We plan to rent first so we can get to know the areas like you ladies already said.  We've only been out exploring once & didn't seem to find any crappy or run-down areas really, but we weren't able to tell anything about the schools, hospitals, anything w/actually living there.  The houses there are so cheap compared to here (& we even live in a fairly cheap area).  Some of the nice houses I've seen listed for $100,000 or less would be $200,000-300,000+ houses here.  But that also kinda makes me nervous.  Is it really hard to then sell a house out there & get your money out of it, or are things just that cheaper?  When we came to explore, we did find that things were generally cheaper than here, but heard that the car insurance is pretty high.  Funny a couple of you mentioned St. Joe's hosp.  When we were there, we actually stopped in & checked out that hosp. a lil.  It seemed very nice...& big!  And it didn't really seem that it was right in the middle of the city either.  We loved that aspect...Phoenix sure doesn't seem like the huge city it is, when you're in it.  Sorry I've written a book again, but I have lots of questions & want to find out as much as I can before we make the 32hr voyage. 

HawaiiLover

Hello and welcome!  We just moved out last Feb from Jersey and love it out here!  We were tired of the weather and wanted a change of life.  My family is also out here and it was important to me for my children to be raised around my parents.  We bought a house in North Phoenix right on the border of Scottsdale.  School district is rated well, we are close to shopping and restaurants, close to 101 and close to hubby's work.  There are a ton of great apartment complexes out here in good areas that are running deals so you can really have your pick of where to live. 

shawnana

Hi & Welcome!

Add me to the list of somewhat-recent-transplants!  DH & I moved here in June, and love it!  We're in Gilbert, and really like this area.  As pp's have said, summers are brutal, but it's worth it come winter time! 

I don't have any experience with hospitals or schools, so i'm not much help there.  I work in medical billing, and I got a job within a month of moving here.  I would think being a nurse, you'd have good luck as well.

Looking forward to getting to know you & hopefully meeting you when you move here!

imshell

Hiya!  Welcome to the board!  The Cost of Living here is definitely cheaper here.  Houses are especially affordable because we were hard hit by the burst of the housing bubble, even if you rent for a year, you will still be able to take advantage of great prices.  I live in Glendale (but in the Peoria school district) close to Banner Thunderbird and we love it.  Really though, there are a lot of nice newer areas to live!

dmw531

Hi and welcome!  I'm an RN also!  I work at Mayo Clinic Hospital which is in North Phoenix.  I really love working there, it is a great company! 

We live just north of Phoenix in Cave Creek.  I really love the north Phoenix/Scottsdale area, there is so much to do, and its really easy to get around to other areas of the valley as well.  I grew up in Glendale, and the west valley is really growing, so I'd check that out also.

Let me know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to help!

sweetie6609

Hi & thanks again ladies.  All of your help is great.  It sounds like pretty much any area we choose will be fine.  I'm planning on getting the job, then deciding where we want to live.  It won't matter too much if the commute is a lil far from where the apt. complex is, for a short amount of time. 

dmw531-i'm gonna send you a PM