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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
moving to AZ w/ in a year and need some help!
We just found out we are transferring to AZ! My husbands job will be in Goodyear, AZ and if i transfer w/ my company it will be in Tempe AZ. According to mapquest they are about 30 mins from eachother however it looks like it is traveling through Phoenix. I'm sure w/ being a major city there will be lots of traffic. Does anywhere know nice areas (we do have a child so schools are a HUGE concern) in between the two cities that we can start looking at neighborhoods. OR can you tell me a little more about Goodyear if your familiar w/ the area?
Sorry this is kinda long. Very nervous and excited about such a big move - but can't wait to get to AZ
Re: moving to AZ w/ in a year and need some help!
Oh man....those are on two different ends of Phoenix. That will not be a fun commute for you!!!
And depending on where in Goodyear you live, it could take you 45 min's with NO traffic to get to Tempe.
I live in Tempe and DH's cousin lives in Goodyear and it takes us 45 min's to get to their place.
Goodyear is nice but it's very far out, IMO! And driving through that city during rush hour would be enough to make me literally go crazy. It's bad.
I have only lived here for a year so I am probably not much help as I don't know many cities in between because I don't tihnk there are other than Phoenix. There are nice parts of Phoenix, I just don't know them quite yet.
Good luck!!!
Ditto. Welcome to the board!
Can't wait to meet my baby boy!
LoL Stacy.... Living in Surprise must have me living WWWAAAYYY out like almost in California huh? hehehe...
We just moved here in July so I don't know of many cities either. Hopefully some of our resident West Side girls will chim in soon.
Ditto, perhaps you can find something in the middle? so each of you drive 20ish minutes or so? GL!
LMAO...YES!!! Surprise is super far! I've only been there once (Sin City) and thought I had been in the car for days! haha
i've lived here in az my whole 23.5 years of life...maybe check into laveen (half way between goodyear & tempe)?!?! there are some beautiful homes out there, its a newer area still growing but you can get sooo much bang for your buck - so 'up & coming' too! as far as communte time from there, it really will depend on what time you hit the road but i'm guessing about 20 to 30 mins...avoiding the freeways and taking side streets might take a bit longer but could be less stressful. i'm not to sure about the schools there - they would be new too so that could be a plus. az has some great charter and private schools which are all over the valley. if you are looking to buy or rent a home let me know and i can send you a mls link. also, if you want pictures of certain areas of town i'll be more then happy to take a few pics and send them to you too.
good luck & welcome!
Yeah- we pretty much refer to anyone living West of 101 as living in California! But look on the bright side-- if CA ever has a huge earthquake and breaks away from the US-- you'll have ocean front property!!! LOL
As for the OP- Welcome and good luck with your move! My suggestion would be to rent a house before you even consider buying. The different cities/areas in Phoenix vary greatly and everyone likes them for different reason. I personally do not like the west side, but other people love it. So you really have to decide for yourself where you want to live once you get here. As for commuting, the drive west bound will be easier than east bound- for the most part, your DH would be going against the flow of traffic. Tempe is a great city, and there are pockets of nice areas in South Phoenix (along Baseline). There's not a lot of options along the 10 (the freeway your DH would use to get to work) in between Tempe and Glendale, you literally go right through the heart of the city. So, you will need to decide between South Phoenix/Tempe/South Scottsdale or be out west and you have the bad commute from Glendale/Avondale area.
ETA-- I forgot about Laveen... but that can be hit/miss as well. I have some clients out that way and have drove through some rough areas....
Welcome!!!
I also recommend staying right between the 2 cities. That puts you at either central phoenix or laveen. central phoenix has some GREAT areas, but it also has some not-so-great areas. Laveen is great. We have a nestie that lives in Laveen (jenniferbultman) and I'm sure she'll chime in on the area.
I love living down here. I'm in Phoenix, just east of Laveen. But I will be perfectly honest with you. I don't plan on living here once my kids start school. There are a lot of nice communities around here, but I'm still too close to the "bad" areas. I have no idea what we're going to do about schools. I guess I have another year to figure it all out.
Good luck...
I "second" the suggestion to rent when you first move out here, and just do your best to get as in the middle between Goodyear and Tempe as you can. I commute through downtown Phoenix from the west to the east, and it's not pretty, but it IS doable. You could rent for a year and really get a feel for the neighborhoods and the commute before you make the commitment to buy.
And welcome!! AZ is a great place to live - I'm sure you'll love it. I hope you stick around and keep posting!
just wanted to say welcome.
I am an east side girl and pretty much stick to my side of the valley however somewhere in between is a great suggestion for you guys. I would also definatly rent first so that you get to know the areas and figure out where you like best. stick around the girls here are super nice and helpful
I would recommend looking in north central Phoenix (near Paradise Valley, or near I-17, but I would stay north of Greenway. Near I-17 and Bell/Greenway is the Washington School District which is a good elementary school district (I am a product of that district). And Greenway High School is in that area (just west of I-17), which is a good high school (I graduated from there). It is a somewhat older area, but still a good area. If you go a little further north, schools are also good and the neighborhoods are a little newer. Both of you will have a commute, but if you stay fairly central, it shouldn't be too terrible.
If you live near Tempe though, the commute to Goodyear wouldn't be terrible once you got past the downtown area (which is pretty close to Tempe) since most of the traffic is going the other direction.
I would recommend letting a realtor know your biggest concerns are commutes and most importantly schools. Arizona is totally hit or miss with schools, so you definitely want to look into that before you buy. Despite the terrible budget woes with education in our state (it's bad), there are some really great schools here. There are also a lot of really terrible ones. So definitely do research on that. This is a good website to research schools:
http://www.greatschools.org/
Here is another one:
http://www.psk12.com/rating/USindexphp/STATE_AZ.html
And another one:
http://www.publicschoolreview.com/public_schools/stateid/AZ
And school report cards from the Arizona Dept. of Education:
http://www.ade.state.az.us/srcs/find_school.asp?rdoYear=2004
this is exactly where i am! but i think it's way too far for both of them to drive to work. they don't really have anything out this way, so i wouldn't want them to have to both go so far. although i do agree i love the area!