Phoenix Nesties
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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.
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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
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.
Possibly moving to Phoenix. Give me the scoop :)
Hi! We are potentially moving to the Phoenix area. I have only been there once, and just for a short time. I would love to hear what you like about living there, what you dislike,etc. What do you do in the summer, since I'm assuming most people stay inside? What are the nice areas, or not nice areas to live? Our office would be in Tempe, and I would rather not have a long commute. We currently live in Colorado.
Thanks!
Re: Possibly moving to Phoenix. Give me the scoop :)
What you like about living there: My family is here and I?ve lived here all my life. I love the winter weather here. I love that we have baseball, hockey, basketball and football here.
What you dislike: The heat, even though I?ve been here forever, I still can?t stand it and our electric bill. Some of these crazy drivers.
What do you do in the summer, since I'm assuming most people stay inside? I go on vacation, stay inside, hit the movie theaters, go to the water parks, Drive up to Flagstaff, Payson, Sedona or someplace cooler. Go to the baseball games as well.
What are the nice areas, or not nice areas to live? I live in Chandler and I like it here and I also like Gilbert. Where I live I am close to the freeway so it makes it easier to get out of Chandler and over to the West Side.
My SIL just moved to Colorado a month ago. We are hoping to leave AZ too for Portland, OR. A lot of the ladies here also have moved from someplace else.
Click Me
What you like about living there:
I love the weather, everyone seems happier and nice here than in a lot of places I've lived, I love that there's a ton of things to do if you look around for them.
What you dislike:
I haven't found anything that I hugely dislike here honestly.
What do you do in the summer, since I'm assuming most people stay inside? Movies, swim in the pool here, Drive up to Flagstaff, Sedona.
What are the nice areas, or not nice areas to live? I live in Chandler and I like it here and I also like Gilbert. Where I live I am close to the freeway so it makes it easier to get out of Chandler and over to the West Side. <-- same for me as NesJas.
I really love the area that I live in... it's not crazy crowded, but it's right on the edge of everything too, so it's fast and easy to get anywhere, and find things to do.
My family moved here when I was 12 so I've been here a while.
What I like.... The "winter." I use the term loosely.
I just love that the weather is sooo nice for so long. I actually even like the summer time (for a while.)
What I dislike... The "end" of summer. At that point, I'm over the heat and ready for it to cool down. Then when it finally cools down, it warms up again... supposed to be 90 degrees early next week. I also don't like our electric bill in the summer.
What to do in the summer... My FAVORITE thing to do in the summer is drive a couple hours north to escape the heat for a few hours. It's a nice drive and there are many different places to go. Sedona, Flagstaff, Prescott, Payson, Strawberry, Show Low. We have some property up north so we (used to) go camping a lot (pre baby days.) Other things... water parks, museums, splash pads for the kiddos.
To be honest though, we have such a nice winter, it totally makes up for the summers... in the cool season, there's the zoo. I just got a membership there for me and a guest for $75.00 a couple of weeks ago and I've already gone 3 times.
Nice areas... there are a lot of nice areas and a few NOT so nice areas. Phoenix is HUUUUGE, so there are nice parts and bad parts. Fr the nice areas, it really depends on what type of neighborhood you're looking for. If your office is in Tempe, you can live in Tempe as it has some really nice areas. There's Chandler, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale or even Phoenix. I live in Phoenix and takes me 10 minutes to get to Tempe. There's also Mesa, but there are some bad parts to mesa (NOT all bad though.) These are all areas that surround Tempe. Most people here would suggest to you to rent first then determine what area you like best.
Good luck!
)
My husband and I just relocated here from a suburb of Philadelphia. So far overall we love it.
What you like about living there: People are INCREDIBLY friendly. Compared to Philadelphia, there is next to no traffic, people are incredibly laid back and the cost of living is very reasonable. The skies are just beautiful.. and since many people moved here from somewhere else you get to meet people from all over!
What you dislike: We moved into a master plan community in Gilbert. While we love Gilbert, we have neighbors that leave their dogs outside all day (and in some cases all night) and they bark, constantly. Other neighbors have told me we just have to get used to it-but we are now at the point where we can't open our windows, ever...and with beautiful weather, that stinks! As soon as our lease is up we are moving hopefully to scottsdale or above, we want to be closer to the "culture" of scottsdale. There are many more restaurants, comedy clubs, that type of thing. We also want space...we don't want to back right up to many houses and only have 10 feet between us and the house next door. Again-if the neighbors would do something about the barking dogs, would not be so bad..
Yes, the summer is hot, but it is totally worth it for the rest of the year!
The other thing we would prefer more of is diversity. I love meeting people from all walks of life, all religions, backgrounds, colors, etc. Compared to Philadelphia, there is next to no diversity in this area.
Oh, and mom and pop Italian restaurants, I would love to see more of those! I miss my dad's cooking..
What do you do in the summer, since I'm assuming most people stay inside? We spent alot of time doing indoor things (think of what you do in the winter) and we did go on walks at night..and spent alot of time at the pool! It really is not that bad..!
What are the nice areas, or not nice areas to live? Gilbert Chandler and Mesa are all nice, but if you go to Gilbert stay to the NW corner of Gilbert as to avoid the train tracks (they blow the whistle all night as they pass and it will wake you out of a dead sleep) and also there are cow farms and the smell is downright putrid. That is really only in the far SE corner by where Gilbert meets Queen Creek though. Scottsdale is also very nice. We like Tempe, but you may not want to be near the college (think college kids partying, lol).
We moved here in May '08 from Upstate NY...BIG change but def. well worth it!
What do you like about living there: The weather...it's sunny almost ALL the time so people are generally happier. I love that there's always something going on. If you're bored here, it's your own damn fault. lol
What you dislike: Ummm, I love the heat but I don't like how long it's lasted this year. Last year it didn't seem to last this long. I also miss my family a lot but that's the downsides of living in a great place vs. where I'm from.
What do you do in the summer, since I'm assuming most people stay inside? I go on vacation, stay inside, hit the movie theaters, go to the water parks, Drive up to Flagstaff, Payson, Sedona or someplace cooler. Go to the baseball games as well. SAME! We go swimming a lot too!
What are the nice areas, or not nice areas to live?I currently live in Tempe but just bought a house in Gilbert. I love both but Gilbert seems more family oriented than Tempe. Tempe is older also as Gilbert's very new. Our new house is close enough to Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler that we love it. Scottsdale is nice too but I think it's more for singles, just my opinion.
im a born and raised arizonan! lol!
what do you like about living here: everything! all my family is here in az, everyone -mostly everyone is friendly and happy. the weather! there is so much to do and right now the housing market is off the chain cheapo lol.
what do you dislike: ive never seen snow! lol. ive been to flagstaff when i was a kiddo but dont remember - i guess i could go this year. i hated the bad rap az got from all the sb1070 crap. az is great and every darn state has problems with immigration.
what do you do in the summer: vacation, staycations -the resorts here have great deals in the summer, visit sedona -az's hidden gem, shopping, movies, bowling, swimming, swimming at the resorts pools -sooo many good pools, most evenings its cool enough for walking - dog park, waterparks -they have great deals and its way fun to go in the evenings, i also know that alot of librarys do activities for the kiddos in the summer.
what areas are nice and not? phoenix is waaaay big and has a few subbs. we live in central phx and love it. i work in north scottsdale and dh works in chandler. we both drive about 30 mins and we dont think its that bad at all. yes some days theres traffic but its not bad as say boston! before buying our house we lived in chandler. it was a great area and we loved it but we found our place for super super cheap! if you will be working in tempe and dont want to commute to long you could look into: tempe, chandler, gilbert, mesa, ahwatukee, and maybe even scottsdale. it really depends on your taste and what you are looking for in a community ie public or private schools (i see you have kids), churches, re market, resturants, parks, nightlife, etc.
good luck!
hahaha. if your house gets sprayed regularly you wont have a prob!!
I live in Vegas now, but I lived in AZ from age 18 until 27, so most of my adult life.
What I like: Most things, I love the Phoenix area! I love the weather, even though the summer is hot, the rest of the year is AMAZING! Just like most places in the US, there is a season that you just can't spend to much time outside, that is the summer for us. I love that there is so much to do, lots of great restaurants and bars, shops, hiking, spring training baseball, Sedona and Flagstaff are a short trip, CA is a short trip.
What I don't like: Besides the heat, which honestly only really bothered the first year or two I lived there (you get used to it) there is not to much I do not like. A PP mentioned the drivers, I have to agree, there are some really bad drivers!
What do you do in the summer: Get out of town, like I mentioned northern AZ is less than 2 hours away and much cooler in the summer, I LOVE Sedona! I do indoor things, like the movies and the mall, I go to the pool and water parks. Think about what you do in the winter when it is to cold to do much outside, that is what we do in the summer.
Areas to live: I lived in Tempe when I was in college and a few years after that, then I moved to Scottsdale. I love the east side, and personally would not be as happy on the west side (although many people disagree, it is just what I am used to). If you are going to be working in Tempe I would stick to the east side. My preference is Scottsdale or the Arcadia area of Phoenix, those are my two favorite places! I also really like Chandler and Awatukee. There is not one "bad" area of Phoenix, just pockets of bad areas. Have a Realtor help you find an area, they will steer you clear of the dangerous areas.
Good luck with your decision! Phoenix is a great area, there is a lot to do and the people are great!
Just get your house sprayed. I never had an issue with these things, and I actually never once saw a scorpion the entire time I lived there. Seems to me that these critters are more of an issue if you live on the outskirts of town, not so much in a very populated area.
I was born and raised in Phoenix/Scottsdale and I've only seen 1 scorpion (and it was in a house way out in the desert that we looked at when house hunting - not a heavily populated area), never seen a tarantula nor have I ever seen a snake that is alive (I've have seen a few dead ones in the road on the way out to the lake).
If you want to avoid those things, live in an area that is well-established. New builds on outlying areas will likely have many more scorpions and creepy things than established areas.
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