Phoenix Nesties
Brayden (5 1/2) born 12.28.06
Hailey (4 1/2) born 2.25.08
Taylor (8 Months) born 12.26.11
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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.
Phoenix area ladies, help please
We live in the Midwest and are considering moving to AZ. I have read that some of the suburbs in the Phoenix area are safe with good schools. What area do you recommend? What website could my husband use to search for open teaching positions in the area?
Brayden (5 1/2) born 12.28.06
Hailey (4 1/2) born 2.25.08
Taylor (8 Months) born 12.26.11
Re: Phoenix area ladies, help please
You'll probably love it here. There are so many Midwesterners out here (including myself!) I'd recommend the East Valley, for sure. There are good parts of Phoenix, but I don't know the area well enough to say which they are. Chandler and Gilbert are very family friendly and affordable. Scottsdale and Tempe are also nice places to live, but are definitely more expensive.
AZ gets a bad rep for schools due to a lot of immigration issues; but if you live in a nice area, I wouldn't be concerned. DH is a Chandler High grad and I think he's pretty smart.
My opinion is that if you are a dedicated parent and monitoring your child's progress, he/she will get a solid education in any of the east valley suburbs.
Good luck with your decision making. Personally, I've never regretted my decision to move here.
Brayden (5 1/2) born 12.28.06
Hailey (4 1/2) born 2.25.08
Taylor (8 Months) born 12.26.11
I've really only lived on the east side so I don't know much about the west. We go to Glendale for Coyotes hockey games, but that's about all of the experience I've had in the west valley. I did meet someone from Surprise once and asked them what it is like and he said, "It is a 'Surprise' how far away it is". He definitely was not a fan of commuting to Phoenix from Surprise. I know there are a lot of West Valley ladies out there who would be more helpful than me on this!
Surprise is a really nice area, but it is pretty far out there in the west valley. That wouldn't be a big deal though if your husband got a job teaching out there. There are a TON of foreclosures everywhere! Arizona was hit pretty hard with the housing market, so it's good for people looking to buy, not so much those looking to sell!
ugh! I had a huge post typed out and suddenly it goes away... Grrrr
Anyways, I'll try to shorten it up. I live in Surprise and I LOVE it out here. It is growing a lot and there are a lot of nice areas and schools. As far as schools go, we have it pretty good out here. Another great area with good schools is Peoria but Peoria is more $. We looked at Peoria when we were looking to rent (2 years ago) and when we purchased (just a few months ago) and for less$$ I could get a really nice house here in Surprise. The Schools here are great (as great as schools in AZ can be anyways).
You will get a lot of mixed reviews on this board as far as what part of the valley is best to live in. A lot of East Valley girls will say they wouldnt ever live in the West Valley and a lot of WV girls will say the same of the EV. The way I look at it as someone who moved here, is that no matter where in the Valley you are, there are good and bad parts. Every city has a bad spot so you just have to do your research.
One thing I would suggest though, is to make sure you have a job before you come (unless you have a lot of $ to live off of haha). The job market is slow here. Also, you should chose where you live based off of where you get the job. You dont want to work at a school in Surprise and live in Mesa or Gilbert. Same goes for the other way. I wouldnt want to work in Scottsdale but live in Surprise.
My husband works downtown in Central Phoenix and on a bad day it is only a 45 minute drive in. To us that is great as we come from Boston area and it used to take him 90-120 minutes each way to get to work. So commute times really are going to be dependant on what you are used to and what you want to drive. The phoenix area is HUGE so there are a ton of options...
I agree with this.
Also, look through the other posts since this question has been asked many times before.
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Well said, Jess.
I live in Gilbert. We love it. We live in the really new area of Gilbert, which is pretty far south east of Phoenix. But, we wouldn't trade it for anything. It's got a really great community feel, and it's really nice where we are. There's great shopping, parks, restaurants, etc all really close by. We don't have kids, but from what I've heard, the Gilbert school district is a good one.
I agree that Surpise is pretty far out there (we joke and say Jess lives in California) but it seems like a nice area - from the little bit I've seen while visiting Jess.
Haha! That being said, you practically live in Miami (if we're talking states on the US Map). Gilbert is a nice part of Phx as well and we would consider living there maybe next time we buy a house but for now, we're loving it here in Cali :-)
Honestly, I think it's all about preference and where you start. I grew up in the West Valley, moved to the East Valley (to a part MANY people love) and I hated it. I now live in the south west valley.
I think it honestly depends on what you're looking for. Our schools are horrible, and anymore it's not just about the city you live in (or district) but specifically your feeder school. I was born and raised in the PUSD (peoria) district and when I was there it was a top district in the state, and now it's not. The last 3-5 years have severely impacted education in our state. There are still good schools, you just have to be specific of what you're looking for.
If you can, come out here first, and for sure find a job first, and base things off of that.