Looking for rhoughts on Phoenix, Az area

Ya know they have haboobs... right...

Just saying Bra... no place is perfect.

 

Try checking out threads on the City Data forum. We learned a lot about SoCal before we moved here by reading that site.

I've only been to Phoenix a few times and I thought it was really nice and clean. My friend who lived there complained about people in Scottsdale (he called it Snobsdale). But other than that, he seemed to like it.

 

I live fairly close to Gilbert. I do not know what your ideology is but Gilbert and Mesa seem to have more Mormons and Evangelicals than other cities. Depending on where exactly in Gilbert you are moving to there could be a high concentration of Mormons.
I only mention this because you have kids and fitting in could be tough for them.

Not sure about schools, but you can check out this site for schools Gilbert Unified District in Gilbert, AZ | GreatSchools
It will show a map of Gilbert with schools showing a rating number, when you click on a particular school it will open up in a new page for that school.
You can click on the tabs to view test scores, programs, teachers, etc. When you click on a tab it will ask you to sign up. It only asks for an email address and you don't have to check your email for confirmation. So you can just put a bogus email address, then you will be able to view the information about the school.

The winters are nice here but the summers are pretty bad. We have 100F+ temps from May-Sept. Late June-Early Sept are the hottest with basically no relief even at night. Home AC pumps on periodically pretty much day and night during those months.
We have a monsoon season which is from early/mid July-early Sept. In recent years our monsoon seasons have been pretty weak but at those times you will get some humidity with the hot temps.

Regarding Paul's comment about Scottsdale. It depends where in Scottsdale. I think the "Snobsdale" would apply to North Scottsdale mostly.
You don't have to make that much money to live in South Scottsdale and SW Scottsdale is not that nice of an area, it is the poorest part of Scottsdale.

 

I went to school at Arizona State Polytechnic in Gilbert/Mesa and lived in Queen Creek back in 2007, now Santan Valley. It's a nice area, laid back, lots of families and therefore more family oriented and like was mentioned above, high Mormon population if that matters to you. I will possibly be moving back within the next 1-2 years if this other job prospect doesn't work out. It is different and has its benefits as well as flaws, just have to decide what you want out of the new area. Where abouts would you be working in Gilbert? Housing in Santan Valley and Queen Creek is cheaper than Gilbert if you don't mind commuting.

 

My niece and her family moved to the Phoenix area about 15 years ago. They started out in the Gilbert / Mesa area and now live around Peoria to be closer to both of their parents who live around Sun City West. Their two kids are involved in cheer and hockey and they really enjoy living there. They used to live in metro Detroit and they don't miss Michigan at all.

 

boobs are good. ha boobs?

 

It is a dry heat mostly. The humidity isn't that bad when we do have it, but it only occurs during the monsoon season when we have storms.
Many years ago when I was younger as a kid the monsoon seasons here were pretty bad and we had storms consistently almost everyday, but the last decade or so have been pretty weak with not that many storms.
Even the haboobs like mentioned above we hardly get. Our dust storms are usually pretty mild. I only remember 1 that was really bad for each of the past 2 years.

People are very laid back here, probably more laid back than Cali which you would like.

"religious preferences aren't a big deal to me"
I just mentioned this because you have kids.

 

Took these in September 2007 in the parking lot before my class.


The real heavy rain in November. This was the first street light in Queen Creek at the center of town...now theres a huge shopping mall with a 6 lane road to the right...no more small town

 

I never lived there. My Bro in law did. North Scottsdale is very nice. Great schools. Excellent demographics. Plenty of retail. Easy to make friends. Goodyear is also very new and up and coming.

Gilbert is 35% BS degree and Money magazine says top place to live.
May be worth it to visit and see if you like it.

Gilbert, Arizona - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

Money mag review

Gilbert, AZ - Best Places to Live - Money Magazine

 

Best of Luck Chris let us know how it all works out.

If it is any help, we moved when my daughter was in 8th grade and my son in 1st.
My daughter took it hard losing her friends she grew up with. Now 13 years later she made plenty of new friends and it all worked out for everyone. Win win for all.

Housing in Arizona. Plenty of inventory means easy to purchase and get a good price, but hard to sell if you decide to leave. May be a long time for appreciation. The good news is if your young you may be able to retire the mortgage before you retire from working. You may want to rent for 6 months if you relocate and get used to the local area and find out where the good schools are and take your time getting to know the area. You can probably rent a house cheap.

Making friends is easy. School and church will open you up to plenty of friends with young children your age.

 

It takes plenty of courage to uproot your family and move cross country. Give it much thought.

Than again your commute is killer.

Maybe another job closer to home or rent a cheap room near work and come home on the weekends which can be hard on a family.

 

Sounds like mid life crisis. 40 is a great time. But you only have another 20-25 years to work. No one wants a mortgage during retirement. Give it much thought.

 

It's incredibly hot there.