starting a new career at phoenix arizona

Belinda-wales, RN · Mar 9, 2006

Hi Peeps

We are on our way to Gilbert. We are going to rent an appartment first whilst we choose our house do you think an appartment in gilbert would be safe we do not mind paying more than adverage and what about a gated community, the last thing I want is my little boys not to be safe.

We are settled on Gilbert as the schooling seems good we have three boys aged 8, 4 and 6 months so any school recomindations would be great. Although you may get a smaller house for your money in Gilbert its the whole package you need to look at as they say location, location ,location anyway comming from the uk we are used to very small houses for lots of money.

Gilbertdaddy or Calzonan or any one have any of you got children near the age of my eldest son as I would love him to be able to chat via email prior to leaving uk under strict controll and using safe email pratice of course

GilbertDaddy · Mar 9, 2006

Hi Belinda!

Gilbert actually has the #2 schools in the nation last I checked, you're good there :)

I have a 4.5 year old and a 15 month old. My daughter will start Kindergarten in August a few days after she turns 5. There's not too much to worry about the kids not being safe here, but the best bets are to stay in the southern area of gilbert. If you look at google maps [link: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=gilbert+arizona&ll=33.336695,-111.784172&spn=0.058944,0.171661 ] gilber tstarts at about Guadalupe (street goes E-W) and usually between Stapely/Cooper (stapely turns into cooper in gilbert) and Val Vista (may even go a little further east, not sure).

A lot of the newer schools are going up near the new homes in the southern area. For example, we're next to the new Mercy hospital (myself and some other board members) around Germann and Lindsay (map: http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=E+Germann+Rd+%26+S+Lindsay+Rd,+Gilbert,+AZ+85296&ll=33.285911,-111.778336&spn=0.058978,0.171661). Every morning I see the kids hanging out by the brand new park in our neighborhood waiting for the bus. There always seems to be about 10 or so SUVs with mommys inside watching to make sure the kids are safe as they get on the bus - hopefully that gives you an indication of how family friendly my part of town is :)

As you go north, closer to the 60, you'll be looking at places built a few decades ago. However, you'll face more traffic, less people willing to "settle in" in your neighborhood, and less people with families (there aren't typically many families in apartments since houses are so cheap to rent out here) Honestly though, with 3 kids, look into a renting a house. If you want to PM me, I'll be more than happy to not only guide you a little more, but I can even put you in touch with some other professionals that may be able to be of service - it's all up to you though, I'm just hopeful i can help :)

Here are some links I found on the web that may be of further assistance. It's one of the few places in the world (IMO) where can feel like your driving in beautiful farmlands one minute, and in the city the next, all in a matter of 5-6 miles or so!

Gilbert City Guide:

http://www.azcentral.com/community/gilbert/gilbert-cityguide.html

Town Profile (THIS IS AN AWESOME RESOURCE!!):

http://www.epodunk.com/cgi-bin/genInfo.php?locIndex=11196

Gilbert website (official):

http://www.ci.gilbert.az.us/

Chamber of Commerce:

http://www.gilbertaz.com/

Gilbert Public Schools:

http://www.gilbert.k12.az.us/

Gilbert Public School Search:

http://www.ade.state.az.us/edd/leaurls.asp

Like I said, if you have some more questions, feel free to PM me. We not only visited 5 houses for rent in under 1 day - we even found the 'right' home to rent in 1 day, less than 6 hours from picking up the newspaper. The market out here is so ripe it's like picking an orange in the middle of an orange grove :)

I'm no longer an active real estate agent but have a lot of ties to helpful folks that are also loving family men/women - I'm always happy to help (no strings attached).

Hope that helps!!

bettyboop · Mar 9, 2006

Again GilbertDaddy thank you for the info, it is very useful.

Have been surfing the web all day for high schools in the Gilbert area and home to rent, like to know what is available. Have seen some nice high schools for my two daughters, my daughters are 14 & 17, So am keen to find High schools and accommodation nearby.

As people have commented before road access is a concern so Gilbert looks very promising.

GilbertDaddy · Mar 9, 2006

Oh definitely!

From the Gilbert School website (link above), I found these high schools:

Gilbert High:

http://www.gilbert.k12.az.us/info/schools/newghs/ghs.html

At the intersection of Gilbert Rd. and Elliot, go east on Elliot. Gilbert High School is located on the south side of Elliot Road.

Used to drive by this school each day on my way to work - it's been around for decades and has lots of history

Highland High:

http://www.gilbert.k12.az.us/info/schools/newhhs/hhs.html

Highland High School is located on the south side of Guadalupe between Recker and Power Rd.

Used to go here for Home owners association meetings - they have a GORGEOUS SCHOOL!!! Wish I went here for high school lol - you will most likely find homes to rent in all 4 directions - it's directly smack dab in the middle of many residential neighborhoods

Mesquite High:

http://www.gilbert.k12.az.us/info/schools/newmhs/mhs.html

Mesquite High School is located on McQueen Rd. between Elliot and Warner. The school is on the west side of McQueen.

Used to live next to this one a couple years ago, don't know too much about it - most apartments nearby but some houses to the north and east although I'm not such a fan of the neighborhoods nearby IMO

Desert Ridge High:

http://www.gilbert.k12.az.us/info/schools/newdrhs/drhs.html

This one is also gorgeous but in East Mesa. Not a bad area by ANY means and you'll also likely find TONS of homes for rent. There is a new Banner going up soon within a few miles and this is about 6-8 miles from the new Mercy hospital. I owned a home out here and one thing about this part of East Mesa is that you pay MESA property taxes but get GILBERT schools :)

Hopefully that helps!

If you open up google maps and look for the cross streets you'll likely get an idea of where each is located and what is nearby. Google also lets you switch to "Satellite" view (upper right hand button) which will let you get a birds eye view of what th eneighborhoods look like :)

GilbertDaddy · Mar 9, 2006

Oh and on each school link there is a 'boundaries' link that should give a map or some streets to go by.

I'm not sure if you can get a Sunday copy of the Arizona Republic (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/), but if you can, in the classified section you'll see the homes available for rent. Most of them should list the approx size (ex: "4bd/2ba 1600sqft gilbert/guad 900/month") and crossroads so that you can google http://maps.google.com for "gilbert and guadalupe gilbert arizona" or something which shoudl popup with an area.

Like I said, we visited several homes in our price range (no more than 1k/month) and with our criteria (larger than 1500sqft with at least 4 bedrooms in a home no older than 5 years) and after seeing 6 or so newly constructed homes, we made an offer and the rest was history :)

One piece of advice when looking for a place to rent - you may want to stay away from homes that point you to a real estate agent. Typically they require more paperwork and are less likely to deal (for example, due to circumstances we needed to split our initial deposit into 2 monthly deposits [half now, other half next month] and some agents wouldn't help). Many homeowners just want to rent the house and avoid another month of mortgage payments and are much more flexible :) This coming from a real estate agent lol (we HATE renting houses, no money in it and far too much work) :)

Best of luck!!

maryruth · Mar 9, 2006

I live in Gilbert too. I live in the Power Ranch Community, there are two elementary schools here and a Jr high. They bus the high school kids somewhere else (not to far I don't think). It's a nice community http://www.powerranch.com/powerranch.html There are a ton of rental homes all over Power Ranch. I rent one myself I found it through http://www.desertwide.com/rentsum.lasso . I am paying the same amount for this house as I did for a two bedroom 850sq apartment in Mesa. I got a very good deal. Now it is kinda a pain to live this far south in Gilbert because of the shopping situation but it wont be for long. THe highway is almost finished out here, lots of shopping centers going up. I live pretty close to two groceary stores at least and not to far from Walmart. The closes mall is supersistion springs which is eight miles or so away. My husband told me that there is a new mall coming out here in 2007 near the freeway so after that we will pretty much have everything out here including the hospital! It has a nice country feel here and everyone is really nice. Most everyone who lives here have moved here from other states or parts of the valley. Gilbert is a very family friendly town. I don't think your kids will have a hard time fitting in and adjusting.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2006

I love living on the outskirts of Phoenix and yes I do work at St Joes, I have nothing to compare it with so I dont know if it is a good or bad hospital. I cannot compare it to hospitals I worked at in the Uk because that would be fair.

I dont go into the centre of Phoenix if I can help it because the interstates into phoenix have some of the worse drivers in the world using them. They are crazy and out of control, and cost the people in Az to have higher than normal car insurances. There are at least 7-12 big car pile ups a day.

Shootings in certain areas are also reported on a daily basis.

There are some really awful areas around the centre of Phoenix just like any other major city and I would not recommend living near to Phoenix but to live outside, especially if you have children. There is a very high percentage of children using meths here and I believe the rate is higher than the national average.

The weather is lovely at the moment but I expect to be roasting by August. Today is cool and I am wearing long sleves.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2006

PS I just read my post and it sound awful but it cant be too bad or else I would have returned to UK

GilbertDaddy · Mar 9, 2006

Yep, you're not too far off, the center of Phoenix is primarily for folks who need to be close to work (read: no transportation) or that need VERY cheap rent (read: less than 450/month).

Unfortunately, while there are good people in these circumstances, with our illegal problem, and crime in general, folks who can't spend more than 450/month on an apartment and that can't afford a car or insurance, typically aren't high on the "good people to live near" list. However, every place has this kind of thing, hence the "inner city" term.

The new mall is going to be the Gilbert Mall. I was reading about it earlier and I think it'll be between Williams Field and Ray around the Val Vista/Gilbert Road area - should be AWESOME :)

Also, the previous poster (sorry on the next page, didn't catch your name) was right about power ranch. It's a little further east, but just as desirable. When we were looking for homes to rent, we found FOUR homes in Power Ranch that had at LEAST:

1,750 sq. ft.

4 bedrooms

2 bathrooms

2 car garage

decent backyard

All of them ran about 900-1000 a month. Lots of them also had upgrades like marble countertops, etc. None of them had been lived in yet - they were bought by investors who just wanted rental income. Talk about a steal!

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Mar 9, 2006

I know that in Anthem where I live which unfortunatly is 28 miles away from St Joes you can rent homes for between 900-1200 per month. I live in a four bedroomed house 2100 sq ft for $1200 per month. I know the travel is far but I live in a beautiful place and I only work 3 nights a week so the way I see it the rest of the time I am in heaven. My friend lives in centre of Phoenix (Camelback) and pays $1000 for an appt with one bedroom!!!!!!!!!! so there are expensive places there too.

GilbertDaddy · Mar 9, 2006

Ugh, tell me about it!

I work around there too but live on the outskirts. The city seems nice if I could afford one of these million dollar condo lofts (biltmore, esplanade, etc.), but unless I'm that rich, I'll take my nice relaxing big house where I can still walk outside and see the beautiful mountains that surround the valley :)

maryruth · Mar 10, 2006

Gilbertdaddy, that was me about the powerranch and mall etc. My husband says the mall is right across from walmart in that empty field to the north of it. There is also a Costco going up around the walmart area too! Incase you don't know what that is (people from england) it is a huge store where they sell things in bulk for cost (love the cheap daipers there!).

Anyhow, I use to work in central Phoenix and lived there too. So, if you need to know the good/bad spots let me know because thats a tricky area. Drive a mile down one way and your in the crappy/scarry neighborhood and drive a mile another way and your in the 1/2 up to million dollar homes.

Use to live in Mesa too and thats another area that has its bad spots/areas and the same with Apache Junction. I think overall most of east Mesa is nice and certain areas of Apache Junction. But by far I think the nicest east valley cities is Gilbert, Chandler and some of Queen Creek (QC is ok if you love driving).

I know nobody wants or likes to talk about racism but that is a big factor of why and where we move to. For the most part I don't think Arizona is to bad on racism. I think out of the minorities that live here Mexicans probably get bad mouthed the most (thats to be expected in the Southwest). Other than that I have not encountered much racism against other minorities. I've traveled most of the western united states and a little back east, and Hawaii and out of all the places I traveled I think the most racism I encountered was in Hawaii. So, Arizona looks pretty good to me on the whole racism thing. Just need to all get along.:)