STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

I'm sure Halleybird will be more help than me (I've only been here a year and a half), but I'll try!

First of all, if you're buying a house out here, I wouldn't expect a bargain.  Phoenix is VERY expensive to buy a house right now.  We moved into ours in Dec. 04 (paid about $175K for 4 bdrm, 1800 square feet, but in a nice area) and if we sold it right now, we could probably get almost twice what we paid for it. ($300,000).  Here's an article I saw the other day.  http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/15/real_estate/historic_home_price_gains/index.htm?cnn=yes

1..Constructions workers do seem to work earlier here.  Don't know for sure, but I see the gardners in our development out pretty early.  Makes sense, so I don't see why they wouldn't.  A lot of the time they do highway work at night, too.

2.  Yes, it is possible to look put together.  Right now I'm wearing a lot of skirts and tanks, dresses, capris, cap sleeve shirts, jeans if I go out.  I probably won't wear any blazers or anything resembling a sweater until October, but I see girls doing it right now .  Shrugs, right now, only if they're very lightweight and a breathable fabric.  I'm a SAHM, though.  Halleybird would be MUCH more help w/ this. 

3.  We live in the West Valley.  Litchfield Park to be exact.  I love it over here.  We have a Target close , and a lot of other everyday shopping type stores.  As for a good mall, I usually go to Scottsdale, and that take me about 30-40 minutes from my house.  It's not a bad drive.  We're about 20 minutes from the airport w/out traffic.  This area is building up a lot.  We lived up north 4 years ago, I think closer to wear Halleybird lives now (Surprise is the name of the town), and there was NOTHING up there.  Now it's built up beyond belief.  I find it a little more inconvenient than wear I live, but in a few years they'll have the freeway finished and way more shopping.  It'll be crowded, but a great place to live.  Phoenix is so huge, I can't begin to tell you about all the areas.  The east side is nice... Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert.  But I don't go there very often. 

4.  My daughter goes to a private school by our house, so I don't know the "rules" for public schools, but their playground is partially covered and it doesn't seem to get extremely hot.  A lot of the equipment at the newer schools is plastic, so it's not too bad.  I don't know if there is a max temp where they won't let the kids outside, but I'm sure the school staff would know when it's too hot and keep the children in.  They don't want a lawsuit when a kid burns themselves!

Oh, I know Valencia.  I grew up in Bakersfield, so I remember Valencia back in the late 70's/ early 80's when there was NOTHING there but Six Flags.  When I go home we always take the 210 over to the 5 and head north just south of you and every time my hubby and I go by there we talk about how much it has changed!

Buckeye is not too far from the city at all.  I say 30 minutes MAX to get into downtown (w/o heavy traffic).  Prices used to be a lot lower out there.  I'm not sure how it is now, because it seems to be getting VERY popular.  If we moved out here now instead of when we did, I'd totally consider it.  But then again, we want to be on this side of town because of my husband's work.  He's stationed at Luke Air Force Base which is in Litchfield Park, about 2 minutes from our house, so proximity to downtown isn't all that important to me.  There's not much in Buckeye now, but it's growing rapidly, and this side of the valley is going to be huge soon.  It defintly is a good time to invest.  There's a new mall going in off the ten in Goodyear, I think.  Other west valley cities you might want to consider if you're thinking of looking at houses out this way are Avondale, Goodyear, Surprise and Litchfield Park.  Surprise has some very affordable houses I've heard. 

Here's a map

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?formtype=address&searchtype=address&country=US&addtohistory=&1ahXX=&address=&city=phoenix&state=az&zipcode=

Let me know if you have any more questions.  I will be home tonight.  Hubby is flying late, so when the girls go down I'll have time to pull some info out for you.  By the way, the map I just posted doesn't show all of the west side, so you'll have to scroll over to see Surprise and Buckeye.  Some parts of Surprise would be quite a haul to get to downtown, but I would think Buckeye would be a little easier.  Maybe not, but seems to be that way to me.

Oh yeah, I know AV.  It's just mind boggling how Palmdale and Lancaster have grown.  My husband used to be stationed at Edwards AFB right over there. 

About Phoenix...do you have to work downtown?  What do you do if you don't mind me asking?  There is a lot out this way now, but downtown/the east side is where most corporations are located.  There there are way more people over that way than here.  You just can't get away from it.  Traffic gets pretty snarled between Avondale and Buckeye, though, because interstate 10 is 2 lanes each way between here and Buckeye, then it goes to 4 lanes just a few miles east.

Hey BQ! I think you would like Phoenix. Also, about the heat -- I like to complain, but it's really not that bad. There's AC everywhere, and the summer here is a lot more liveable than winter is in some other places. I play tennis for 30 minutes or so during the hottest part of the day (not by choice) and it's not unbearable. I wouldn't consider it any worse than, say, parts of Florida, where the temps are lower but humidity is higher.

1. Is it true construction crews work earlier in the AM to beat the early-mid afternoon heat?  How late do you see construction crew working in high heat? I would say, depending on the season, construction workers start around 6 and finish about 2 or so. I have no idea what it's like elsewhere in the country, though.

2. With the heat, is it possible to look put together?  I dunno...I like to think of myself as put together. It is a challenge when it's really hot outside, much like it's challenging for others in the dead of winter. One thing about Phoenix is that people love to blast the AC, so I often find myself wearing cardigans and blazers in the summer to keep from freezing indoors.

3. Where is the best area to get a home in Phoenix?  Depends on how much money you have...ha ha. I wouldn't worry about being near stuff, though -- there are Targets and chain stores on every corner. The East side of town is older, thus it's also more expensive but has good shopping. I used to live on the far west side, in Surprise, but we moved to the northwest, and I do like it better. I grew up in Glendale (NW) and Litchfield/Avondale (SW) and I think home values, etc. are a lot better over here. 

Scottsdale & Fountain Hills are beautiful, but I wouldn't count on getting any sort of decent house there for less than $500-600k, if not more. If you go to the Northwest (Glendale, Peoria), Southwest (Avondale, Litchfield) or Southeast (Chandler, Tempe), you'll be in an established neighborhood that already has schools, shopping, etc. I would say a nice house in those areas is about $350k right now (assuming about 2000sf). Outlying areas, like Anthem, Gilbert, Surprise, Buckeye, etc. have SOME stuff, but are still building. A nice house there is probably around $250k.

PS - if I could live anywhere in Phoenix (like, if I didn't work over here), I'd pick Chandler/South Tempe. The neighborhood is nice, the schools are great, the housing isn't *too* overpriced, and you're only about 20 minutes from downtown/airport, and 20 minutes from Scottsdale.

4. Do the schools allow children outside when its super hot or keep them inside when its over a certain temp? I don't have kids, and I teach HS, so I don't know for sure. I do know that they have awnings, and misters, and stuff like that at most schools. Recess is usually in the morning and it's usually short. I do know that a lot of PE classes are outside. But really, like I said, it isn't that bad. It probably doesn't top 100 degrees until 1-2 p.m. this time of year. I went to school here and I never remember the heat being a problem at school.

HTH! We'd to have you here!