15 replies to this topic

[MJLO]

Ok I know i'm absentee mod guy, but it's occured to me that we live in the fastest growing state in the country.  I've seen a few questions pop up recently about the area, and instead of side tracking other threads.  If you have a question about the area go ahead and put it here.  There's a fairly good chance it'll get answered quickly.   Colin is an expert.........on anything.  So nothing is to hard or taboo

[MJLO]

Quote

Thanks for all the info.

Sorry if I might have construed my definition on "cosmopolitan". I simply meant it in the terms that it had larger city features such as you guys said nightlife, etc.

We actually have friends that live in Tempe and they love it.
So it isn't as urban as imagined?

I hate that, I always figure the bigger the city..the more urban it is.. you'd think it would go hand in hand.

Here in Nashville, we are in the middle of housing explosion and development and redevelopment of the central core as well as northern and southern business districts.


What is the minimum wage in AZ? Here is 5.75 x.x and I hate it.

What is Phoenix's economy consist of?
Here its Healthcare industry, tourism, music industry...etc.

Whats the avg. rent for a condo or apartment?
Here its about 500-1000 a month.

Anymore information would be very beneficial
Thanks

Minimum wage in Arizona is $6.75, But Metropolitan Phoenix has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at under 3 percent,  you'd be hardpressed to find even fast food restaurants starting people off that low, it's just so hard to find people to work.  The economy is based in mainly three sectors.  Services, ie, call centers, banking, insurance.  Phoenix is a hub for customer service centers.   Construction, you won't find another place in the country with as much explosive growth going on, you cant go more than a mile with out seeing new housing, retail, offices going up  I know what you're saying about Nashville in the middle of an explosion, but you've not seen anything like this.  Healthcare, with as many people moving here as there are, the need for more and more health care profesionals keeps growing with it, hospitals clinics, specialty clinics going up everywhere as well.  Tourism, nowhere near the notariety of Nashville, or the fame, however Phoenix is home many exclusive resorts, that cater mainly to the super wealthy, and elite of the world.  The valley is known as a place the rich and famous can sneak in and out, without being bothered, so alot of famous people come here to get away, or have that face lift.  There is some manufacturing, but it's almost exclusively high tech, with Honeywell, Intel, ect.  I don't believe it's easy getting into those places though.

As for rents, the further you are away from the central phoenix area the cheaper it gets,  As compared to Nashville it's more expensive.  For reasonable rates you have to live a good 15-20 miles away from central Phoenix which turns into a nasty commute.  However in Tempe you have both good and bad rates.  The college makes it unique, and it's right in the middle of everything, not 10 minutes from downtown.

[colin]

Nah, come on...
Good to see you back around, Matt.

I know that the IT job market right now is ridiculous. I get emails about jobs in Phoenix all the time and they seem like they'd be willing to hire any jacka** with a degree regardless of experience.
But Matt's totally right: you'd have a hard time finding a job in the Valley that actually paid minimum wage. It's one of the places where the number of jobs far outweighs the number of people wanting to live there. Quite the opposite of Flagstaff and then, to a much lesser extent, Tucson.

Good 1br apartments in a good area of Tempe will run you at least $700. That's what sucks: it's probably the best area of town to live in if you're under 30, but ASU being so close pushes up the rent and puts you close to college kids (although, maybe you want that).

Scottsdale's getting better though. It's snobby and expensive, but there's quite the club scene and there seems to be a lot of younger people living there.

Then, of course, there's Mesa. Its negatives have been mentioned a lot in its thread on here, but it's a lot cheaper than Tempe and still a pretty good place to live.

No one lives in the West Valley though (Surprise, Glendale, Avondale, etc) or, at least, no one seems to.

The most urban you'll get is Downtown Tempe, Downtown Phoenix or Downtown Scottsdale. There is housing in all three of those areas but it's typically pretty pricey.

[The Tot Pack]

Thank you for answering.

We are looking at Dec, or Jan. to fly toward Phoenix.

Is Mesa that bad?

and how bad is traffic?
Here rush hour is stop and go...but never over 15 mins. idle.
and is your mass transit system pretty dependable?

i wanna rely less on cars, just for gas purposes.

[MJLO]

The Tot Pack, on Sep 14 2007, 01:44 PM, said:

Thank you for answering.

We are looking at Dec, or Jan. to fly toward Phoenix.

Is Mesa that bad?

and how bad is traffic?
Here rush hour is stop and go...but never over 15 mins. idle.
and is your mass transit system pretty dependable?

i wanna rely less on cars, just for gas purposes.

Mesa is not bad at all, just kinda boring.  They are building a light rail line to touch the western edge of the city, eventually it'll head east.  That should help the city get itself where it wants to be.  On the traffic note the US-60 thru Mesa is one of the worst freeways i've been on.  

Traffic here is average for a metropolitan area of 4million people,  think Atlanta, Houston, Detroit for comparison.  Rush hour is pretty slow, the freeways start getting slow around 2:30 in the afternoon peaking around 5:00pm, and then clearing usually round 7, but one should expect that moving to a major city.  To an extent the population growth is still out pacing the growth of the infrastructure, therefore the further out from the core, the more disorganized the traffic is.   One note is that the drivers here tend to be worse, or more distracted.  You see many more accidents on the freeways than in other parts of the country.   And if it rains the transit network comes to a halt, which happens twice a year maybe.  

In terms of Mass Transit, currently there is an extensive bus service running thru the cities, however in less than a year I believe the first 20 mile stretch of LRT opens Running from the western edge up Mesa up thru central Phoenix, with Tempe in the middle of it.  If you live in Tempe you could pretty much hop a train to all the cool parts of the city and the airport.  Because of the LRT going in, some really cool infill has already started happening in Tempe and Downtown PHoenix.  Mesa will eventually benefit from that once it's residents realize the benefits of it.  In the next decade Skyharbor will connect directly to it, Vs having to take  a shuttle from the station into the airport which is a quarter mile away currently.   Transit should not be a problem as most of the tracks for the initial line are almost done, and the others are close on the heels.

[traal]

Mesa isn't so bad. It's right next to Tempe and Gilbert!

They recently widened the 60, it should be better now, at least east the stretch east of the 101. The congestion on the western portion of the 60 is due to congestion on the I-10, especially the Broadway Curve.

If I could live anywhere in the valley, it would be in the downtown Tempe area close where the Whole Foods store and light rail line will be.

[colin]

The Valley's bus system sucks. I rode the DASH line once from Tempe to Downtown Phoenix. Terrible. Can't wait for the light rail to come in so you can actually get places in a reasonable amount of time without a car.
The 60 is a lot better now that the widening is done. But there's a lot of construction in AJ now, so it shouldn't last very long.
I think Eastern Tempe along Apache Blvd/the light rail line is going to go crazy after it opens. Right now, though, Downtown Tempe would probably be best.

[MJLO]

As a person who drives the 60 daily I can tell you, added lanes didn't do much, it still takes an hour in the morning to go a short distance.

[ATLienHopeful]

ive been looking into atlanta (as you can tell by my name) because of its affordable housing for a young person, so after college ive been thinking about that heavily...but phoenix intrigues me because of its banking sector. I dont know much about the city because I have not been since I was a child (about 15 years ago Id say, Im 22 now) but I am absolutely in love with Scottsdale, my fiance likes it as well...safety is a concern of mine, and job stability, and Ive read several forums (public opinion, residents and non-residents im sure, city-data.com and others) and they have rather gloomy depictions of a city overrun by gangs, carjackings, drivebys nightly and hellacious illegal immigration problems...and also low wages. Now, Im getting my Bachelors in Finance and a minor in Economics, and possibly grad school to do M&A...but I could always do analyst work with a bachelors. What kind of wages am I looking at? Im not an Ivy Leaguer but I pull a 3.5 GPA at UMemphis (I dont like this town) and their business school is very competitive. My fiance is majoring in psychology and behavior analytical work...Is there a good market for our fields? More important to me though is crime...Memphis is unsafe, there are shootings and murders nightly, and from what Ive heard Atlanta is not much better, Id appreciate some unbiased opinions.

For the record, your heat does not bother me. I was born in Dallas, I feel out of place if the temperature ISNT 110 degrees.

Thanks, guys. Hope to hear from ya.

Zac

[MJLO]

hey Zac, this may be to little to late

I have a bachelors in Economics, and have lived in Phoenix now for just over two years.   Living here really is nice.  As for the gangs and all the crime, I've heard about it but i've never seen it.  If you're in the suburbs you're even farther from it.  As for your degree, you could have an associates from bob's kolege, and be able to find work here.  It's got the best job market in the country, along with one of the highest salary echelons.  Probabally some of the best opportunities you'll find will be here, they are everywhere especially in banking.  Depending on what you like you could find just what you need here.  All the talk of gangs and such are just negative media perception.  Nothing is certain, but you probabally wouldn't even notice the crime.  I never have.  The biggest drawback is probabally the metro area's uber-reliance on the automobile. But they are working on even changing that.

[ATLienHopeful]

MJLO, on Mar 5 2008, 11:10 AM, said:

hey Zac, this may be to little to late

I have a bachelors in Economics, and have lived in Phoenix now for just over two years. Living here really is nice. As for the gangs and all the crime, I've heard about it but i've never seen it. If you're in the suburbs you're even farther from it. As for your degree, you could have an associates from bob's kolege, and be able to find work here. It's got the best job market in the country, along with one of the highest salary echelons. Probabally some of the best opportunities you'll find will be here, they are everywhere especially in banking. Depending on what you like you could find just what you need here. All the talk of gangs and such are just negative media perception. Nothing is certain, but you probabally wouldn't even notice the crime. I never have. The biggest drawback is probabally the metro area's uber-reliance on the automobile. But they are working on even changing that.

Hello, that does help A LOT! Well its not too late, but I have decided to change schools to Ole Miss next semester (a more comprehensive financial program, i hope to specialize in either investments or private banking/wealth management, i do believe the wealth management would go over quite well in Scottsdale or paradise valley, heh hopefully so.) so the job market is growing steadily? what about the "recession" effect in the suburbs like Chandler, Sun City, Tempe (another fav area of mine, I love college towns like Austin, which I frequented while I lived in Dallas as a child) Crime is an issue in all major cities Im sure, and Im sure there are a ton of areas to stay away from, but overall what are the race relations like? Memphis as Im sure some of you whove been are aware, is not the most progressive town and thats all I will say about that.

Thoughts, or Id love to hear from you again directly, sir or maam.

[MJLO]

ATLienHopeful, on Mar 10 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Hello, that does help A LOT! Well its not too late, but I have decided to change schools to Ole Miss next semester (a more comprehensive financial program, i hope to specialize in either investments or private banking/wealth management, i do believe the wealth management would go over quite well in Scottsdale or paradise valley, heh hopefully so.) so the job market is growing steadily? what about the "recession" effect in the suburbs like Chandler, Sun City, Tempe (another fav area of mine, I love college towns like Austin, which I frequented while I lived in Dallas as a child) Crime is an issue in all major cities Im sure, and Im sure there are a ton of areas to stay away from, but overall what are the race relations like? Memphis as Im sure some of you whove been are aware, is not the most progressive town and thats all I will say about that.

Thoughts, or Id love to hear from you again directly, sir or maam.

Wealth Management goes over well nicely here.  It's certainly not limited to just Scottsdale and PV.  Recession I have heard the word, but not seen it.  If you are a Finance person you'll understand what I mean.  Upper-Middle class people live en masse and in pockets all over the Valley.  Your Best bet will be the ones you mentioned above, along with the Newer parts of Chandler, northern Mesa, Tempe, East Central Phoenix, Arrowhead(North Glendale/Peoria), pretty much all over the valley.   I'd say you'd do very well in Tempe.  You're within minutes of the major job centers, Downtown, uptown, Biltmore, and Scottsdale. Downtown Tempe itself is a fairly decent sized jobcenter, all the banks have presence there.  Race Relations,  when you mention Memphis, you're talking about an older eastern city.  I myself am from a rustbelt city and understand what you mean.  You would be talking about relations between those of African desent and Caucasians.  That doesn't exist here as African Americans make up a very small portion of the populous. The ones who do live here come from all walks and socio-economic echelons, from the wealthy elite to the very poor.   However Phoenix is a new city that deals with the new racism if you will.  The large hispanic population,  legal and otherwise does cause some friction.  As in my earlier post I have never really experienced it.  I think the language barrier prevents there from truly being to many issues.    For the most part I enjoy everyone I have encountered here, no matter where they come from.  
The way they drive is a different story for another post .  

I took way to many words to say some simple things. I'm sure there is some racism out here.  It's everywhere.  But nothing like I experience living east of the Mississippi.  To that end tho, there were no where near as many Mexican Immigrants from those parts of the country either so it's fairly difficult to compare and or explain.

[ATLienHopeful]

MJLO, on Mar 11 2008, 12:48 AM, said:

Wealth Management goes over well nicely here. It's certainly not limited to just Scottsdale and PV. Recession I have heard the word, but not seen it. If you are a Finance person you'll understand what I mean. Upper-Middle class people live en masse and in pockets all over the Valley. Your Best bet will be the ones you mentioned above, along with the Newer parts of Chandler, northern Mesa, Tempe, East Central Phoenix, Arrowhead(North Glendale/Peoria), pretty much all over the valley. I'd say you'd do very well in Tempe. You're within minutes of the major job centers, Downtown, uptown, Biltmore, and Scottsdale. Downtown Tempe itself is a fairly decent sized jobcenter, all the banks have presence there. Race Relations, when you mention Memphis, you're talking about an older eastern city. I myself am from a rustbelt city and understand what you mean. You would be talking about relations between those of African desent and Caucasians. That doesn't exist here as African Americans make up a very small portion of the populous. The ones who do live here come from all walks and socio-economic echelons, from the wealthy elite to the very poor. However Phoenix is a new city that deals with the new racism if you will. The large hispanic population, legal and otherwise does cause some friction. As in my earlier post I have never really experienced it. I think the language barrier prevents there from truly being to many issues. For the most part I enjoy everyone I have encountered here, no matter where they come from.
The way they drive is a different story for another post .

I took way to many words to say some simple things. I'm sure there is some racism out here. It's everywhere. But nothing like I experience living east of the Mississippi. To that end tho, there were no where near as many Mexican Immigrants from those parts of the country either so it's fairly difficult to compare and or explain.

I sure appreciate the help, MJLO. Ill be sure to look ya up on here if I have any more questions.

Im sure I will. I always love to research and analyze all possibilities.

[ATLienHopeful]

Well I actually skipped a day of class to fly out to your fair city and check it out (Plus I just wanted to play golf) and I must say, I was impressed with Scottsdale, but I absolutely loved some of the historic districts in Phoenix itself. I came away loving the Coronado (sp?) area's homes...and I went ga-ga over some houses in the F Q Story district, and I enjoyed the Willo district as well. I cant help but think I missed tons more, but time restraints are an S.O.B.

Anything I should know about those neighborhoods? Hopefully it wont make me think twice about backing a moving van up to one of them in the future...They seemed to be relatively safe during the day, didnt drive through at night, I was dining at Vics at the Valley Ho (Love the architecture, that Valley Ho) but there were people in the yards and waved as I drove by. It seemed very home-ish.

MJLO Id appreciate any insight you have, or anyone elses. You guys have a very beautiful city.

[MJLO]

ATLienHopeful, on Mar 16 2008, 11:20 PM, said:

Well I actually skipped a day of class to fly out to your fair city and check it out (Plus I just wanted to play golf) and I must say, I was impressed with Scottsdale, but I absolutely loved some of the historic districts in Phoenix itself. I came away loving the Coronado (sp?) area's homes...and I went ga-ga over some houses in the F Q Story district, and I enjoyed the Willo district as well. I cant help but think I missed tons more, but time restraints are an S.O.B.

Anything I should know about those neighborhoods? Hopefully it wont make me think twice about backing a moving van up to one of them in the future...They seemed to be relatively safe during the day, didnt drive through at night, I was dining at Vics at the Valley Ho (Love the architecture, that Valley Ho) but there were people in the yards and waved as I drove by. It seemed very home-ish.

MJLO Id appreciate any insight you have, or anyone elses. You guys have a very beautiful city.

The People of Phoenix thank you for your kind words.  All the neighborhoods mentioned are good neighborhoods.  Thats all part of the central core, and east central neighborhoods.  They are also going to be the more pricey. If memory serves those neighborhoods have traditionallly kept their value or have experienced a ressurgance in the last 20 years do to a large concentrated gay population that have gone in and made significant investments in them.  A four bedroom home in those parts can go for 500-800k sometimes more.  Perhaps not as much in the willo neighborhood but i'm less firmiliar.

Great things about them, is your minutes away from a couple different financial districts, entertainment district, and world class sporting venues.  Home values are and have been stable, and quite a few of Phoenix's trendy quaint restaurants, and the big pricey ones.  Central Phoenix is not as acclaimed as Scottsdale, but much more rooted in culture, with the same kind of $, with much less commercialism.  It is my favorite part of the valley.  I wish Colin was around, even tho he's Mr. Tucson he tends to be more educated about these things than I, my thoughts are disorganized, ask more questions i'll give you better answers.

[ATLienHopeful]

MJLO, on Mar 17 2008, 11:06 PM, said:

The People of Phoenix thank you for your kind words. All the neighborhoods mentioned are good neighborhoods. Thats all part of the central core, and east central neighborhoods. They are also going to be the more pricey. If memory serves those neighborhoods have traditionallly kept their value or have experienced a ressurgance in the last 20 years do to a large concentrated gay population that have gone in and made significant investments in them. A four bedroom home in those parts can go for 500-800k sometimes more. Perhaps not as much in the willo neighborhood but i'm less firmiliar.

Great things about them, is your minutes away from a couple different financial districts, entertainment district, and world class sporting venues. Home values are and have been stable, and quite a few of Phoenix's trendy quaint restaurants, and the big pricey ones. Central Phoenix is not as acclaimed as Scottsdale, but much more rooted in culture, with the same kind of $, with much less commercialism. It is my favorite part of the valley. I wish Colin was around, even tho he's Mr. Tucson he tends to be more educated about these things than I, my thoughts are disorganized, ask more questions i'll give you better answers.

Yes i loved the area, Ive also began reading the papers there, online of course, I like how the Phoenix area paper (Arizona Central) has the interactive map online that will show where crimes have happened in the past week, month, year, and a quick rundown. Seems to just be a lot of property crime, simple assaults, quick question for anyone who knows about this feature or lives in Phoenix...a lot of it was situated in the southern area of the city, and property crime in the central core, and southern scottsdale (Misleading? I enjoyed the old town area) and it showed no homicides, just "violent" crimes including simple assault, agg assault, or violent robbery. The reason I keep bringing up crime is because my fiance is shall we say skittish...and will be at out and about due to us both believing in non-conventional gender roles (We both will be working) and if she is at home before I, she is worried about frequent breakins, gang behavior, etc in certain areas. City-data and some other websites put the homicide count at roughly 200 for Phoenix, which is more than Im used to in Memphis, and about what I was used to in Dallas, and Phoenix proper is about like Dallas proper/no metro, about 1 million i believe...I keep telling her that in most cities, crime doesnt come looking for you, you get involved with crime and crime finds you, but breakins scare her to death. I just told her to take shooting lessons. Jk.

The F.Q. Story district is by far my favorite little nhood in Phoenix, some of the forumers on SSP have meetings and snap shots of Phoenix/S-Dale and around, and there was a couple of good shots of the historic districts and I loved it even more when I saw them first hand. Thomas Kinkade and Frank Lloyd Wright merged into one neighborhood. Beautiful.

I have to also be very complimentary of Tempe, what a neat little strip they have downtown and I enjoyed myself there as well. Cave Creek is a beautiful area as well. With a little luck in the job market after graduation and hopefully finding more and more out about this area, Im hoping to be one of the many additions to this area very soon.