West Phoenix - What Has Changed In 5 Years? (Glendale, Peoria: real estate, foreclosures)

[grmi66]

Our family is thinking about coming back to Phoenix and we used to live around 43rd Ave & Peoria. Not a great neighborhood, but not a bad one either, seemed like a "middle" middle class neighborhood of teachers, retail workers, office workers and such. Most of the houses in our neighborhood were owner occupied and we had very little issue with crime.

How has the general area north of Peoria up to Bell Road changed in the past 5 years? Looked up real estate prices and they are cheaper than when we bought in the area in the mid-90's. Is it still a decent area of town if you are looking for a basic 70's era house?

[AksarbeN]

Housing prices have changed and are lower “all over” the valley not just that area. It remains and continues to be middle class neighborhoods of older homes. There might be a specific neighborhood that is less desirable and has problems however that isn’t any different from the rest of the valley areas in general. There are always less desirable pockets or areas throughout the greater metro area.

[Ritchie_az]

Aside from home prices, the area you are talking about has not changed much. The further away from downtown you go the more "change" you will find. The outer-most suburbs grew by leaps and bounds. The Cardinals and Coyotes play in Glendale now and there are many more spring training baseball teams on the "west side" then there were five years ago.

[Valley Native]

Originally Posted by grmi66

Our family is thinking about coming back to Phoenix and we used to live around 43rd Ave & Peoria. Not a great neighborhood, but not a bad one either, seemed like a "middle" middle class neighborhood of teachers, retail workers, office workers and such. Most of the houses in our neighborhood were owner occupied and we had very little issue with crime.

How has the general area north of Peoria up to Bell Road changed in the past 5 years? Looked up real estate prices and they are cheaper than when we bought in the area in the mid-90's. Is it still a decent area of town if you are looking for a basic 70's era house?

That area you're referring to is situated in the North Mountain Village area, and takes up a part of Deer Valley. It is still pretty much middle class, but a lot of it is older now, and some of the neighborhoods have deteriorated a bit. Back in the '70s, my uncle lived in a neighborhood in that area when it was fairly new, but has since moved away due to the increased crime element, and how the area allowed itself to become more run down.

Keep in mind that much of west Phoenix has always been a haven for cheaper housing. That has a way of attracting cheaper people. When basic middle class neighborhoods are allowed to fall into disrepair and the housing market doesn't appreciate, that's when things start to go downhill. So be careful when choosing a particular area.

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by Valley Native

That area you're referring to is situated in the North Mountain Village area, and takes up a part of Deer Valley. It is still pretty much middle class, but a lot of it is older now, and some of the neighborhoods have deteriorated a bit. Back in the '70s, my uncle lived in a neighborhood in that area when it was fairly new, but has since moved away due to the increased crime element, and how the area allowed itself to become more run down.

Keep in mind that much of west Phoenix has always been a haven for cheaper housing. That has a way of attracting cheaper people. When basic middle class neighborhoods are allowed to fall into disrepair and the housing market doesn't appreciate, that's when things start to go downhill. So be careful when choosing a particular area.

At least when we lived in the area, the houses between 35th Ave and 51st Ave seemed to remain pretty decent just because you could get to the freeway in less than 10 minutes and it kept the house prices slightly higher than houses west of that. Just liked that area because house prices were reasonable and you can get to pretty much anywhere in the Phoenix area in 45 minutes. Plus I think those 60's and 70's era slump block houses were better built than a lot of newer homes and if gas prices go up, having a house that close to I-17 will be a good thing.

[YAZ]

39th ave & Peoria here......

Kinda quiet; no big issues lately, other than some foreclosures.

Had some grafilthy on my alley side wall 2 years ago.

Talked to the police and not gang related thank goodness.....just kids.

A 'lil bit rough headin' south to Dunlap tho.

Metrocenter Mall is spooky quiet.

DO NOT see a movie there. Lots of greasy kid stuff going on there.

Good places for chow.....Pappadeaux's, Fajita's, and Bobby Q's come to mind.

[Ritchie_az]

Originally Posted by YAZ

Metrocenter Mall is spooky quiet.

DO NOT see a movie there. Lots of greasy kid stuff going on there.

Good places for chow.....Pappadeaux's, Fajita's, and Bobby Q's come to mind.

Don't forget the Discount Tire that was used in their long running old-lady-throws-tire-through-the-window commercial....

[musicforme]

Originally Posted by Ritchie_az

Don't forget the Discount Tire that was used in their long running old-lady-throws-tire-through-the-window commercial....

That's actually pretty cool. I might make a trip down there just for that (and I'm not kidding!).

[grmi66]

Originally Posted by YAZ

39th ave & Peoria here......

Kinda quiet; no big issues lately, other than some foreclosures.

Had some grafilthy on my alley side wall 2 years ago.

Talked to the police and not gang related thank goodness.....just kids.

A 'lil bit rough headin' south to Dunlap tho.

Metrocenter Mall is spooky quiet.

DO NOT see a movie there. Lots of greasy kid stuff going on there.

Good places for chow.....Pappadeaux's, Fajita's, and Bobby Q's come to mind.

Used to live right across the street from ALTS, sounds like not much has changed then. Pappadeaux's and Chino Banditos are some of the things I miss most about Phoenix.

We got tagged on our alley wall, called the city and they were out within a day to sandblast it off our wall. Other than that and some half hearted attempts to steal my car radio we never had any problems in that neighborhood.

[Java Jolt]

West Phoenix hasn't changed much in five years, except traffic seems to be worse.

West valley as a whole has grown and expanded substantially, it's even more evident in the western suburban areas.