South NJ (Burbs of Phila) to Burbs of Phoenix relocation suggestions (Scottsdale: rental homes, condos)

[tritonx6]

Hi All,

Planning on relocating to Phoenix Suburbs in the Spring time from Southern NJ. Here's our situation.

2 Adults mid 30's, no kids, 2 dogs (40-50lbs each). I'm Asian and my wife is white. I work from home or travel for work. My Wife doesn't work. We're looking for a small town feel area but not in the middle on nowhere. Looking to rent a house (3 to 4 bed room, rancher) for a year while we look around and decide where we want to buy a house or have one built. Ideally renting near were we'd buy will make the search easier.

Rental Budget of $1,500 but would prefer $1,200 / month not counting utilities.

What we would like.
Manual Bike friendly environment.
30 mins from nice restaurants.
30 ins from PHX Airport
Pool access would be a nice bonus for Physical Therapy
Close enough to Wholefoods / Other stores for Organic Groceries.
Close to an REI would be a bonus.
Enjoy Mountain Biking, would be nice to be able to get to nice trails in addition to bike trails through the city

Based on that looks like Gilbert and Chandler fit our needs. Just wanted to confirm with folks on here that my analysis is correct. We are planning on Renting a house site unseen in person most likely due to scheduling.

Any recommendations for sites to look for Rental homes? I already look at Phoenix / Scottsdale Arizona Property Management, Homes for Rent. Photo tours of rental homes, condos, luxury houses for rent, residential lease options, and town home rental properties in Phx AZ metro cities., zillow, realtor.com. Are there any other sites/companies folks here suggest looking at for rentals.

We plan to move here by driving and having 2 U-Pack moving containers sent, are there specfiic areas that wouldn't allow deliver of these containers?

If anyone is familiar with Phila / NJ area, we currently live in Cherry Hill, Collingswood, Haddonfield area in NJ and like the suburban setup here but closeness to stores and Downtown Philadelphia when we want to go out but with enough little restaurants here for when we don't want to go into the city. Were looking for something similar in Phoenix Suburbs, but probably would prefer to go into Scottsdale rather then downtown Phoenix.

Any help, comments, or feedback would be greatly appreciated.

[observer53]

Gilbert is a little farther than you need to be from the airport and mountain biking/hiking, Tempe or the Ahwatukee area of Phoenix would work, in addition to Chandler. Both are close to the airport and to South Mountain park, one of the, if not the, largest city parks in the world.

[CodyW]

I'd say the, get as far back into Ahwatukee as you can. You're really close to the city from there, and everything you need. But if you get far enough back there, you can almost forget you're in the Phoenix area from time to time. It's kind of nice if that's what you're looking for.

[Jkgourmet]

I lived in those areas (plus Lindenwold) of Philly/NJ beforemoved to Phoenix. Chandler will feel like"home" to you - and I mean that in a positive way. Alternatively, you could also look at the areas of Tempe and Gilbert that border on Chandler, but don't let anybody talk you into going TOO far away.

Somewhere nearish I60 or the 202 makes it easy to drive to downtown Phoenix or Scottsdale when you want. Frankly, if you're into n 3 miles of downtown Chandler and chandler fashion mall AND like little ethnic food restaurants (particularly Asian, but lots of choices), , a few good wine bars, can accept and enjoy some chain restaurants (they often have great happy hours), i think you'd feel right at home.

[tritonx6]

Sounds like I should stick to looking at chandler and Northwest area of Gilbert North of 202 or East of Chandler.

I see that Gilbert expands North west to South East by quite a bit. Would Power Ranch area in Gilbert be too far away from everything? I see a lot of rentals pop up there often and like there pool access.

Are there areas of Gilbert, Chandler, Ahwatukee that should be avoided since I'll be picking a rental place without seeing it? Don't want to end up in Pennsaken NJ instead of Collingswood NJ

[observer53]

Originally Posted by tritonx6

Sounds like I should stick to looking at chandler and Northwest area of Gilbert North of 202 or East of Chandler.

I see that Gilbert expands North west to South East by quite a bit. Would Power Ranch area in Gilbert be too far away from everything? I see a lot of rentals pop up there often and like there pool access.

Are there areas of Gilbert, Chandler, Ahwatukee that should be avoided since I'll be picking a rental place without seeing it? Don't want to end up in Pennsaken NJ instead of Collingswood NJ

Power Ranch is too far, in my opinion. I really don't know what you mean by "East of Chandler" as ALL of Gilbert is "East of Chandler" and Chandler Blvd runs east/west. I still think Gilbert, while it's a perfectly nice place, does not meet your criteria as well as other places.

Picking a rental place without seeing it is never the best idea, but most of those areas are not a problem. The oldest part of Chandler, right along AZ Ave and running south of downtown, is the only one I would perhaps not pick if I could not see the house/area first. Stick to the west side of Chandler and there's no issue.

[CheyDee]

Originally Posted by Jkgourmet

Chandler will feel like"home" to you - and I mean that in a positive way.

I'm also very familiar with Cherry Hill and the first place I thought of when I read the OP was Chandler.

[Jkgourmet]

Obsever53 is spot on, as usual. Gilbert would be my fallback choice after Chandler, but definitely not as far as Power Ranch.

Enjoy the area. It's a great place to live, especially if you enjoy Asian food.

[Captain Bill]

From my home in Val Vista Lakes in north central Gilbert to Terminal 4 at Sky Harbor Airport is 19.6 miles/25 minutes. It meets all the other OP criteria, except it is not in the mountains.

[Golden_Monkey]

Both Chandler and Gilbert are very bike-friendly. There are also a few excellent bike shops in the area.