Least favorite suburb (Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale: hair salon, to live in, costs)

[lewdog_5]

The heavy handed moderating in this forum makes it almost unreadable.

[JGMotorsport64]

Originally Posted by lewdog_5

The heavy handed moderating in this forum makes it almost unreadable.

Gets old sometimes.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

I chuckled ^^. That was a good one!

I do shop at Kohls (and Costco) for clothes. I have a saying: the person with the least amount of passions wins! I don't care at all about fashion, expensive cars, or keeping up with the Jones etc. My passions cost $$'s like anyone else. I blow $20K a year on vacations. That's a waste of $$'s to others.

This is a good book for people to understand. The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy: Thomas J. Stanley, William D. Danko: 9781589795471: Amazon.com: Books . Too many people won't get there because they have not figured out how to live under their means. Granted. There are a lot of people in Surprise that are also living paycheck to paycheck. Same in Scottsdale.

What cracks me up is that some people actually think they are all that because they live in Scottsdale. I simply took the trade-off of living modestly like a lot of my new (post recession) neighbors.

In the meantime, I'm patiently waiting for that 30% off sale so I can get some more designer Marc Anthony clothes. lol

There are a lot of those people in Scottsdale. Most people at my University are from Scottsdale and when they find out I'm from Glendale they go, "...Oh." With the hesitation and everything. It's as if you can hear the judging through the silence.

Not that any of them are on this forum. But stereotypes exist for a reason... In order for a stereotype to be believable by the people who perpetuate them, at least a certain amount of the population targeted has to fit it in their eyes. The amount depends on the individual's perception. "Snobsdale" didn't come from no where... There are probably lots of down-to-Earth Scottsdale residents but it's hard to sift through to find them through the materialistic, judging Scottsdale residents that plague their image. It's like a diamond in the rough scenario from my experiences.

Scottsdale is still a nice place. I am over there a lot when I am in Phoenix. Though it would not be my top pick for somewhere to live. In the Phoenix metro, I would pick Cave Creek/Carefree. It's the area of Phoenix most similar to the Catalina Foothills. OR I would pick one of the historic neighborhoods near Downtown. I am in love with craftsman bungalows... You can't find those anywhere else!

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by lewdog_5

The heavy handed moderating in this forum makes it almost unreadable.

Originally Posted by JGMotorsport64

Gets old sometimes.

A couple of my old posts have been removed. I don't think I have attacked anyone as that's not in my nature, even on an Internet forum, though it might have been to address the troll that came on here earlier. It does indeed make it hard to read. This particular thread got more attention than I thought it would, as the OP I come back here to check it regularly but it's hard for me to keep up. Sometimes a couple pages worth of posts will go by before I see it, and with the moderating deleting the posts, I am left confused as there will be no context then for some of the other posts.

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by DetroitN8V

Surprise is a bedroom community in the middle of nowhere. Scottsdale is a large, diverse, centrally located (for the most part), affluent (for the most part), destination city with resorts, entertainment, great dining and shopping. You can't really compare them. My initial comment was because someone that lives in Surprise voted for Scottsdale as the least desirable which I found comical.

Reality Check:


Af·flu·ent: : Having an abundance of wealth, property, or other material goods.

Now all we need to do is define what the $$ amount is to be "affluent". I personally put the number at $3M. I'm not talking $3M in your IRA/SEP/401K. You haven't paid your taxes yet! At $3M, you don't need to work if you have your costs in control. But people don't need to work if they know how to work the welfare system too. I diverge...

You say "for the most part" people in Scottsdale are affluent? Let's stare at the numbers. The average median household income in Scottsdale is a whopping $69,690 (see https://www.city-data.com/city/Scottsdale-Arizona.html ). Do you consider $69K of family income "affluent"? Because median means 1/2 above and 1/2 below. The average home price is home price is a measly $382,300 at around $200 a square foot. The fact is most people who live in Scottsdale are the farthest thing from affluent. My home plan in Surprise sold for $500K in 2006 and now is worth around $350K. $382K isn't some sort of big dollar barrier.

You are confusing affluent behavior and actual wealth. Perception isn't reality. Of course there are major pockets of wealth in Scottsdale (i.e. Silverleaf). As I have said time and time again, the REAL money leaves the state for months a year. Their income isn't plugged into median income statistics for the town of Scottsdale. They are not sweating their b_alls off during the summer months. They don't have a mortgage. THAT's where the real money is and many are affluent. The lesson here there are a lot of people in Scottdale that are leveraged, not remotely close to being able to retire, lease their cars, and live the good life barely saving $$'s (or worse yet financing everything). They were sucked in the mortgage crisis and upside-down too. Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, etc also stretched and took out risky loans to buy more house than they could afford. At the end of the day, YOU think there are more "affluent" people that there really are. I don't debate for a minute there is more wealth in Scottsdale than many parts of the Valley. But assume Scottsdale as a whole (184 square miles) is "mostly affluent" is a joke. Those with more are going to grab the best spots in that 184 square miles. The real wealth is going to be very focused in a specific portion of Scottsdale.

Of COURSE their are many affluent people in Scottsdale. But I bet a significant minority of the households.

[i'm not a cookie]

Again, I'm legit surprised at what Paradise Valley can get away with. Everyone who voted for Scottsdale voted because they thought people of Scottsdale were snobby, rude, and elitist. Having lived in both I can say that although this might be the case for some, it is much worse in PV. Leaving PV for Scottsdale was a breath of fresh air. Never in my life have a met so many people who were so judgmental and stuck up like I did in PV. Half of the people I knew in PV wouldn't dare step foot in Phoenix(except for when they ubered to the Baltimore because who wants to have to look for parking *rolls eyes*). They would constantly talk down on people from other suburbs of Phoenix like it was a pass time, and not to mention I heard a lot of racist(towards mexicans) and anti-semetic "jokes" a lot during my time there. The residents of PV flock to Scottsdale like it's their playing ground. To the many who have had "bad experiences with rude scottsdale people" it was probably a PV person. When out of state, all the families that I know, will say they are from Scottsdale instead of saying they are from Phoenix or even PV for that matter, talk about identity crisis. This is off topic, but to add, I really really never saw the appeal for PV. In terms of layout, PV was a very lonely place and the concept of having a neighbor or a neighborhood environment is almost non-existant unless you live in of the gated communities like casa blanca, mountain shadows, or finisteere. At least in scottsdale you have neighbors

[LBTRS]

I wonder why Ponderosa finds the city he lives in his least favorite suburb? Especially when he lists the reasons he lives here in this thread and states other "suburbs" he would never live in.

Ponderosa...did you misunderstand the poll or did I miss something?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by i'm not a cookie

Again, I'm legit surprised at what Paradise Valley can get away with. Everyone who voted for Scottsdale voted because they thought people of Scottsdale were snobby, rude, and elitist.

Nah. I voted for PV to show most of these polls are not accurate. I'd love to live in PV. Then I could make fun of all the little people who are inferior. JUST kidding.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Nah. I voted for PV to show most of these polls are not accurate. I'd love to live in PV. Then I could make fun of all the little people who are inferior. JUST kidding.

It's accurate if it's your opinion... lol. That's what I stated in the first post of this thread. Opinions don't need to be fact-based, though they should be.

PV would be nice to live in, if I got to live on one of the mountains. I don't see the appeal to live in PV but in the basin of it personally. I would probably be able to get a similar lot for a better cost in Scottsdale or another suburb at that point, the mountain-living is the whole appeal to Paradise Valley in my opinion. Especially Camelback with city views...

The only person I would let slide about joking about people being inferior is whoever lives in the Castle. They live in a freaking castle... I'm sorry but a castle is above all other types of residences that have ever existed. It's like Phoenix royalty

[Rico Valencia]

Glendale is the tale of two cities. The southern quarter or so that borders the infamous Maryvale is rather blighted and high crime. The middle of Glendale from Northern to Bell Rd is hit and miss but overall pretty decent. The northern quarter of Glendale(Arrowhead) north of Bell Rd. is highly desirable and very similar to Gilbert and south Chandler.