??? for you Arizona guys

[RDH/86200X]

I got orders to Portugal for a 12 month short tour then I will get my base of preference. I am planing on choosing Luke afb. What I'm wanting to know is what areas should I look at buying/renting a house in and where should I avoid. So far I have looked at Glendale and surprise. I want to try to stay some what close to the base but a 30-45 minute drive doesn't scare me. Also wondering about things like quality of schools and what the crime rate is like.

Thank you in advance.
Ryan.

[Mr. Clean]

I live about 10 minutes North of Luke. Surprise is a nice place to live, not much to do if you must have night life. Scottsdale and Tempe is about 45 minutes away, where you would find the night life entertainment. In Surprise all the houses and shopping plazas are new construction within the last 10 years, and the housing developments are mixed in with Farm land. It was voted the number one place to retire back in 2010.

I would say Surprise is a relatively low crime area when compared to the rest of PHX, but crime can happen anywhere. In Surprise you will not see graffiti as you will in other parts of PHX. There are many HOA developments so it helps keep the place looking nice. West and Northern Surprise has lots and homes that are on bigger property, like small horse farms so housing is pretty diverse.

If you want to be out and away check out Wittman, would be about 20-30 minutes from Luke. Large lots spaced apart, homes are not on top of each other, you could ride a trike/quad on the roads and around if you move there. You can make OHV's street legal.

Glendale is okay, I lived there when I moved here and I like Surprise much better.

I have no kids so cant say much about schools, but they are all new as well in Surprise.