Friday, February 9, 2007

Relocating to Ahwatukee

Ahwatukee is a unique village in Arizona and more specifically in Phoenix. Relocating to Ahwatukee is a way to live in an area combining the big city and small town feel.

While not a town or city on its own, Ahwatukee is nonetheless a popular destination for people relocating to Arizona. Ahwatukee is one of 15 “urban villages” that were annexed by the city of Phoenix, Arizona, between the years of 1978 and 1987. With a population of 85,000 and a land size of 35.8 square miles, this little “village” within Phoenix actually has the statistics of a small to medium sized city. Ahwatukee is also known as “Ahwatukee Foothills Village”, and it is considered a “bedroom community” to Phoenix.

Relocating to Ahwatukee, Arizona has become a popular choice in recent years. Money magazine recently rated the village as one of the “Best Places to Live” in the United States, and Ahwatukee even outshines many nearby suburbs and portions of Phoenix. The village encompasses three seperate zip codes, and financial data is available for each – showing a median yearly household income ranging from $60,000 in one zip, to $85,000 and finally to $100,000. This income is between double and triple the average of the rest of the United States.

This village is attached to a major metropolitan area, so relocating to Ahwatukee, Arizona also gets you the benefits of living in Phoenix. One detractor of living in this area may be the high price of housing – the median cost of purchasing a house in Ahwatukee is $315,000, similar to that of other wealthy suburbs of Phoenix. The school system in Ahwatukee is one reason people choose to live here; it is both award winning (in the public sector) as well as diverse (with many private schools to choose from).

The climate in Ahwatukee, Arizona ranges from a high of around 100ºF in the summer months, and a low of about 32ºF in the winter. Precipitation is much lower than in the rest of the nation – an average of only nine inches of precipitation falls in Ahwatukee each year. South Mountain, a nearby mountain to Ahwatukee, can sometimes see snowfall in the winter months, but this is not to be expected in the village itself.

Ahwatukee, Arizona was originally conceived and built in 1921 by Dr. and Mrs. WVB Ames, who named the area Casa de Sueños (House of Dreams). As the area was built to be a residential community, there are many parts of it that have been arranged to be hospitable to family life. The village is surrounded by South Mountain Park, and all of the recreation that this has to offer.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Relocating-to-Ahwatukee&id=433151