Life In A Bedroom Community

If you're moving to Mesa, Arizona from somewhere else, perhaps a larger city or a small town, you may not have much of an idea as to what you can expect from Mesa. In big cities like Toronto, estate agents specialize in modern condos and small houses that are nonetheless worth millions, while in small towns you may not even have had your own Wal-Mart. Mesa is a bedroom community, which means its somewhere in between. To give you an idea as to what you can expect before you move here, we've created this article chronicling life in a bedroom community.

What Is a Bedroom Community?

A bedroom community, also known as a suburb or commuter town, is a city that exists on the periphery of a larger one. In Mesa's case, the larger community is Phoenix. Real estate and the cost of living is often cheaper in these communities compared to the major city, so people often choose to commute to the city and live in a suburb in order to have more living space. This principle is illustrated by the price differential between Oakville real estate and housing in downtown Vancouver. Bedroom communities are generally residential in nature, with little to no industry or offices. Retail is usually limited to sprawling department stores.

Benefits of Living in a Bedroom Community

One of the most attractive things about living in a bedroom community is that they tend to be much cheaper and safer than living in an urbanized area. While Cabbagetown real estate is nice, its proximity to shadier urban areas and the astronomical price of land in a densely populated neighborhood put them off most people's radar. Because housing tends to consist almost entirely of single family homes, it puts living in the suburbs out of the price range of most low income people who tend to make up the majority of the crime statistics.

Another popular benefit to living in a bedroom community is that the larger home sizes and availability of yards and more extensive parklands gives children room to play and parents space to do home renovations, bathrooms extensions and additions to the house. Your neighbors tend to be people like you, professionals with growing children in most cases, so many people find lasting friendships for themselves and their kids just from choosing the right neighborhood. Block parties, barbecues, and play dates are common occurrences in bedroom communities.

Drawbacks of Living in a Bedroom Community

The biggest drawback to living in a bedroom community is that the farther your house is from the city the longer it's going to take you to get to work. Though some people are lucky enough to find jobs within the community, these are scarce, and most people end up driving or taking public transit into the city every morning and night. If your mortgage calculator, Toronto version placed you out in Bradford, this could mean hours per day of your life. In Mesa's case, the driving distance is about 25 minutes either way or 35-45 minutes in traffic.