stupid question? do houses in AZ have basements? (Phoenix, Tucson: living, storage)

[sfw1979]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

Must have never visited Iowa or Illinois. I lived in both for two years and did see plenty of homes that did not have garages. I grew up in California and most homes I am aware of have garages in California, but seldom basements. At least inh the southern part of the state. I always figured that to have a basement you needed to have a very old home. But then look where I was raised, earthquake country.

I'm from MN and have driven through Iowa and IL but I guess I never noticed. Most houses in MN have them. Maybe some of the older ones in Minneapolis, but then most of them even have at least a one car garage.

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Just checked on About.Com regarding Arizona basements. Turns out that in the mid west and north east they need to excavate below the frost line to lay a slab. Since they are there anyway it is cost affective to put in a basement. With Arizona you only need to dig 18 inches to put in a slab. It is more cost affective to put a second floor in than a basement in Arizona. They did say that if a Basement was put in it would be cooler than with the second floor. Also more people are asking for basements in the valley. The article mentioned that Scott homes builds homes in Gilbert with unfinished basements. Most of the cities though require finished basements. They are considered an additional floor in lieu of a second story. I think that I would like a basment home with a 2 story above it and a finished attick. Now that would be a cool house.

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

I think that I would like a basment home with a 2 story above it and a finished attick. Now that would be a cool house.

Dime a dozen in the NE US...... got a couple for rentals I'm thinking of getting rid of in sh*t hole NE OH. Want one? 2200 sq ft, 1/3 acre lot w/2 car garage, all city utilities ~$60K. Excellent condition too.

When was the last time you seen numbers like that . This is what it is like in many areas in NE OH. The sub prime crap and sorry economy has destroyed this area.

[Candice - Next Wave]

Originally Posted by Power Surge

those 'mini twister' things, at this hour and before my coffee I forget what theyre called but they do a lot of damage. .

Dust devils?

[SOON2BNSURPRISE]

Originally Posted by Stephan_K

Dime a dozen in the NE US...... got a couple for rentals I'm thinking of getting rid of in sh*t hole NE OH. Want one? 2200 sq ft, 1/3 acre lot w/2 car garage, all city utilities ~$60K. Excellent condition too.

When was the last time you seen numbers like that . This is what it is like in many areas in NE OH. The sub prime crap and sorry economy has destroyed this area.

That would be great, if it was in a nice warm area like Phoenix. At the same time I am thinking a home with a finished basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, and a finished attic would have a lot more square footage than 2,200 square feet. My soon to be built sometime next year single story is over 1,800 square feet. I would be looking for a home that is at least 6,000 square feet. I agree with you on the sub prime situation. No one should have offered that kind of instrument and no one that was using half there brain should have signed a note to borrow on those conditions. I just never got it how someone could buy a home with a loan that places them in a financial position that has them owing more than they started with. I see the rationalle when places are going up. You owe 5,000 more the next year but the equity has increased by $40,000. That is great, but at the end of the day, you still owe more for the home than you paid.

[Stephan_K]

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

That would be great, if it was in a nice warm area like Phoenix. At the same time I am thinking a home with a finished basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, and a finished attic would have a lot more square footage than 2,200 square feet. My soon to be built sometime next year single story is over 1,800 square feet. I would be looking for a home that is at least 6,000 square feet. I agree with you on the sub prime situation. No one should have offered that kind of instrument and no one that was using half there brain should have signed a note to borrow on those conditions. I just never got it how someone could buy a home with a loan that places them in a financial position that has them owing more than they started with. I see the rationalle when places are going up. You owe 5,000 more the next year but the equity has increased by $40,000. That is great, but at the end of the day, you still owe more for the home than you paid.

6000 sq ft.....expensive house!

I thing that the lending groups simply preyed upon the ignorance and 'bad' or 'want to buy more garbage' financial situation of many american home owners and wannabe home owners while everything was going up. Most of which with the 'want to buy more garbage' mentalities will sign anything without reading and/or understanding it just to get their hands on a few more dollars to spend or cover what they already spent and didn't have. That is just plain financial stupidity as far as I am concerned and those people deserve what they got for being so stupid.

And there's many who understood exactly what they were signing and knew they were 'gambling' so to speak but for their own reasons did so because it was most likely their only shot out of a bad situation. Unfortunately all in these situations went from the frying pan into the fire. It's very sad and I feel for those people tremendously and wish them the best.

What has made things even worse is that this type of lending preyed on just about all the economically strained areas more so than the healthier economic areas of the country and once the bottom blew out, it just made the economically challenged areas exponentially worse! Pretty much exactly where we are here in OH. Made a bad situation worse. I'd take making a good situation not so good over ours any day.

Hell, just saw a 1000 sq ft all brick home in a not so bad part of town for $12K, with city utilities. $12K is not a type o either. Talk about depressing . I'd love to buy these all up for additional rentals, but the problem is that there isn't anybody that wants to live here........that's pretty messed up. And houses like this are all over the place here. Anything you want for under $20K! No joke...........

Hell with retiring to Mexico to live on the cheap. Mexico aint got nothin on NE OH . Probably why we have so many Mexicans here too......just like home to them only with an upgrade hehe.....

[and the]

There is no need to dig below the frost line for the entire area encompassed by a slab. You only need to dig that deep around the circumferance of the house's footprint for the footings upon which the foundation stands. You don't even need a slab. There are plenty of dirt crawlspaces around here just like AZ. So I don't buy the answer that the N/E has so many more basements than AZ because it's not that much more expensive to dig them here once you already go down two or three feet deeper for footings than in AZ. I think it has more more to do with AZ soil/dirt/rock/drainage.

The water soaks into the ground fairly easily during a moderate storm in most parts of the N/E. A rainstorm that wouldn't get a second look there would cause flash floods in many parts of AZ. The water doesn't soak into the ground there. It just follows the path of least resistance to a lower elevation. And if you have a basement, that's the lower elevation it's going to look for with very little being absorbed by the surrounding ground. I think THAT'S why there are so few basements in AZ, unless you have a really good drainange set up and/or sump pumps.

[azloafer]

Basement Homes in Arizona

Sorting Out the Myths from the Facts
I discuss how people moving to the area are often in a quandary over why we don't have many basement homes.
In the following interview with Scott McDonald of The Wall Company, we separate the facts from the fiction about basements.

Phoenix Guide:
I have heard that some of the older homes in the Valley have basements, but until recently not many new construction homes included the feature. How come?

Mr. McDonald:
It's faster to build a home without a basement. Including a basement with a home adds about 30 days to the construction process. Also, if a builder is trying to provide a home with a certain square footage, it costs more to build the home with a basement than it does to add a second story to the home.

Phoenix Guide:
Why do builders in other states, especially in the east, build their homes with basements? Don't they have the same time/cost issues?

McDonald:
Not really. In colder parts of the country the foundation of a home must be set below the frost line. That means that they have to dig down several feet anyway. The additional few feet to put in a basement are not that significant. But here in Arizona, we only have to dig about 18 inches to put in a foundation, so putting in a basement for a builder represents a significant extra effort than is required.

Phoenix Guide:
Please tell us a little about the extra cost we might pay to build a new home that has a basement.

Mr. McDonald:
If you are building a custom home you are probably spending at least $90 per square foot, and maybe as much as $150 or $200 per square foot for some luxury homes. Including a basement involves the excavation, walls, footings, waterproofing, drain tile, back fill and cleanup, which may only add $15 to $20 per square foot. To make that space livable (finished as opposed to unfinished) may add $30 to $40 per square foot.

Phoenix Guide:
We hear horror stories about "hard digs"' and "rocky soil" and "caliche" causing surprise expenses for people putting in basements. What's the real story?

Mr. McDonald:
The truth is that there is rarely any surprise for a prospective buyer. The builder will do an analysis of the property before the contract is signed. We almost always know if a hard dig (digging into rock) will be required. As a matter of fact, less than 3% of the thousands of basements we've done required a hard dig. As far as the soil is concerned, that is a non-issue. A construction company that knows how to build basements has the proper equipment for our Arizona soils, and trained people operating the equipment. END

[CaWaAz]

Few basements & few attics

[calculush1]

Originally Posted by Power Surge

To my knowledge, very few do, and I know that because Ive been in some of them.
But the reason might be because we dont get tornadoes, hurricanes or other disasters that might utilize the need for one. But we do have dust storms and those 'mini twister' things, at this hour and before my coffee I forget what theyre called but they do a lot of damage. The word will hit me later and I'll come back with it, lol.

The big dust storms are called 'haboobs.' Its arabic, and I may have spelled it wrong. They get kinda crazy with dust and debris flying around but at least they won't blow your house away. I've experienced tornadoes in Iowa and it wasn't fun at all.

Most houses in AZ don't have a basement and it is because of the high water table. It would suck to have your basement flood everytime it rains. Once you live here for a little while and experience a good rain storm you'll see that Arizonans have no idea what to do with rain water. Most of the streets get flooded if it rains for more than one day because they didn't put in a proper drainage system in the streets. These kind of things are common sense outside of the desert. Its probably for the best that we don't have basements.