Arizona, glendale (Phoenix, Goodyear: low income, real estate, how much)

[H0llysDream]

I'm moving in a couple years to Arizona, Glendale or phoenix. I was wondering how much a plot of land and to build a house would cost.
What are the good and bad things about these areas plz help.

[beTucsonan]

In between $10K and $10 million or more ... sorry to be vague, but you are talking about a pretty vast area with many different price points to consider, and of course there's the matter of how much land you want - just enough for a house, or 10 acres?

I would go to any of the major real estate websites, punch in what you are looking for and go from there. I use Zillow myself, but that's not an endorsement its just the site I happen to use most often.

[grmi66]

The suburb of Glendale has 225,000 people and is spread out larger than a lot of stand alone midwestern cities. Has everything from low income 'hoods to upscale million dollar properties. Most building lots are owned by a developer within the confines of a subdivision. Arizona is not like it is in other spots in the country where you can go out and buy yourself an acre or two and build your own house easily. Not saying it can't be done, but it would be tough. Occasionally I see people building on an infill lot or do a tear down of an existing house in order to build within the city limits.

[Montanama]

I find Realtor.com to have more accurate information (and for the Phoenix area very much up-to-date) than any of the other websites. (No I don't have any affiliation with them in particular, though I am a licensed realtor. As a buyer I used/use Realtor.com)

That said, you can get an idea for what things will cost by looking there, but if you're not familiar with the area it's really hard to know what you're looking at and whether it's in an area you would like. It's worth your time to find a good realtor to chat with even briefly to give you some direction. The Phoenix area is truly vast, very spread out, and includes lots and homes in just about every price point as BajaAZ points out.

At this time it is significantly less expensive to buy a preowned home than to build (unless you are doing some of the work/contracting yourself). Still, I always think it's not a bad plan to have a piece of land to sit on if you're planning to build down the road. We have been looking at lots too. We can buy a nice custom lot in our very nice planned development of Estrella Mountain Ranch for $60k up to $200k. This is in Goodyear, in the west valley. Closer in to Phoenix is more $$. Acreage is not inexpensive here and there are the additional concerns of private wells etc. to consider going that route.

Good luck!