McDowell Mountain Ranch or Greyhawk? (Phoenix: refinance, house, neighborhood)

[dgs92]

I live in Grayhawk and have for almost 6 years. Our house price has come down, like everyone elses, but if we sold today we still would make about $300,000. Not bad!! I have 3 kids and I wouldn't move anywhere else! My kids walk and ride their bikes to school with all the other kids. Lots of Moms walk their kids to school. The school loves parent involvement! There are always Moms and Dads at school helping out. There are tons and tons of families especially in the neighborhoods around the school.

We too looked at Mc Dowell MTN Ranch. What I didn't like about it was the school was at a busy intersection versus in the middle of a neighborhood like Grayhawk. It was also hilly and I was worried about young kids riding their bikes. With the Mountain right there I was also worried about critters coming down into my yard where the kids play. I also like that Grayhawk is very convienient to the 101. My husband works in Tempe so that is important to us. Check out Grayhawk elementary on greatschools.net. It's in the Paradise Valley school district. It's rated a 10. They have a wonderful core knowledge program. I think it's a fantastic school.

Ultimately you have to just go with your gut. There are so many nices areas and houses to choose from. I actually had a checklist while house hunting to keep me on track of what was most important to us. Good luck!!

[gsheridan]

I thought I'd revive this thread since we're considering both of these areas.

I'd love to hear anyone's general opinions about these areas, but I also have a couple of specific questions:

1)Which has more young kids - I've heard that MMR has lots of families with young kids, but others have said it's mostly older couples. I'm guessing they're both pretty big areas, so it can vary from block to block, but just wondering if anyone has a feel for which community is younger, in general.

2)Which is cheaper - my wife looked at a 4BR house yesterday in MMR that wasn't very big(maybe 2200 - 2400 sq ft) and they were looking for $3000 in rent. Does that sound high? It seemed a little high to me. Is Grayhawk cheaper in general, or more expensive than MMR these days?

3)Which is friendlier? I know it's hard to say and varies by block, but anyone have an overall opinion? Or specific experience or opinion of a certain block?

4)Do they both have shared amenities like a club house, community pools, parks, etc? I think I looked on both of their web sites, but I don't remember finding much info on this.

5)When this thread was started, MMR was experiencing steeper housing price declines than Grayhawk. Anyone know if this is still the case?

6)We want to stay in the East Valley, have ruled out Gilbert and Mesa, and don't want to go much north of 101. Are there any other master planned communities we could look at that are around the price range of MMR and GH?

Thanks.

[azdr0710]

Originally Posted by gsheridan

6)We want to stay in the East Valley, have ruled out Gilbert and Mesa, and don't want to go much north of 101. Are there any other master planned communities we could look at that are around the price range of MMR and GH?

Thanks.

quick nomenclature note: Mesa and Gilbert are defined as East Valley....the MMR and GH areas are not "East Valley", but rather North Scottsdale....

I don't know a lot about MMR and Grayhawk....Grayhawk is a bit closer-in than MMR, so that would be a plus for Grayhawk....both are big with several varying subdivisions within each....I do know a person at MMR and I drive by a decent clubhouse/rec center place and a library/park/aqua center area on the way to his place...I drove around the entire area once or twice and found the place, frankly, to be soul-less, despite the mentioned amenities.....you'd always have to drive for anything...maybe just the newness explains the lack of soul....not trying to be a downer, but wanted you to consider this.....you mentioned not wanting to be N of 101 - both of these places are N (or "outside" of 101), aren't they??...I think you mentioned McCormick Ranch in another post as a possibility....it's an older "planned community" in a much more convenient location with a wide variety of house choices....but it doesn't have the prestige level of GH and MMR, so maybe not....

have you thought about Scottsdale Ranch??.....it's S of Shea and E of Pima/101 on the N side of the reservation....first developed in the early 80s...very nice location....some busy traffic, though....some lakes in there...mix of options....convenient....smallish lots mostly....

[observer53]

I think you are going to find rents high up in that area. The supposed "prestige" of north Scottsdale adds to the price, I think.

I'd agree with the "soulless" comment -- so many of the newer areas, not just these two, just don't have much character. I know it's closer to your friend in Desert Ridge, but the high cost coupled with the long commute to Phoenix from up there, for me, would not be worth it.

[azriverfan.]

I liked Grayhawk but it's biggest problem is location. It's north of the 101 and for someone who wants to live near downtown, the airport, South Scottsdale, and Tempe, it's extremely inconvenient. I have friends who live there and they rarely go out because of their location unless it is to Kierland or North Scottsdale. Other than its North Scottsdale label, I didn't really find anything attractive about the area there IMHO. People have to remember that the prices of Grayhawk were tied to the assumption that there would be further development there much like what occurred on Scottsdale Rd. north of Shea. People assumed the trend would continue north of the 101 on Scottsdale Rd and that hasn't really materialized. I liked DC Ranch better than Grayhawk because it had unique restaurants and shopping to serve its community. I think McDowell Mountain ranch's location is much much better and more convenient. Yes, its values have dropped because the homes are not as contemporary as the ones in Grayhawk and DC Ranch and were overpriced because of its location. However, those homes have become affordable once again and are not bad buys at this time even if they were bad buys 2 years ago. Houses that were listed at 800-900K are listed for 500-600K now which isn't bad for McDowell Mountain Ranch.

[gsheridan]

azdr0710, thanks for straightening me out on nomenclature - I thought everything on the east side of the city was considered East Valley - just made that up on my own

My wife is becoming disillusioned with Grayhawk and MMR. Anyone want to talk us out of it??

She can't find anything that she feels is big enough in our price range - $2000 - $2300. And she feels that the houses are small. Our house in NY is only 2400 sq ft, and I think that's around the size of the houses she's looking at, but she says they feel smaller. I think the bedrooms are smaller. The real estate agent told her that we'd have to go for a 5 BR in the $3500/month range to get a house
that would be big enough.

Is there a housing correction going on out there or what?

Yikes, I'm having trouble renting out my house in NY for $2800 - and I'm 25 miles from midtown Manhattan. Should we be looking for a new real estate agent, or is that what things are really going for up there? Seems steep. I guess it is the prestige factor. My wife originally liked the feel of the area up there, but in the end, I don't need prestige - I need a nice place to live where I can fit my whole family.

Anyway, I think we'll be heading south, to South Tempe, West Chandler, McCormick Ranch, and Scottsdale Ranch(thanks azdr0710 - hadn't heard of that one, but will check it out).

One last question - are there any areas where the houses do tend to have bigger bedrooms - we currently have all of our kids doubled up because we have an Au Pair. So we're looking for a 4 BR, maybe 2800 sq ft, with big bedrooms that can hold 2 medium sized kids each-all for $2,000 - $2300. Am I dreaming, thinking I can get this without heading out to Gilbert or Mesa?

Thanks.

[azdr0710]

keep looking if you can give it more time....there are tons of rentals available out here.....

I kinda thought you were buying and not renting....do you plan to rent for just a while, then buy out here?....if so, maybe that perfect neighborhood isn't so important for now until you buy after you've gotten a feel for things here....but I know the kids' school is important, so maybe I'm wrong about that.....

Chandler and Ahwatukee are fine locations and close to your wife's work, but far from Desert Ridge....

I think larger bedrooms will be found only in older homes, on average.....

I'd keep looking really hard if you can give it time ....up to $2300 should get you something acceptable, though it may not be in N Scotts.....I'm not at all an expert on the current rental market, though I know there are lots of them out there.....

gee, this has turned into a bit of a saga!.....

[observer53]

Originally Posted by gsheridan

azdr0710, thanks for straightening me out on nomenclature - I thought everything on the east side of the city was considered East Valley - just made that up on my own

My wife is becoming disillusioned with Grayhawk and MMR. Anyone want to talk us out of it??

She can't find anything that she feels is big enough in our price range - $2000 - $2300. And she feels that the houses are small. Our house in NY is only 2400 sq ft, and I think that's around the size of the houses she's looking at, but she says they feel smaller. I think the bedrooms are smaller. The real estate agent told her that we'd have to go for a 5 BR in the $3500/month range to get a house
that would be big enough.

Is there a housing correction going on out there or what?

Yikes, I'm having trouble renting out my house in NY for $2800 - and I'm 25 miles from midtown Manhattan. Should we be looking for a new real estate agent, or is that what things are really going for up there? Seems steep. I guess it is the prestige factor. My wife originally liked the feel of the area up there, but in the end, I don't need prestige - I need a nice place to live where I can fit my whole family.

Anyway, I think we'll be heading south, to South Tempe, West Chandler, McCormick Ranch, and Scottsdale Ranch(thanks azdr0710 - hadn't heard of that one, but will check it out).

One last question - are there any areas where the houses do tend to have bigger bedrooms - we currently have all of our kids doubled up because we have an Au Pair. So we're looking for a 4 BR, maybe 2800 sq ft, with big bedrooms that can hold 2 medium sized kids each-all for $2,000 - $2300. Am I dreaming, thinking I can get this without heading out to Gilbert or Mesa?

Thanks.

I think you can still find that in south Tempe, west Chandler... not sure about Mc Cormick Ranch/Scottsdale Ranch, but it's worth a try.

[gsheridan]

Originally Posted by observer53

I think you can still find that in south Tempe, west Chandler... not sure about Mc Cormick Ranch/Scottsdale Ranch, but it's worth a try.

That's good. It does seem to be less expensive in Tempe, and I think I would really like living there.

Yes, this is becoming quite the saga. I appreciate everyone's help. Rather than drive everyone cray with a million questions, I think I really need to get out there and see it for myself.

My wife took a permanent position in Phoenix, but our current plan is to try to get back to NY in a year or two, so that is why we want to rent. The kids were not on board in the least until we told them we'd be moving back to NY eventually. I know kids are rarely on board with a move, but my wife and I think we'll want to move back also. We're totally open to the idea of permanently relocating, but we're going to rent out our house in NY so we can get back to our previous lives in the event our kids are miserable. They're excited about a 1 - 2 year adventure, but that's about it.
Of course, we might all change our minds, and that would be a great outcome, because it is ridiculously expensive in NY.

So the search is still on for an affordable rental. My wife saw an area called Ocotillo when she was out there last week and really liked it. It sounds pretty far from Desert Ridge, but she felt like it had a nice community feel and thinks we can get more house for our money out there.

I'd still like to be somewhere in the middle of the airport and Desert Ridge, because I think it would be nice to be close to our friend, but my wife just doesn't think we're going to find a house that she likes in any of the areas we've targeted in the middle. And if we take the "close to Desert Ridge" constraint away, it opens up some nice possibilities - South Tempe, West Chandler, Ocotillo, Ahwatukee.

I'm still going to do some more looking around the areas in the middle. My wife was very busy out there last week. I don't think she really saw everything there is to see.

Thanks again everyone. I'm sure I'll be driving you all crazy with questions in a couple of weeks, when I go out there myself.

[observer53]

Ocotillo is a long haul from Desert Ridge. It is pretty out there, and if I am correct about the district the elem school is excellent, but it is further away from the areas you want to be close to.