Canadian looking to purchase in maricopa county (Phoenix, Mesa: short sales, real estate)

[paularlene]

We are looking to purchase a singe family house which will be occupied for approx six monnths per year. There are a lot of properties in the 75000.00 to 125000.00 range which seems really low. Some of the things which are important to us; a relatively low crime rate in a safe community, driving distance not a factor although 30 to 40 minutes from Phoenix airport would be great, a mature community possibly gated although not required.
We know very little about the area having never been there. One person I know just bought a beautiful house in the county for 135000.00
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MotleyCrew]

The homes you are seeing for $75,000 are probably down in the city of Maricopa. It is a decent little city with some potential once this sub prime mess clears up. They are building a new Super WalMart and other big box stores, so there will be more shopping soon. It is not far from Chandler, about 20 to 25 min or so. It is about 1/2 an hour or so to the airport. Best of luck in your search.

[travelingsoul]

I have heard that the vacancy rate is alarmingly high in Maricopa especially during the summer months. I have heard that problems with empty houses are occuring, such as squatting and over grown yards.

[AZ Tracy]

The town of Maricopa, isn't in Maricopa County. It is in Pinal County, but is within 30 - 40 minutes of Sky Harbor Airport. Lots of Canadian's are purchasing there. There aren't very many gated communities in that area, though.

[roxyparis1987]

We bought in Maricopa and love it. Yes it does have a manure smell sometimes in the am and sometimes in the pm but only for a short part of the day. We were almost talked out of looking there by our real estate but decided to look on our own. We loved it, so many canadians, they call it little Canada in certain parts. If you are serious about buying, take a look for yourselves. There are so many people that have bad things to say about it, but Canadians seem to love it. Houses are only 3 - 6 years old and great prices, if you don't want a pool you can buy for less than $100,000. We have had no problems so far but have installed an alarm just in case.

[azdr0710]

there are a colossal amount of choices in the Phx area that fit your requests.....it's a huge metro area.....

home auctions, bank-foreclosed properties, short sales....lots of options.....a buddy just bought a place in E Mesa for a little over $200K that had sold in late 2005 for $375K....

gotta come down here and look around really hard and decide what fits for you.....

[wng]

A lot of Canadians are taking advantage of the market now and buying properties for seasonal use.
But PHX is vast, and the living standards are different from up North. Best to figure out what you want/need and then visit the place for a week. Find a realtor who will go the extra mile for you since you're unavailable for showings. I had good experiences with Courtney Valley Properties. Ask for J. Arais. They are currently dealing with Canadian buyers. My wife is from MTL, and myself New England. They did a lot of virtual online viewings of properties we wanted to see. Made them really hustle, but in the end I found the house we needed.

[kjbreau]

There are very good deals currently in Pinal County right now. I will be putting in an offer next week on 4 bed., 3 bath, pool, 3 car garage, 2800 sq. ft. property which sold in 2006 for $278,000.00, and is currently listed at $ 87,900. Yes it is a foreclosure and is in excellent condition. Do your research before you buy.

[homesweetazhome]

There are lots of communities to choose from. Do you enjoy golf? If so many 55+ communities have homes on the golf course that are quite reasonable. Do you know what you would like to be close to? Concerts, Plays, Sporting Events? Hiking? Shopping? If you decide that, then finding a great deal on a home close by will be easier and narrow down the search.

[paularlene]

Thank you so much to all that replied. We are flying into the phoenix area on March 12th to look for a house. We have five days to shop so hopefully something will surface inthat time.