Contintental Ranch - Gladden Farms (Phoenix, Tucson: house, to buy, construction)

[MTtoAZ]

My office is relocating to Tucson in September. We are looking to buy a home in the NW and have been looking in these two areas. I will be working in the Ina/Oracle area. How far of a commute is it from Contintental Ranch and Gleadden Farms? Any other good areas in the NW for around 250,000?

[BillyBaroo]

Another area you might want to check is Red Rock Village. It's further north up the road near Picacho Peak. They opened in January and have sold over 200 homes since then. Prices are lower and you can get a good sized lot. For $250,000, you could get a really nice house. There's almost nothing out there right now, but that will be changing soon. The freeway is being widened to three lanes all the way to Picacho Peak sometime in the next year. There's a lot of retail growth and a new mall going in at I-10 and Cortaro and at Tangerine.
I'm not sure if you can get a home built there by September though. The house we bought is in their second phase of construction and we're likely going to have to wait a year until next April. It's worth it though, prices are much cheaper because it's in Pinal County. Pima County charges a lot for impact fees, we saved about $30,000 by just building six miles across the county line. I paid extra and my lot is over 12,000 square feet. We looked at Gladden Farms and it's really nice, but we decided to go a little further north because we could get a lot more house for the money. I go to Phoenix a lot for sporting events and other entertainment, so that's one more bonus as I'll be taking 45 minutes to an hour off my current drive from where I'm at in Tucson.
Your commute from the northwest to work isn't too bad because you'll be getting off at Ina Road and it's 65-75 mph the whole way. I-10 to Oracle is the slowest part, but the majority of the traffic will be going the opposite way of your route during rush hour.
Here's a link if you want to check out Red Rock Village...............

http://www.pulteaz.com/red_rock_village/

Good luck! Arizona is a great place to live. And summer is my favorite time of the year. It wears you down a little towards the end, but you can always go to San Diego or up in the nearby mountains to take a break from the heat.