Goodyear, Palm Valley or Estrella Mtn Ranch (Chandler, Maricopa: real estate, to rent)

[BestintheWest]

I would like to hear from anyone living in these areas with respect to renting or buying a home and comparisons of the two areas. No commute necessary, simply retired and looking for a nice place to live.
Not interested in CantaMia or Pebble Creek due to costs and HOA's.
Used to live in Wigwam Fulton (Indian School and 143rd) but back in 2001 and I know things have changed in the area.
Rent up to $1250 a month, purchase up to $225,000.

Thanks

[LBTRS]

You know Palm Valley and Estrella are both in the city of Goodyear?

Palm Valley is in the heart of the shopping, restaurants, etc. of Goodyear and is a very nice area with good schools. Estrella is a beautiful area in the Estrella foothills and a bit further from the amenities of Goodyear as well as the freeway.

Your price range will put you at the lower end of the price range for those areas and would probably mean a smaller home.

Have you considered the Canyon Trails area of Goodyear? Housing is a bit more affordable and it is closer to the amenities of Goodyear than Estrella.

[stevek64]

Many nice areas in the places you mention. We live in Estrella and love being in this setting. I'm guessing you know that Estrella Mountain is a master planned community which includes very nice facilities like the rec center, pools, the lakes, etc.

Your price range will get you in to a home in the 1800 sq ft or less size is my rough guess, in Estrella anyways.

While Estrella is a bit removed from other areas of Goodyear, we still have some conveniences right near the community including a Safeway, Walgreen's and some smaller restaurants and other stores. Lots of other stores/restaurants down the hill and is not a far drive.

[Montanama]

I concur with stevek64 as far as what $225k will buy in Estrella, but would add that you can easily find a place with that square footage and a pool, if you so desire, for that price.

We saw places between 1800-2000 sf in that general price point--occasionally something bigger.

Canyon Trails looks nice and yes, more house for the money than Estrella. Fewer amenities. Closer to Super Target . No small thing.

We just bought a 3bd/2ba 1629 sf house with a nice pool, move-in ready but not fancy, in Estrella for 199k. It was on the low end our price range. But it was also at the high end when we figured price per square foot! We were willing to spend around $250k +/- for our vacation home. We had A LOT to choose from. Estrella definitely offered us the most in terms of amenities for the money, with the lakes/boating, hiking & biking trails, clubhouse with fitness center and activities, etc.

Palm Valley was our next stop in our house hunt, but when we saw Estrella we knew we were good to go so we stopped looking. I like Palm Valley's location nearer shopping & restaurants, and I'm told it has more greenery.

The one thing I would say is take some time getting a feel for prices. We found them to have a LOT of variation, especially when we tried to compare prices per square foot. It related somewhat to quality of finishes, location within the community, whether it had a pool, etc. But not entirely. In short, prices were pretty squirrely and it paid off to be aware of what homes were actually selling for, vs. their list price. So that pain-in-the-neck automated email from your Realtor becomes your friend in that respect. Take the time to know what homes were listed for vs. what they have sold for. We did and it helped. We knew that a good house at a decent price was going to move quickly, while others have sat on the market there for months.

I love that Arizona's real estate data is right there for you to see (on the tax history or just the property history, whether you're looking at Realtor.com or your agent's automated MLS emails). You never know all the details/circumstances, but you do know what the current owner bought the place for, and when. This gives you some insight when negotiating even though it doesn't necessarily have bearing on the current market value of the home. Here in MT, for example, that information is not available except through the MLS--if the home was bought and sold through a Realtor.

There are still some distressed properties in both communities and I'm sure some people are finding bargains if they're willing to be patient. We weren't. We figured we missed the boat on the real bargains two years ago and we weren't going to fuss about trying to wrestle with the bank-owned process to save maybe 10-20k. We wanted move-in ready.

I think both communities have such a nice variety of homes in a broad range of prices. Estrella really has everything from tiny, plain villas like ours up to million-dollar homes. I think there is room for prices to rise, and we feel good about settling on a house there for the price we paid. When we move up in house we think we will stick with Estrella--though I'm always one to shop around and see what else is available, Estrella is beautiful, peaceful, and great fit for our family right now and for the two of us down the road through our active retirement years at least.

I don't know that you can really go wrong in Goodyear, though some neighborhoods have recovered more quickly than others it seems.

[BestintheWest]

Great responses and we appreciate it.

Am going to start actively looking. After living in Goodyear in 2000 and 2001, then the Chandler, Maricopa now San Tan Valley, have decided time to go back to the west valley. Seems to be less crowded and busy and as it seems to have been for a long time, better housing values.

Thanks for all the time everyone took to respond..

and yes, retired and looking for a very nice but smaller house somewhere less than 1800 sq. ft. do not need the upkeep and expenses of a larger home. Have been in 55+ communities for the past 10 years, just not worth the price and HOA's we have decided.

[Montanama]

We thought the HOA in Estrella was amazingly low compared to others we saw, don't know about Palm Valley.
I mentioned in another thread, though, to watch for the CFDs (I think those are the initials--anyway, special assessments) which were NOT always listed on our "Client Data" sheet and a couple of times our agent didn't know about them until we were doing a second viewing, so not sure if it was in the MLS listing data or not. Point is, ASK, because some of them were $4k-6k.

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by Montanama

We thought the HOA in Estrella was amazingly low compared to others we saw

yeah, it is amazing what you get for your money at 80-something dollars a month, isn't it?

What really hit home with us is after living in another HOA community for years with nothing but landscaping and green belts and paying close to $50 a month. And we know others who pay even more for what I consider bare bones offerings.

For Estrella, I think it's a combination of being well managed and new growth of homes in the development. And I forgot how many years there hasn't been an increase.

[BestintheWest]

I know Estrella Mountain Ranch is fairly small, but do any of you consider one area better than others, as far as house locations??????

[Montanama]

We saw a few older, semi-run down streets of smaller homes, but even these were nicer and better kept than neighborhoods we had looked at in other areas. The only house I saw that I thought, "I don't want to live next to those neighbors" was very close to the lakes, but we saw other homes just as close that were nice and well kept....

To me, EMR is not small. It feels like a whole small town to me.

But for the most part, there are sections of smaller, older homes that are obviously aging, and there are other sections of smallish homes that are gorgeous. There are neighborhoods with smaller homes with more cute/custom looks and others that are cookie cutter where every house looks exactly the same for blocks at a time. Ours is like that (cookie cutter and plain), but is clean and tidy, nice landscaping etc.

I think it's more of a question of which amenities you'd like to be closest to, if you're trying to narrow it down. Our top two choices were on almost opposite ends of the community. We chose the one within walking/biking distance to the lakes and clubhouse. The other one would have been great too, as it was near a large park--and there's talk of a second clubhouse to go in at the upper end of the community (which, back to those low HOA fees, might be an upcoming issue....I don't know and I'm not worried about it.)

Do you want to be close to the golf course? There are small, affordable homes near the golf course! Near the lakes? Plenty to choose from there too...I think you just have to drive through and narrow it down based on your personal preference. Like I said, there really wasn't any section I would have refused to live in except the one house with the run-down house next door, flashy truck in front, and pit bull barking non stop in the back, lol. It was also overpriced. Pity too as it had a great pool and back yard.

ETA: Many of the houses, including the one we bought, had no CFD's attached or the seller had already paid it.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by stevek64

yeah, it is amazing what you get for your money at 80-something dollars a month, isn't it?

What really hit home with us is after living in another HOA community for years with nothing but landscaping and green belts and paying close to $50 a month. And we know others who pay even more for what I consider bare bones offerings.

For Estrella, I think it's a combination of being well managed and new growth of homes in the development. And I forgot how many years there hasn't been an increase.

Increases used to be a regular thing. When I came here it was 30 bucks a month, so it has tripled over the years. There are more amenities but the residents voted down the pool and resident's center when it was proposed. They built it anyway and charged us for it. The bylaws allow them to raise the fees 15% per year. It has not increased because the developer is subsidizing it to make the place more attractive to the unsuspecting. When homes start selling well, expect them to do just that.