Is Queen Creek the best value for Phoenix AZ real estate / housing? (Chandler: cheap house, to buy)

[bdarkness]

I have been actively looking to buy a home in the Phoenix area, and it seems that for price per square foot, you get way for your money in the Queen Creek area. Like, in Queen Creek you can get 4000 square foot single story homes for $500k with 4 car garages on really big lots (half acre+). In Chandler I would be lucky to get a 3000 sq foot track home with a 2 or 3 car garage for that price.

So my question would be, is this the best value for your money, or are there other areas that have great deals like this? For suburbs, I heard Surprise has some good deals, but the traffic into Phoenix is terrible, both coming and going.

The downside is it is further from Phoenix and things like Suns games or concerts, but I do that 5-10 times a year, but I live in a house all the time.

[Jkgourmet]

The magic question: where will you be working?

[bdarkness]

In Chandler

[DetroitN8V]

Value means different things to different people. A cheap house on the edges of town represents no value to me, where paying a higher price per square foot to be close to amentinies may not do it for you. Only you can answer the value question.

[patrick85395]

I think that you need to define what you mean by value. From your post, it looks like you measure value by the square foot. For me, square footage is a factor, but only part of what I consider. Other aspects are important to help determine value:

Location
Architecture
Floorplan
Community
Quality

We've all seen large homes that appear to be a good price value based on square footage; however, they've have a terrible design. We've also seen small homes that "live" bigger than what their size suggests because they're well done.



I happen to live in Goodyear's Palm Valley community in just over 3500 sq ft single story 1/3 acre. Homes there are roughly in the mid-500s. I also have a home in Verrado that's 2020 sq ft that I enjoy just as much on an 8000 sq. ft lot...these homes sell in the low-300s...Each sells about $150/sq) .


You mentioned Surprise. Look at Marley Park. You'll pay more there than surrounding communities, but it's probably the best feeling/looking community in the area.

Again, it depends upon what's important to you.

[Colt AZ]

Is Queen Creek the best value for Phoenix AZ real estate / housing?

Realistically, depending on what type of real estate is being considered, it's not always location, location, location.

There's also terms, terms, terms.

[bdarkness]

I think my question was more framed in the large grand one story house for the biggest value. My husband wants a 4 car garage. I want 4000+ sq/ft. We both want to live on land like 1/2 acre plus. We both would like a custom or semi-custom home.

So far, I know I can get this for about $500k-$600k in Queen Creek, but I haven't seen anything like this in other parts of the valley. I was thinking that we might be overlooking something. Patrick your post was super helpful. It sounds like you have a beautiful home, but smaller house, smaller garage, and smaller land size for a bigger price.

Also, I didn't say "cheap" I said most value. Cheap is a relative term when it comes to houses. I just want to make sure I am not overlooking some area. A 4500 sq/ft fairly new construction home in Tempe on an acre is $1 - $2 million.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by bdarkness

I think my question was more framed in the large grand one story house for the biggest value. My husband wants a 4 car garage. I want 4000+ sq/ft. We both want to live on land like 1/2 acre plus. We both would like a custom or semi-custom home.

So far, I know I can get this for about $500k-$600k in Queen Creek, but I haven't seen anything like this in other parts of the valley. I was thinking that we might be overlooking something. Patrick your post was super helpful. It sounds like you have a beautiful home, but smaller house, smaller garage, and smaller land size for a bigger price.

Also, I didn't say "cheap" I said most value. Cheap is a relative term when it comes to houses. I just want to make sure I am not overlooking some area. A 4500 sq/ft fairly new construction home in Tempe on an acre is $1 - $2 million.

I think “value” can also be subjective, in a way. No one is going to dispute you can most definitely get more house for your money in Queen Creek. The numbers don’t lie, but again, it comes back to location once again. It may not be as valuable to someone who doesn’t like the fact that QC is far out there for a lot of things in the valley.

Years ago, in another state, we bought a brand new townhouse in the westernmost suburb of the city I was living in. It was a great price and a great value, but it was a ways from everything. But, to us, we thought we would prefer to have brand new custom construction than convenience and that being so far removed would be okay. Boy were we wrong! Even though we didn’t think we went to the center of the city often, we ended up going much more than we realized. It didn’t take long for me to begin to loathe going ANYWHERE because it was a bit of a haul for everything and it got really old fast. Needless to say, we lived there less than 2 years.

That may be extreme, and it was in a different city so it may not 100% apply. But I know someone IRL who specifically bought a house in QC because they could get so much more house for their money and she now regrets it. She no longer sees value in the house they bought.

It is really all going to depend on you!

[DetroitN8V]

But you're looking for cheap when it comes to price per square foot. The largest house for the least amount of money, right? Throwing the word value around is making it convoluted as value is so subjective. Big, cheap houses in some underdeveloped area is of no value to many. There are many exurbs with large houses for less money than those more centrally located areas. See Surprise, Anthem (not super cheap like the others though), Buckeye, Casa Grande, Maricopa, etc.

[bdarkness]

While track homes are great, I am talking about large custom or semi-custom homes. Maricopa is pretty much excluded as, although some of the homes are large, they are mostly track homes. The rural area outside of that is lacking in 4000 SQ/Ft +. Anthem all track homes. Casa Grande is not really my type of town, mostly due to age. I consider Queen Creek on par with Gilbert and Chandler for having newer shops and development. I think Surprise and Goodyear might be that way as well. Apache Junction has a lot of custom home areas, but they are $100k - $200k more expensive than Queen Creek.