I need some insight in decide where to buy: East Valley or Maricopa? (Mesa: big house)

[aiwei]

We are a family of 2 adults and one teen and one tween. I have been looking in the EV (Chandler, Gilbert, Parts of Mesa, Higley) for 3 weeks and I am getting the impression we could not afford to buy in EV. We are looking for a 2-story home, 1400 SF or up, min 3BR/ 2BA, 2 car garage, max $175K. Then I checked MLS and saw, in Maricopa, I could get a big house, probably 4BR/3BA, for less!

I checked out Queen Creek and Apache Junction. Both town has nice neighborhoods but I do not know the community in the whole is like.

We now must decide which way to go: a small house in the EV or a larger one in Maricopa?

Here are some facts about our family:

1. We home-school, so the possibility of our kids enrolling in one is slim. However, I would like to be in a halfway decent district for resale value.
2. Most home-school activities are in EV since there are more homeschoolers here.
3. My husband works near I-10 and Priest Rd in Tempe.

When my husband and I discussed this, we thought either way we would need to get into our next house in 5 years. If we stay in EV, we would need a bigger place then. If we move to Maricopa, we might want to move closer to Tempe in a few years.

So, what do you think?

[Prinny]

My personal opinion, I wouldn't think about resale w/ the market being what it is. Think about now and long term but not resale. Cannot count on the market and how long it can last. This can be a very long time before it turns around so you need to prepare for long term.

Financially, when making a purchase, always make a purchase below your means. Whatever you can afford, purchase below what you can afford because of emergency money you may need in the future.

You didn't say where your husband worked, the gas prices may affect him w/ a commute so have you accounted for that? As for your growing family, space has that been thought of as well?

Maricopa is quite lovely. May people live there because you can get more house for the money and yet many are finding the commute and cost of gas to be quite more money than they bargained for. It is extremely dusty there and it's basically in the middle of nowhere. For home size we have friends there w/ a huge home and for 10 minutes we considered moving there. The commute and gas wasn't worth it to us. Just the time on the road wasn't worth it. Right now w/ the market being what it is, you may find the size of what you want where you are is you look hard enough without the commute, but if you really want a large home, Maricopa is the place!

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by aiwei

We are a family of 2 adults and one teen and one tween. I have been looking in the EV (Chandler, Gilbert, Parts of Mesa, Higley) for 3 weeks and I am getting the impression we could not afford to buy in EV. We are looking for a 2-story home, 1400 SF or up, min 3BR/ 2BA, 2 car garage, max $175K. Then I checked MLS and saw, in Maricopa, I could get a big house, probably 4BR/3BA, for less!

I checked out Queen Creek and Apache Junction. Both town has nice neighborhoods but I do not know the community in the whole is like.

We now must decide which way to go: a small house in the EV or a larger one in Maricopa?

Here are some facts about our family:

1. We home-school, so the possibility of our kids enrolling in one is slim. However, I would like to be in a halfway decent district for resale value.
2. Most home-school activities are in EV since there are more homeschoolers here.
3. My husband works near I-10 and Priest Rd in Tempe.

When my husband and I discussed this, we thought either way we would need to get into our next house in 5 years. If we stay in EV, we would need a bigger place then. If we move to Maricopa, we might want to move closer to Tempe in a few years.

So, what do you think?

East Mesa may be good for you. It's a good area and you can find newer homes that meet your criteria. And, in my opinion, the commute down 60 to Priest Dr is not that bad.

In April I bought a 5 yr old 1970 sf home for $175k in east Mesa to resell and we just sold it yesterday. We also bought several other homes at bargain prices for investors that we work with.

We're making an offer on another home that's coming on the market tomorrow. It's a 4 year old 2200 sf home that's coming on for a bargain price and we plan to be first with our offer because we know it will sell in one day. By knowing how to watch the market you can get a really good home at a great price.

It is not a good idea to buy a home today with the intention of selling in less than 5 years.

Maricopa and Queen Creek had over building problems and it will take a long time for them to recover, especially since the commute is fo far and the infrastructure is not fully developed.

As an investor I wouldn't touch a home in either of those markets because of that, and I couldn't recommend it for my clients unless they had a compelling reason for locating there.

[altus2006]

Another negative thing about Queen Creek which hasn't been posted in a while is that it has a fissure problem. I don't know if it is possible to know where the fissures could open up, but I would definitely not buy there without considering that my home might be swallowed by the ground some day.

I also wonder how the people are affording the gas to get into work when not having a lot of money seems to be the issue that drew people to purchase in Queen Creek and Maricopa.

Captain Bills says, "Maricopa and Queen Creek had over building problems and it will take a long time for them to recover, especially since the commute is fo far and the infrastructure is not fully developed.

As an investor I wouldn't touch a home in either of those markets because of that, and I couldn't recommend it for my clients unless they had a compelling reason for locating there."

I totally agree with these statements. It appears that a lot of people post about QC and Maricopa without ever having gone there and these people are unaware of anything about the areas except that the houses are cheap. In my opinion, there is nothing great about these areas except the cheap prices and we scratched the areas as possibilities for us after the first drive through.

altus2006

[aiwei]

Thanks for the input so far...

My husband works right across w Elliot Rd from Tempe Autoplex (Elliot and Priest.) The reason I would even consider Maricopa is to live below our means and still can have enough space for the growing children.

We have visited Maricopa several times during the week and at weekends. (To see the area, with and without residents around, and to check out the traffic.) We even drove south down 347 for about 10 miles to see what was there... a lot of nothing! So we are aware of Maricopa's shortcomings. It is not my 1st choice, nor my 2nd choice. But for the money, I can by a house 2x as big as I could in EV.

As for resale, I was just thinking ahead of time; we lived in our last house for 15 years, so I can live in a place for 10 -15 years if I must.

I have tried to find homes in these boundaries: east of Greenfield, w. of Meridian, s. of Baseline and n. of Warner. I was told this is a nice place to live and I have seen a few homes that are in my price range. I have now learned that there are not many places we can afford in the EV, especially since we are not handy enough to do major fix-ups. But for my kids, I am trying very hard to make it happen here in EV.

We are looking for a 2-story home, 1400 SF or up, min 3BR/ 2BA, 2 car garage, max $175K. I can handle minor repairs and clean up, but can't do any major constructions like installing new kitchen cabinets or moving walls.

Any suggestion in where I should look for a hidden gem like this?