Green Valley Moments

OK, you’ve taken a hard look at Green Valley, Arizona, as a potential retirement area (see Part 1) and you liked what you saw. Now what? Here’s ten things to consider as you narrow your choice to a particular home. Let’s continue…

Remember, these are just the suggestions of an OldGeezer who has been through this before. YMMV (Your mileage may vary). I have intentionally omitted any reference to building a new home in lieu of buying a pre-existing one. This option is available, and some of the comments may apply. However, we are proceeding on the assumption that you will be looking at, and possibly buying one of the many pre-existing homes for sale.

I suggested to you earlier that you search for neighborhoods, rather than specific homes. As you drive though various areas, take your map of Green Valley and start crossing off those neighborhoods that don’t meet your criteria. (Don’t have a map? Coldwell-Banker has a good one, and they hand them out freely). Remember, we’re not ready to talk business with a realtor now; just smile and thank them.

Back to eliminating neighborhoods. Maybe the homes are not in your price range. Perhaps the style of homes is not to your liking, or the distance to shopping too far. Whatever. On the other hand, circle those neighborhoods that interest you or warrant further investigation.

By doing this, you can save yourself and any realtor a lot of time later on. Keep looking until you have narrowed your search area to just a few neighborhoods. Once this is done, start collecting all of the For Sale Fliers and go through all of the Open Houses you can find in those neighborhoods. This will give you a sampling of home values. Compute the cost per square foot, remembering that this is just one factor to consider.

Don’t forget those FSBOs, homes for sale by owners. Some of these might be overpriced to a point that a realtor wouldn’t list it. Other homeowners are just trying to avoid paying a commission. In either event, you get to look at the inside of additional homes. This knowledge will become valuable later. Remember also to search the internet.

Hopefully, by now, you have narrowed your search to one, two or maybe three neighborhoods.

It’s time to decide what is important to you in a home. Here are ten things to consider in no particular order.

• Square footage. How many square feet do you really need? When you are home, you will probably spend most of your time in the bedroom and the den or living room, with shorter periods of time in the kitchen and bath room. The home you will select will probably be used as a permanent retirement home, or a winter vacation home. Think about how you will use your home. It probably doesn’t need to be as large as the homes where you’ve lived in the past. The smaller the home, the less real estate taxes, insurance and purchase price. Try to come up with a minimum and maximum square footage.

• Number of bedrooms. How many more than one? A home in Green Valley is like a cabin on the lake. You don’t know how many friends you have until you buy one.

Seriously, most people here find that their guest bedrooms sit vacant most of the time. Some have converted them into dens or studies. Other people are using Murphy beds which allow the room to be used for other purposes most of the time. Other residents have a couch in the living room which can be used for overflow. Green Valley a nice selection of motels and short stay rental facilities in town. Just give it some thought.

• Mountain view. I have referred to this before, and personally believe that this is a feature worth paying extra for. Hopefully, the view will be available from your windows and your patio.

• Garage/Carport. As you know by now, some homes in Green Valley only have carports. Do you want a garage that you can close off to the elements? One or two car? It is my thought that you should consider at least a two-car garage. Some buyers will be looking for a three car garage to house their golf car. Garages also serve as storage areas and with no basements and no attics, additional storage space is very desirable.

• Fireplace. Will you really use it, or will it just take up space and look pretty? We happen to have a beehive fireplace that we don’t use, but we still enjoy the looks of it. This too is a personal decision.

• Separate dining area. Will you be entertaining? It’s always nice to have space to sit down with family or friends and enjoy a meal. But remember, you always have the patio area and depending upon the time of year, you can usually schedule a meal outdoors.

• Patio. No doubt one of your attractions to Green Valley area was the weather. Take a hard look at the patio(s). If possible, inspect the area at different times of the day; morning, mid-day, and late afternoon. Is it always in the sun? Is there a shady area? The sun might be welcome in January and February, but overwhelming in the Summer.

• Pool. There are two kinds of people. Those who love their own pool; and those who wouldn’t have one. They require continual maintenance by you or someone else. Pools can add beauty to your outdoor living area and provide an inviting, convenient and personal retreat. Again, your call.

• Condition. Has the home been updated? Will you have to change out the appliances, replace tile, counter tops or paint? If so, be sure and estimate the costs and add it to your purchase price.

• Town home or site built. I will always remember one of our first open houses. The view was “drop dead” gorgeous and there was even a computer room, complete with built-ins. I loved it, but as soon as the realtor mentioned that it was a town home, we left. No town homes for me!

Disclaimer: We ended up buying a town home four years ago and have been continually happy with our purchase. Noise from the common wall? Maybe on a few occasions when pounding nails to hang a picture. Moral: don’t ignore town homes just because of a common wall(s).

What about getting a realtor involved? Soon…

Meanwhile, these links may be of interest:

A Wishlist checklist from HUD This is a pdf file.

A Wishlist, from realtor.com

Home buying checklist from HUD Another pdf file.

Does the house fit your needs, from realtor.com

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 9th, 2006 at 5:05 am and is filed under Green Valley. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.