The Buzz: Scottsdale Real Estate

Why Scottsdale is One of The Greatest Places to Live.

Have you ever heard of an Arizona snowbird?   The wikipedia describes the snowbird as people from Canada and the Northeastern or Midwestern United States who spend a large portion of the winter months in Arizona, Florida or other regions of the Sunbelt.   Snowbirds typically come just for a few weeks or a month and before they realize what has happened, they become addicted.   Addiction to Scottsdale results in spending their leisure days searching for the perfect winter home which is usually defined as a luxury home whether it is a condo or a single family residence.  Snowbirds and winter visitors have been buying second homes in Scottsdale since before Scottsdale became a city in 1897 and I don’t see any change in this trend.After living in Arizona for 14 years, I can easily understand why Scottsdale is inundated with snowbirds every winter.  Scottsdale is a wonderful place to live for many reasons.  Apparently the majority consensus agrees with me as Scottsdale was just ranked 7th in the Money magazines list of top 100 places to live.  Money magazine’s reasons are based on statistics but there are other reasons that are more subjective but just as true.  Here are my reasons and those expressed by my clients over the years why Scottsdale is a great place to live.

1. The weather is fantastic 75% of the year - Imagine eating outside in balmy dry weather with no bugs or an early morning bike ride along Scottsdale’s green belt bike path with breakfast along the way. 
2. The color of the sky is incredibly blue.
3. The horizon stretches forever.
4. Sunsets are spectacular.
5. Desert plants and animals are unique and lush in their own way
6. Outdoor activities in abundance include golf, hiking, jeep rides, bicycling, hot air balloons, etc.
7. Some of the best golfing in the world.
8. An art mecca with more than 125 art galleries in Scottsdale alone.
9. Numerous choices for fine dining  - I guarantee you won’t get bored.
10. Scottsdale real estate is still affordable.  California hosts 23 of the top 25 places with the priciest homes, with median home sales prices ranging from $678,500 to $1,362,500.  Scottsdale’s median home price is only $370,000 and you can still buy a 3 bedroom 2 bath home for $325,000.  In fact some of these older areas will be not always be so affordable because of all the redevelopment happening in downtown Scottsdale.
11. Good public schools and superb private schools.
12. Fantastic shopping. 

If you like living in Scottsdale, I’m sure you could add to my list.  Email me with your suggestions and I’ll include them.  Don’t forget to let me know if I can use your name.If you visited the Money magazine website you may have noted that several of the blog comments were negative.  Let me state for the record that as a real estate consultant specializing in Scottsdale, I have met mostly wonderful people who I would love to have as my neighbors.  In any city, especially one that offers a high standard of living, there will always be those people who are too materialistic and too full of themselves that no one wants living next door.   But as one blogger said, “we need to make our own reality”.   My reality says:  People are people and every city has all kinds.  Scottsdale is a wonderful place to call home and I think Scottsdale is fortunate to have a diverse population of very friendly and authentic individuals from all over the country and world.   Life is what we make it, right?

 For more Money magazine statistics click here

Tags: Arizona snowbirds, benefits of living in Arizona, living in Scottsdale Arizona, Scottsdale great place to live, Scottsdale luxury home buyer, Scottsdale real estate, Scottsdale second home owners, Scottsdale winter home

This entry was posted on Monday, May 7th, 2007 at 4:06 pm and is filed under Real Estate Trends. 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.