Fountain Hills · Downsizing
Downsizing in Fountain Hills
Selling the long-time family home and finding the next one, handled by the same agent, in that order.
The search here is narrower than you are expecting
This is the thing I want you to know before we start, because it changes the timeline and it is better known now than in month four.
If what you want is a single-level home, a short flat approach from the car to the front door, and outdoor space you can actually use without managing a slope, that is a real and specific list in Fountain Hills, and it is shorter than the general inventory suggests. A town built into hillsides produces a lot of houses with steps, split levels and steep driveways, and photographs are very good at hiding all three.
It is not a short list because nothing exists. It is short because the specific combination matters and most listings do not tell you whether they have it. So I check the approach, the grade and the step count myself before you spend a Saturday on a house that was never going to work.
Talk to me about downsizing
Ask the stairs question properly
Most people ask it as a yes or no, and it is not one. There are four separate questions inside it and they have different answers in the same house.
How many steps from where a car actually stops to the front door. How many from the garage, which is often a different and worse number. Whether the primary bedroom, the laundry and the kitchen are all on the same floor as each other. And how steep the driveway is, which nobody thinks about until the first time it rains.
A house described as single level can still have nine steps up from the driveway. A two-level house can have everything you use daily on the entry floor. The label tells you very little. I will walk it and tell you the actual numbers.
Whether you stay in town at all
This is worth saying out loud rather than assuming, and I raise it with everyone.
Plenty of people downsizing here want to stay, because the view and the setting are exactly why they came and none of that changes. If that is you, the search above is the search.
But some of what makes this town what it is works against you as the priorities shift. Everything is a drive, the choice of services is smaller than a few miles west, and the hills are the hills. If being nearer to more things starts to matter more than elevation does, that is worth saying early, because it opens up a very different and much larger set of options across the valley.
I will not push you either way. I will make sure you actually decided it rather than defaulted into it.
Which end to do first
Selling the current house and buying the next one are two transactions, and the order is the decision most people get anxious about.
Selling first gives you a real number and a strong position when you write an offer, and it removes the risk of carrying two properties. The cost is that you may need somewhere to be in between.
Buying first is more comfortable and more expensive, and it depends entirely on what your lender will let you carry.
There is no universally right answer. There is a right answer for your finances and your appetite for the uncomfortable middle, and we work it out at the start rather than in the week it becomes urgent. Because I handle both ends of this, the two timelines get sequenced against each other instead of being run by two people who never speak.
The contents, which is the part people dread
Twenty or thirty years in one house produces more than any of us plan for, and this is the part that stalls people for months.
I connect sellers with a senior move company that walks the house room by room before it goes on the market and makes a plan for what stays, what goes to the next place, what is sold and what is donated. You pay the mover directly. I am not marking it up and I do not take anything from it.
Starting this before the photographer arrives rather than after you are under contract is the single biggest thing that keeps a move from becoming stressful. A house with less in it photographs better, and a family that has already made these decisions is not making them against a closing date.
How the whole thing runs
We start with what the current house is worth, because every other decision depends on that number and guessing at it makes the rest of the plan fiction.
Then we look at what you actually want next, and I am straight with you about which parts this town gives you easily and which it does not.
Then we sequence the two transactions and I go and look at the next place with you. Not send you listings. Go with you, and tell you when a house has a problem you cannot see from the photographs.
You can call me on (480) 203-6605 whenever you want to talk it through. Plenty of people call me a year or two before they do anything, and that is a good time to call.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are there many single-level homes in Fountain Hills?
Fewer with the full combination than the inventory suggests. A town built into hillsides produces a lot of houses with steps, split levels and steep driveways, and photographs hide all three well. Single level plus a short flat approach plus usable flat outdoor space is a real but short list, so I check the approach, grade and step count myself before you spend a Saturday on it.
What should I ask about stairs when I look at a house?
Four things, not one. Steps from where a car actually stops to the front door. Steps from the garage, which is often a different and worse number. Whether the primary bedroom, laundry and kitchen are all on the same floor. And how steep the driveway is. A home described as single level can still have nine steps up from the driveway.
Should I sell my current home before I buy the next one?
Selling first gives you a real number and a strong offer position and removes the risk of carrying two properties, but you may need somewhere to be in between. Buying first is more comfortable and more expensive and depends on what your lender will let you carry. We work out which fits your finances at the start, not in the week it becomes urgent.
What do I do with thirty years of belongings?
I connect you with a senior move company that walks the house room by room before it lists and plans what stays, goes, sells or is donated. You pay them directly and I take nothing from it. Starting before the photographer comes is the single biggest thing that keeps the move from becoming stressful.
Fountain Hills
What downsizing looks like in Fountain Hills
Its own town east of Scottsdale, built into the hills, with big views and a different pace from the valley floor.
The first thing to understand about Fountain Hills is that it is not part of Scottsdale. It is its own town, incorporated in 1989, with its own council, its own school district and its own tax structure. It shares a border with Scottsdale and very little else, and most of the surprises people run into here trace back to assuming otherwise.
It was laid out in 1970 by McCulloch Properties on what had been cattle ranch, and the fountain that gives the town its name went in the same year. It still runs for fifteen minutes at the top of every hour between nine in the morning and nine at night, and on a handful of days a year they open all three pumps and send it up to its full 560 feet.
- The homes
- Fifty-plus years of building in one town, so the range is wide: 1970s and 1980s homes on generous hillside lots, a large middle of 1990s and 2000s construction, and newer custom and semi-custom work in the gated communities. FireRock, Eagle Mountain, SunRidge Canyon and Adero Canyon each sit at the higher end and each feel different from one another. Much of the town outside those is not in an HOA at all, which is unusual for this side of the valley and worth checking address by address.
- Why people choose it
- The reason people give for choosing Fountain Hills is almost always the same one: the view and the quiet, and being willing to drive for them. The town runs at a slower pace than Scottsdale and it is noticeably darker at night, which is not an accident.
- Schools people ask about
- Fountain Hills Unified School District #98, not Scottsdale Unified. Four schools serve the whole town: Little Falcons Preschool, McDowell Mountain Elementary, Fountain Hills Middle School and Fountain Hills High School. If schools matter to your decision, this is the single biggest practical difference between buying here and buying across the Scottsdale line.
- Getting around
- Shea Boulevard and the Beeline Highway are the two ways in and out, and everything is measured from them. Old Town Scottsdale is roughly half an hour, Sky Harbor closer to forty-five minutes without traffic. Inside the town you will drive to almost everything, and the hills mean the short distance on the map is not always the short drive.
- Nearby
- Fountain Park and the lake, McDowell Mountain Regional Park to the north with its trail network, and four golf courses inside the town limits: FireRock and Eagle Mountain, both Scott Miller designs, SunRidge Canyon by Keith Foster, and Desert Canyon. Adero Canyon sits against the McDowell Sonoran Preserve with trail access from the community.
- The trade-off
- You generally get more lot, more view and more house per dollar than the equivalent address in north Scottsdale, and the town levies no primary property tax of its own. What you give up is convenience. Every errand is a longer drive, the choice of restaurants and shops is a fraction of what Scottsdale offers, and the school district is smaller. People who love it here made that trade deliberately.
The method
How we do it in Fountain Hills
Downsizing: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Jen Keene?