Fountain Hills · Relocating Here
Relocation in Fountain Hills
Moving to the Valley from out of state, with someone who explains how it actually works here before you commit to anywhere.
The map is telling you something that is not true
Open a map from two thousand miles away and Fountain Hills reads as the eastern edge of Scottsdale. Almost everyone relocating here starts with that impression, and almost everyone has to unlearn it.
It is a separate town of about twenty-four thousand people across roughly twenty square miles. It incorporated in 1989 after its own residents voted for it. Before that it was a master-planned community laid out in 1970 by McCulloch Properties on what had been cattle ranch, and the fountain that named it went in the same year.
That fountain still runs for fifteen minutes at the top of every hour from nine in the morning until nine at night. A few days a year they open all three pumps and it reaches its full 560 feet. It shuts itself off when the wind picks up past about ten miles an hour, which is the sort of detail nobody tells you and everybody notices in their first month.
Talk to me about relocating
What is actually different from Scottsdale
Schools. Fountain Hills Unified School District #98, four schools for the entire town. Not Scottsdale Unified. If this matters to your family, settle it before you fall in love with an address.
Town services. Policing is contracted from the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. The Fountain Hills Fire Department runs two stations. Wastewater comes from the Fountain Hills Sanitary District, which is a separate body from the town with its own bill.
Property tax. The town levies no primary property tax of its own. There is a small secondary levy covering voter-approved open space and library bonds. Your bill still carries county and school district portions as it would anywhere, so the accurate way to say it is that the town's own share is unusually small, not that taxes here are low.
Night. The town has been an International Dark Sky Community since January 2018, with lighting regulated accordingly. If you have only ever lived under a lit sky, this is a genuinely different experience and most people rate it highly.
The drive, stated plainly
This is the thing to be clear-eyed about, because it is the one people underestimate from a distance and then live with every day.
Shea Boulevard and the Beeline Highway are the two ways in and out. Old Town Scottsdale is roughly half an hour. Sky Harbor is closer to forty-five minutes when traffic behaves.
Inside the town you will drive to nearly everything, and the hills mean a short distance on a map is not always a short drive. The choice of restaurants, shops and services is a fraction of what you would have a few miles west.
People who love living here made that trade deliberately and would make it again. People who are unhappy here are almost always people who did not think about it carefully beforehand. I would much rather you decide this properly than discover it in month three.
What you get for it
Elevation, and the views that come with it. The town sits around 1,798 feet at the fountain and climbs from there, so what you look at is a function of where on the hill you buy.
Space that the same money does not reach in north Scottsdale, in both lot and house.
And a setting that is not going to fill in around you. The town is hemmed in by McDowell Mountain Regional Park, the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Most of the boundary is permanently unbuildable. That is an unusual thing to be able to say about anywhere in this valley, and it is worth more over twenty years than any feature inside a house.
There are also four golf courses inside the town limits: FireRock and Eagle Mountain, both Scott Miller designs, SunRidge Canyon by Keith Foster, and Desert Canyon.
What I would have you do before you commit
Drive the commute you would actually be doing, at the hour you would actually be doing it. Not once on a Sunday. The Shea corridor on a Tuesday morning is the real test.
Come back to the house after dark. The dark sky designation means evenings here look and feel different from anywhere else you have shortlisted, and that is something to experience rather than read about.
Visit in summer if you possibly can. Anyone can love this town in February.
And stand on the lot at two different times of day, because a west-facing hillside patio in June is a different proposition from the same patio in the photograph.
Doing this from another state
I have walked plenty of buyers through this without them being in Arizona, and it works when the process is built for it.
I go out with a camera and my own commentary, including the things a listing will never say. I check school district, association status and lighting restrictions on each address before you spend attention on it. And I will tell you when a house you are excited about has a problem, because you cannot see it and I can.
If you are buying on this trip, the drive is the thing to settle before you write. Do it once at the hour you would really be doing it, not on a Sunday afternoon on the way to a house you already like. People who love it here made that trade knowingly, and it takes twenty minutes to find out which you are.
Call me on (480) 203-6605 and tell me what is bringing you out here.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far is Fountain Hills from Scottsdale and the airport?
Old Town Scottsdale is roughly half an hour and Sky Harbor is closer to forty-five minutes when traffic behaves. Shea Boulevard and the Beeline Highway are the two ways in and out. Inside the town you will drive to nearly everything, and the hills mean a short distance on the map is not always a short drive.
Are property taxes really lower in Fountain Hills?
The town levies no primary property tax of its own, only a small secondary levy for voter-approved open space and library bonds. Your bill still carries county and school district portions as it would anywhere. So the town's own share is unusually small, which is not the same thing as the total bill being low.
What should I do before committing to Fountain Hills from out of state?
Drive the commute at the hour you would really drive it, not once on a Sunday. Come back to the house after dark, because the dark sky designation makes evenings here genuinely different. Visit in summer if you can, since anyone can love this town in February. And stand on the lot at two different times of day.
Can you help me buy here if I cannot fly out?
Yes, and I have done it often. I walk properties with a camera and give you my own commentary including what a listing will never say, and I check school district, association status and lighting restrictions on each address before you spend attention on it. If you are deciding on one trip, tell me that early and I will have the list narrowed before you land.
Fountain Hills
What relocating here 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
Relocating Here: keep exploring
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