Grayhawk · Buying a Home
Buying a Home in Grayhawk
Someone who walks the houses with you, tells you what is wrong with them, and negotiates like it is her own money.
Two questions, and the search becomes manageable
If you have already searched Grayhawk online, you will have come back with a list too long to be any use. That is not you being indecisive. There are nearly 3,800 homes here and the search is handing you three completely different kinds of property as though they were the same thing.
Two answers cut it down fast.
What kind of gate, if any. There are two different things people mean by gated here, and they cost and feel differently.
What you want your total annual cost to be once every assessment is counted, not just the one on the listing.
Answer those and we are looking at a handful of neighborhoods instead of a community.
Talk to me before you start looking
The two kinds of gate
This distinction is the single most useful thing to understand before you start.
The Retreat is guard-gated. A staffed entry, private streets inside, and several neighborhoods within it gated again on top of that. You are buying a staffed perimeter around a whole village.
The Park has no guard gate at its entrance. Many of its single-family homes you simply drive up to.
Almost every condominium and townhome community is gated in its own right, on both sides. That is a code at a gate around one community, which is a different proposition from a staffed entry and costs differently.
So when someone tells me they want a gated home in Grayhawk, my first question is which of those they actually mean. People frequently discover they wanted the second and were searching for the first, which is an expensive misunderstanding.
What you will actually pay every year
Assessments come in up to four layers and the listing rarely shows all of them.
Everybody pays the master assessment. You add the Retreat Village assessment if you are behind the gate, a monthly sub-association if it is a condominium or townhome, and a neighborhood assessment if that neighborhood has its own pool, spa or courts.
A condominium behind the gate at Avian or Cachet carries three of those. A single-family home in The Park may carry one.
I pull the current total for any specific address before you write an offer. Not the master figure, the total, with what each layer buys. Two homes at the same price can be a meaningful amount apart in what they cost to own, and that difference runs for as long as you live there.
Golf without joining anything
This one changes how Grayhawk compares to its neighbors, so it is the first thing I would tell you.
Both courses here are public. Raptor is a Tom Fazio design, Talon came from David Graham working with Gary Panks, and the clubhouse runs to 40,000 square feet. None of it requires a membership.
If you are weighing Grayhawk against a community where the course sits behind a private club, that is a real annual difference rather than a detail. An initiation fee and monthly dues against green fees when you feel like playing.
Two City of Scottsdale public parks also sit inside the community, carrying no membership and no extra assessment.
What I look at before we go inside
What the back opens onto. Greenbelt, pocket park, desert, the course, or another house. A lot of maintained common area runs through Grayhawk and backing onto it is worth having.
Which hole, if it is on the course. Fairway positions are not interchangeable. A quiet stretch and a landing zone are different homes, and anyone who plays will spot it immediately.
Era and systems. Grayhawk built out over a long period. Two homes of similar size can be a decade apart in roof, air conditioning and finishes, and in this climate those carry known costs.
What you can hear. The 101 runs along the south edge. That is most of why the location works and it means some streets are worth listening to at more than one hour.
How the rest runs
The mechanics are Arizona's rather than Grayhawk's: what you sign before touring, the inspection period and what it gives you, when your earnest money stops being refundable. Set out in order here.
Coming from out of state has extra pieces and those are here. Buying as a second home changes the questions, particularly around the sub-association rules, and that is here. Selling something to buy this means planning both sides together.
Most people looking here are also looking at DC Ranch and McDowell Mountain Ranch. Worth reading those alongside.
Call me on (480) 203-6605 and tell me which gate you had in mind. That is the whole first conversation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Grayhawk gated?
Partly, and there are two different things people mean. The Retreat is guard-gated with a staffed entry and private streets, and several neighborhoods inside it are gated again. The Park has no guard gate at its entrance. Separately, almost every condominium and townhome community is gated in its own right on both sides, which is a code at one gate rather than a staffed perimeter.
What will the HOA actually cost me?
Ask for the total rather than the master figure. There are up to four layers: the master everyone pays, the Retreat Village assessment behind the gate, a monthly sub-association for condominiums and townhomes, and a neighborhood assessment where there is a pool or courts. A condominium inside the gate carries three. A single-family home in The Park may carry one.
Do I need a club membership to play the golf?
No. Both Grayhawk courses are public. Raptor is a Tom Fazio design and Talon came from David Graham with Gary Panks, so public does not mean second rate here. Against a community where the course sits behind a private club, that is a real difference in annual cost rather than a detail.
How do I narrow down nearly 3,800 homes?
Two questions do most of it. Which kind of gate you want, or none. And what you want your total annual cost to be once every assessment is counted. Those two answers take a community down to a handful of neighborhoods you can see in a weekend.
Grayhawk
What buying a home looks like in Grayhawk
North Scottsdale golf community with a mix of single-family homes, patio homes and condominiums.
Grayhawk sits in north Scottsdale, north of the 101 between Scottsdale Road and Pima, with nearly 3,800 homes running from condominiums through single-family to golf-course property.
It is really two neighborhoods rather than one. The Park has no guard gate at its entrance; The Retreat is guard-gated around the Raptor and Talon courses. Almost everything that matters here follows from which side a home sits on.
- The homes
- Nearly 3,800, across condominiums, townhomes, single-family homes and golf-course property. Eight condominium and townhome communities, each gated in its own right. The Park holds the non-gated single-family neighborhoods; The Retreat holds the guard-gated ones, several of which are gated again inside.
- Why people choose it
- The public golf draws a lot of people, since both courses are open to anyone and a golfer can play without committing to a private club. Others come for the choice between two kinds of gate, or for the position, with Kierland and Scottsdale Quarter a short drive south.
- Schools people ask about
- Paradise Valley Unified, not Scottsdale Unified, which surprises people who assume every north Scottsdale community shares a district. Grayhawk Elementary is inside the community on Grayhawk Drive. Confirm the current boundary for a specific address rather than assuming, since boundaries move.
- Getting around
- The Loop 101 runs along the south edge, so the airport, Old Town and the rest of the valley are straightforward. Scottsdale Road and Pima are the north-south routes. Hayden Peak Crossing and Grayhawk Plaza cover everyday errands without leaving the area.
- Nearby
- Grayhawk Golf Club with its 40,000 square foot clubhouse, two City of Scottsdale public parks inside the community, Hayden Peak Crossing anchored by a Fry's, and Kierland Commons, Scottsdale Quarter and Market Street at DC Ranch all a short drive.
- The trade-off
- Against DC Ranch, Grayhawk gives you public golf with no membership required and generally more house for the money, while DC Ranch gives you more dramatic terrain, a walkable center at Market Street and a higher ceiling at the top. Against McDowell Mountain Ranch you are trading some of the preserve proximity for better shopping and freeway position.
Buying a Home: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Jen Keene?