Resort and Second Homes in Grayhawk

The part of a second home that catches people out is never the part they are excited about. It is the eight months of the year they are somewhere else. I hold the Resort and Second-Home Property Specialist designation, which mostly means I have learned which questions to ask about those months.

Grayhawk answers several of them better than most of north Scottsdale, and one in particular.

The golf is public. If you are here four months a year, a private club membership means paying dues for eight months you are not using it. Here you play a Tom Fazio course when you are in town and pay nothing when you are not. Over a decade of seasonal ownership that difference is substantial, and it is the single strongest argument for Grayhawk over a neighbor with a private course.

This is the one I will not let a client skip, and in Grayhawk it matters more than usual because the rules are not community-wide.

Each of the eight sub-associations has its own governing documents. Minimum lease terms, restrictions on short-term letting, registration, caps on how many homes may be rented at once, and approval processes differ between them.

So two condominiums, both in Grayhawk, both gated, can give different answers on whether you may let the place out in the months you are away.

If any part of your plan involves renting, even occasionally, even to friends, I pull the actual documents for that specific address and we read the relevant sections together before you write an offer. Discovering the answer afterwards is discovering it too late.

The part nobody explains to a new seasonal owner.

The air conditioning does not get switched off. A sealed house here in July gets hot enough to damage what is inside it, so it goes high rather than off and somebody confirms it is still running.

If you have a pool, service continues whether you are here or not. A summer unattended turns a cleaning job into a repair.

Irrigation runs through the hottest months, and a failed valve kills mature landscaping in a fortnight with nobody there to notice. In a condominium the association may handle this, which is one of the quieter arguments for buying one.

Monsoon storms between roughly July and September bring wind and sudden water. An occupied house notices roof damage. An empty one does not.

None of it is a reason to hesitate. It is a reason to have the arrangements made before you leave rather than after the first bad summer, and I can connect you with the people who do it.