McCormick Ranch · Relocating Here
Relocating to McCormick Ranch
Moving to the Valley from out of state, with someone who explains how it actually works here before you commit to anywhere.
Central Scottsdale is a different decision from north Scottsdale
If you have been searching Scottsdale from another state, you have probably been looking at both ends of it without quite realizing they are different choices.
McCormick Ranch is central, which in practice means Old Town, Sky Harbor and the rest of the valley are all closer than they are from the communities further up. The trade is that you are not against the McDowells and you do not have the preserve on your doorstep.
People arriving from elsewhere tend to be sold on north Scottsdale by photographs, because the terrain photographs beautifully. Then they live here for a year and discover how often they drive south. I would rather you weigh that properly before you buy than notice it afterwards.
Talk to me before you fly in
What a home from 1978 actually means
This is the thing that most surprises people relocating here, particularly from parts of the country where fifty-year-old housing stock means something different.
These homes went up largely through the 1970s and 1980s. That is not a warning. The lots are generally larger than a builder would hand you today, the architecture is more varied than anything newer, and the trees are fifty years old.
What it does mean is that condition varies enormously, and you need to know which version you are buying. On one street there is a home that is essentially original, one sensibly updated over the years, and one rebuilt to the studs. They come up in the same search at very different prices.
Practically, on a house of this age I want the roof age, the air conditioning age, what is original in the electrical and plumbing, and whether any addition was permitted. All four are ordinary questions here and all four are numbers rather than worries once you have the answers.
The trees are the reason people stay
This sounds like a small thing to move across the country for and it is the thing residents mention most.
The community was planted in the early 1970s. Fifty years on that means full-grown trees, water and green that has had half a century to establish, which no newer development can copy at any price. If you have spent a weekend walking new-build streets with saplings in gravel, the difference is immediate.
Running through it are miles of walking and biking paths along the greenbelts, connecting the neighborhoods to the parks and the shops. For anybody with a dog or a bicycle that becomes a daily thing rather than a feature in a brochure.
There is no single resident clubhouse here, and that is worth understanding rather than discovering. The amenities are spread through the community instead, which for most people who live here turns out to be the better arrangement.
Schools
McCormick Ranch is in Scottsdale Unified. The district is mid-reorganization, so the assignment for a given address is worth confirming rather than assuming. Ask me and I will check it for the address you are looking at.
Being in central rather than north Scottsdale puts this area nearer the alternatives. Great Hearts has two tuition-free campuses close by, Archway Scottsdale on 94th Street for kindergarten through fifth and Scottsdale Preparatory Academy on 92nd Street for sixth through twelfth. Rancho Solano Preparatory, preschool through twelfth with an International Baccalaureate diploma, is on Via de Ventura. Notre Dame Preparatory, a Catholic high school, is on Bell Road.
Arizona publishes a state report card for every public school, which is the fair way to compare them.
The things you cannot learn from photographs
July. If you have only visited in February you have not met this place. Summer runs hot for months and it changes which rooms you use and what cooling costs.
Monsoon. Storms between roughly July and September bring wind, dust and sudden heavy water. On a mature lot that matters for the trees in particular, because a fifty-year-old tree coming down is not a small event.
Mature landscaping needs water and attention. The green you are buying is irrigated, and it stays green because somebody maintains it. That is a real running cost and a real responsibility, and it is the flip side of the thing that makes this community lovely.
Two associations, sometimes. The master assessment is a couple of hundred dollars a year, which will look like a misprint if you are coming from a newer community. Many homes carry a second one on top, so ask for the real total.
How to look at it from a distance
Before you fly in, I walk homes on video and I show you all of it, including the parts a listing agent would not point a camera at. On houses of this age that matters more than usual, because the photographs are frequently of the two rooms that were updated.
My advice, and the people who take it are happier a year on: spend the first trip working out whether you want central or north, rather than which house. Drive the routes you would actually drive. Walk one of the greenbelt paths. Then look at houses.
Arizona also does the transaction differently from wherever you are coming from. No attorney at the closing table, escrow and title handle it, and there is a specific point at which your earnest money stops being refundable. All of it here, in order.
Call me on (480) 203-6605, or send me what you have saved and I will tell you which of them are the same kind of house.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is McCormick Ranch different from north Scottsdale?
It is central, so Old Town, Sky Harbor and the rest of the valley are closer than from the communities further up. The trade is that you are not against the McDowells and the preserve is not on your doorstep. People arriving from elsewhere often get sold on north Scottsdale by photographs, then discover how often they drive south.
Should I worry about buying a home built in the 1970s?
Not worry, but know which version you are buying. Condition varies enormously here, from essentially original to rebuilt to the studs. On a house of this age I want the roof age, the air conditioning age, what is original in the electrical and plumbing, and whether any addition was permitted. All four are ordinary questions and all four become numbers once answered.
What school district is it?
Scottsdale Unified. I cannot rate a school for you and would not try. What I will flag is that the district is working through a reorganization, so confirm the current assignment for the specific address rather than relying on a listing or on last year's boundary.
Is the mature landscaping a lot of upkeep?
It is a real running cost and the flip side of what makes the community lovely. The green is irrigated and it stays green because somebody maintains it. Monsoon storms matter here too, because a fifty-year-old tree coming down is not a small event.
McCormick Ranch
What relocating here looks like in McCormick Ranch
Established central Scottsdale, built around lakes and golf, with mature landscaping and a wide range of home types.
McCormick Ranch was a working cattle and Arabian horse ranch before it was a neighborhood. It sold in 1970 and development started in the early 1970s, which makes it Scottsdale's original master-planned community.
Fifty years on, the thing it has that no newer community can buy is mature landscaping. Full-grown trees, water, and green that has had half a century to establish. A community built last year can copy the floor plans; it cannot copy a forty-year-old tree.
- The homes
- Five genuinely different products under one name: traditional single-family from the 1970s and 1980s on larger lots than a builder would give you now, homes backing onto the lakes or greenbelts, golf-course homes, patio homes and townhomes, and condominiums. More than forty individual neighborhood associations sit inside the community.
- Why people choose it
- People choose it for the mature landscaping and the central position rather than for newness. It is in central Scottsdale rather than north, which changes what is within ten minutes of the door, and the paths through the greenbelts are the amenity residents actually use daily.
- Schools people ask about
- Scottsdale Unified. The district is working through a reorganization at the moment, so confirm the current assignment for a specific address rather than relying on a listing or on last year's boundary.
- Getting around
- Central Scottsdale rather than north, so Old Town, the airport and the rest of the valley are all closer than they are from the communities further up. Hayden, Via Linda and Shea are the routes you will use. The greenbelt paths run for miles and connect the neighborhoods to the parks and the shops on foot.
- Nearby
- McCormick Ranch Golf Club with two eighteen-hole courses, the lakes and greenbelt paths, Comanche, Mountain View and Shoshone parks, and McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park, which exists because the McCormick family gave the city a hundred acres in 1967.
- The trade-off
- Against the north Scottsdale communities you are trading newer construction, dramatic terrain and preserve access for fifty years of mature landscaping and a central location. Against DC Ranch or Grayhawk you generally get more established character and a much lower master assessment, and you give up a single resident clubhouse, because the amenities here are spread through the community rather than gathered in one building.
The method
How we do it in McCormick Ranch
Relocating Here: keep exploring
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