McCormick Ranch · Second Homes
Resort and Second Homes in McCormick Ranch
Buying a second home in Scottsdale, from someone who holds the Resort and Second-Home Property Specialist designation.
What a second home here is actually good at
The part of a part-year home that catches people out is never the part they are excited about. It is the eight months 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.
McCormick Ranch answers two of them well.
The position. Central Scottsdale rather than north means that on the weeks you are actually here, Old Town, the airport and most of what you came for are closer. For somebody arriving for a fortnight at a time, less driving is worth more than it sounds.
The housing. The patio homes, townhomes and condominiums are a substantial part of this community rather than an afterthought, and many carry an association that handles the exterior, the roof and the common landscaping.
Talk to me about a second home here
Do not buy the big original house as a second home
I will say this plainly because it is the mistake people make here, and it is an expensive one.
The large traditional single-family homes are the most appealing thing in this community to somebody visiting in February. Mature trees, generous lots, fifty years of established planting. They are also the worst possible second home.
That landscaping is the reason the community is lovely and it stays alive because somebody waters and maintains it. Left alone through an Arizona summer, an irrigation failure takes mature planting with it inside a fortnight, and replacing a fifty-year-old tree is not something money fixes quickly.
Add a pool, a roof of a certain age and no one walking through, and you have bought yourself a job rather than a retreat.
If what you want is this community for part of the year, the patio homes and condominiums give you the same trees, the same greenbelt paths, the same lakes and the same position, with somebody else responsible for the outside.
Read the rental rules before you offer
If any part of your plan involves letting the place out, even occasionally, even to friends, the governing documents get read before you write rather than after.
There are more than forty individual neighborhood associations inside McCormick Ranch, and they do not share one set of rules. Minimum lease terms, restrictions on short-term letting, registration, caps on how many homes may be rented at once and approval processes all vary between them.
Two condominiums a few minutes apart, both correctly described as McCormick Ranch, can give completely different answers.
I pull the actual documents for the specific address and we read the relevant sections together before you commit. People buy on an assumption about this and find out afterwards, and by then it is made.
What the association covers, and what it never will
Ask for the total rather than the master figure. The McCormick Ranch master assessment is a couple of hundred dollars a year, which looks like a misprint if you are used to newer communities. Most of the attached-home neighborhoods carry a second association on top, and that is the one actually doing the maintenance you care about.
Then establish precisely where the line falls. Roof and exterior paint, or only common areas. Landscaping to your door or to the kerb. Whether anything at all happens inside your walls, which is almost always no.
What no association covers anywhere: your air conditioning, your water heater, and whatever fails while nobody is in the house. In this climate those are exactly the things that fail, in exactly the months you are least likely to be here.
Closing up for the summer
The air conditioning stays on, set high rather than off, because a sealed house here in July gets hot enough to damage what is inside it. Somebody confirms it is still running.
If there is a pool, service continues whether you are here or not.
If you have your own landscaping, the irrigation keeps running through the hottest months and somebody checks it. In an attached home 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, which on a mature lot means trees. A large tree coming down on an empty house is the scenario worth insuring and inspecting against.
None of it is a reason to hesitate. It is a reason to have the arrangements made before you leave, and I can connect you with the people who do it.
The questions that belong with your own professionals
How owning property in another state affects your tax position, and whether a trust or another structure suits you, belong with your accountant and your attorney. I can tell you what I see other people do. I cannot advise you on it.
What I will do is make sure those questions get asked before you are committed rather than at tax time.
The general version is here, and the Arizona buying mechanics are here.
Call me on (480) 203-6605.
Frequently Asked Questions
What kind of home works best as a second home here?
A patio home, townhome or condominium, where an association handles the exterior, the roof and the common landscaping. Those are a substantial part of this community rather than an afterthought, and they give you the same trees, greenbelt paths, lakes and central position without the maintenance.
Why not buy one of the big original homes?
Because it is the most appealing thing here in February and the worst possible second home. The mature landscaping stays alive because somebody waters and maintains it, and an irrigation failure over an Arizona summer takes it with it inside a fortnight. Replacing a fifty-year-old tree is not something money fixes quickly.
Can I rent it out while I am away?
It depends entirely on which neighborhood. There are more than forty individual associations inside McCormick Ranch and they do not share one set of rules. Two condominiums a few minutes apart can give completely different answers on minimum lease terms, short-term letting and approvals. Read the documents for the specific address before you offer.
What does the HOA actually cover?
Ask for the total rather than the master figure, which is a couple of hundred dollars a year and looks like a misprint if you are used to newer communities. Most attached-home neighborhoods carry a second association doing the actual maintenance. Establish where the line falls: roof and exterior paint or only common areas, landscaping to your door or to the kerb.
McCormick Ranch
What second homes 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
Second Homes: keep exploring
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