Relocating to Scottsdale
Moving to the Valley from out of state, with someone who explains how it actually works here before you commit to anywhere.
The problem with buying somewhere you have never lived
You can research a market from two thousand miles away and still get it wrong, because the things that matter here are not in the listing data.
Which side of a main road a community sits on. What a wash behind a property means in August. Whether a neighborhood is fifteen minutes from the things you will actually use or fifteen minutes from a map pin. What an HOA here genuinely maintains, which is not what an HOA elsewhere maintains. How much difference a few hundred feet of elevation makes to a summer evening.
None of that is knowable from photographs. All of it changes whether you are happy in year two.
One family I worked with arrived from Minnesota knowing very little about this market. Three years later, when the right house came up, we moved on it immediately, because by then they knew exactly what they wanted and so did I.
Start with a conversation
How I work with people moving here
Orientation before narrowing. We talk about how you actually want to live before we talk about neighborhoods, and I will tell you which areas suit that and which do not. Ruling places out early saves more time than adding them in.
Touring while you are still elsewhere. I walk homes with a camera and talk you through them live, so you are not spending a long weekend and a flight on houses that were never right. NAR counts that as a tour, so the written agreement comes first, and it can cover a single day.
Timing built around the move. A job start, a school term, the sale of a house in another state, a lease ending. These rarely line up neatly and the gap is the thing to plan for rather than hope about.
Arizona-specific reality. Closing runs through escrow and title with no attorney. The inspection period is built into the contract at ten days. Your earnest money is refundable until a specific set of conditions clear. All of it is written out here.
What people ask me that they did not expect to
What summer is actually like, and which features genuinely matter because of it. Orientation of the house, shade, the age and type of the cooling system, and what a pool costs to run rather than to install.
What the property taxes really are, which frequently surprises people arriving from higher-tax states in the opposite direction from what they assumed.
Whether they need a second car, what the drive to the airport is at different times, and how far things are when the map says fifteen minutes.
Which of the things they loved about where they live now simply do not exist here, so they can stop looking for them and find what does.
Where people are moving to
DC Ranch, Grayhawk, McDowell Mountain Ranch, McCormick Ranch, Fountain Hills and North Phoenix.
These are genuinely different from one another in ways the price per square foot will not tell you. That comparison is most of the first conversation.
Buying here as a second home rather than moving full time? That is a different set of questions.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you show me homes before I fly out?
Yes. I walk the house with a camera and talk you through it live, so your trip is spent on genuine contenders. NAR counts a live virtual tour as touring a home, so the written agreement comes first, and it can cover a single day.
How is buying in Arizona different from where I am now?
The biggest surprise for most people is that there is no attorney at closing. Escrow and title handle it. The inspection period is built into the contract at ten days, and earnest money stays refundable until a specific set of conditions clear.
How do I choose between neighborhoods I have never seen?
By talking about how you want to live before looking at any of them. The differences that matter here are not in the listing data: road position, what is behind a property, what an HOA actually maintains, and what summer does to a house facing the wrong way.
Keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Jen Keene?