Troy & Mia Erickson

Jreeves,

I think that one of the most important aspects of house hunting is the financing. I would recommend that you have a lender, and a real good idea about how much home you can afford before ever going out and looking at homes.

Once you have your finances established, then you need to decide what you are looking for in a new home. You should have an idea of what type of neighborhood you would want to live in first, and how far away from any job you are willing to live. Then you can think about the number of bedrooms, yard size, pool or not, garage size, etc. Some of this can be done on the internet before you arrive.

Once you have all this in place, then you are ready to come here and start your search. I would recommend that you spend at least the first several days driving the area to get a feel for travel times, freeway access, local shopping, schools, restaurants, entertainment, neighborhoods, etc.

At the same time, I would start talking/interviewing a few Realtors to determine who you may want to work with in purchasing your new home. Make sure you find someone you can trust. For the next several days during your stay, you and your agent can then start getting more specific about neighborhoods, and actually previewing homes.

Keep in maid that if you are not ready to purchase for 6 months, it really does you no good to find a home that you love now, as they may sell within your six month timeframe. However, you may find a neighborhood, model, builder, or general area you know you want to buy in. I would recommend that you allow at least 45 days to close on a home once an offer has been written, unless you are purchasing a short-sale, or a new build. If you are in a position to buy now, and move in 6 months, then you may be able to accomplish all this in one week.

Good luck, and let us know if we can help in any way. We have lived in Chandler for 13 years, and absolutely love it here in the East Valley. You can search for homes on our website as well. - Fri Jun 12 2009, 12:24

Isandeep,

The decision to purchase a two story or single story home is really a matter of preference. There are good and bad with both, and you need to decide what is important to you. As far as being more desirable, the two story home may not be as desirable to people who may have difficulty walking stairs.

There is some recent news regarding the Portello at Dobson Crossing, and you might want to take a look at this article http://www.azcentral.com/community/chandler/articles/2009/05… and others like it. Even if you are interested in a new build, it would be beneficial for you to have representation, and it doesn't cost you anything. - Tue Jun 2 2009, 14:16

Hi Tristan,

I think that I have answered one of your questions before. Like Lisa said, this particular home already has a sale pending. Homes these days that are priced under $150k are selling very quickly. The good thing is, there are still lots available in Queen Creek at this time. If you are interested in homes like this one, please let us know and we can send you a whole list. We can also provide you access to the homes so you can see the interior as well. It is important that as a buyer, you have representation. Let us know if there is any other way we can help. - Thu May 14 2009, 15:10

Marshall,

Yes, this was a bank owned property that sold on March 5th. It was originally listed at $300,900, and was on the market 71 days. It actually sold for $310,900, $10k more than it was listed for.

If you like this home, there are others still available out there like it. Most are short sales, but there is at least one bank owned home like it in Gilbert.

Please let us know how we can help. - Wed Apr 22 2009, 10:31

Danielle,

I'm not sure, but it sounds like you may be purchasing this home without a realtor representing you. If not, you should ask this question to your realtor, and they should be able to help. Other than that, since we do not know all the details of your situation, and we do not represent you as the buyers agent, we are not really at liberty to discuss this with you.

All that we can say based on our experience is that if you ask for three different appraisals from three different appraisers, you will typically get three different values. Granted, they should all be close, but this is not necessarily always the case. The backyard rock vs. landscaping will not have much of a signifigance in the value of the home either. You just have to be patient and wait and see what happens and go from there. - Mon Apr 20 2009, 12:51