Mesa Coronado - For Sale

Mesa Coronado is a condo community near Fiesta Mall. The community is three different phases on the same lot. This is the newest phase built in 2000. These units have neighbors living either up or down and everyone gets a one car garage.

This is a ground floor unit and is 1148 square feet. It has two bedrooms and 1.75 bathrooms. The living room has high ceilings and a view to the patio outside. The patio is not totally inclosed, so it might not be ideal for a pet or kids.

You'll love the kitchen. It looks brand new and has lovely tile floors.

Here's a view of the outside area. Since this is an end unit, you get a little more space.

The community pool is in the center of about 5 buildings. It's usually empty and has a hot tub too.

This home is priced at $170,000 and is the lowest priced 1st floor unit available. See the virtual tour on at TownHOMESonly.

Lake Park Villas - For Sale

Lake Park Villas is a condo community in The Lakes, a masterplanned community in Tempe Arizona. This is a 'D' unit with two floors and a one car garage.

This is an overview of The Lakes. While, these condos aren't directly on the water, they are in walking distance to the water and the community center. There's one pool about 25 yards from the front door and the community center is just across LakeShore Dr.

This is 1290 square feet. It has a living room (pictured above), bathroom and kitchen on the main level. There's a door to the garage. Currently the garage has been transformed into an office (fourth room), but could easily be turned into a garage again. There is some space left as a garage, but not enough for a car.

The cabinets, counter tops and appliances have all been upgraded in this lovely unit.

The masterbedroom is extra large with it's own private bathroom and walk in closet.

Not pictured are the other two upstairs rooms, an upstairs bathroom, downstairs bathroom, dining area, patio and den. This unit is priced at $180,000 and is well below comps. If you'd like to see a virtual tour, visit my website.

The Lakes - Tempe, AZ

The Lakes in Tempe, Arizona is a masterplanned community of single family homes, condos, townhomes, apartments and retail shopping. The centerpiece is a huge lake meandering in and out of various neighborhoods with a shopping center in the middle and a large community center. The community center has an Olympic size pool, kiddy pool, tennis courts, basketball court, weight room and meeting rooms.

This is an aerial of the Lakes largest condo community - Lake Park Villas. All homes come with a one car garage and you have a choice of ground floor, above the garage or two story homes. LPV has it's own pool, or you can go across the street to the community center. It's also an aerial of the smallest townhome community in the Lakes - called The Lakes. These homes are on the lake with docks. There's only 38 homes and they don't come available too often.

Harbour Village is also on the lake. It's a gated community and is the most expensive townhome community in The Lakes.

Across the street is Runaway Point. A condo community that is also on the lake. All these communities are a short walk to the community center.

Finally, there is Sandcastle. You can see the community center across the street.

Southpark

Townes of Southpark

Same builder as the Townes of South Meadow. This community is further west, near the corner of Chandler Boulevard and Kyrene Road. It's nice, because it is away from the busy streets nestled between single family homes and an office park.

Aerial views

The Townes of South Meadow

Most home buyers like to see lots of pictures. I like to take the standard photos of the front, rooms and pools. But, I also like to take pictures of the flooring close up or patio areas. The pictures that give buyer's a lot of information are the aerial ones like you see below. See anything interesting?

I see major roads to the south and west. I see a water storage tank to the east. The pool in the middle of the community. More homes to the north and north east.I see carports and uncovered parking. Some of these things you may have questions about. I sure do.

Condo Ownership Article

Here's an article about condo and townhome ownership. I'll write about various parts of this article in future posts.

What You Need To Know To Sell Condos by Blanche Evans of Realty Times

Community Amenitities

The variety of amenities in the communities is large. While most will have a community pool, some will have several with hot tubs, lots of cool decking, covered areas, turf areas and clubhouses.

All community pools are gated and fenced. Most are in the center of the community, but some are along busy streets and are therefore noisier. Many home owners want a pool that has bathrooms for all to use.

Some communities will have a lake. A community dock is rear, but not unheard of. This dock is in The Lakes in Tempe.

Some communities have tennis or sports courts, racquetball, BBQ areas and clubhouses for community activities.

Shuffleboard? Retirement communities have these, but I haven't seen any in all age communities.

Condo Conversions

Over the past few years, investors have been buying apartment complexes and converting them over to condos. In a nutshell, here's how it works. The investor buys an entire apartment complex and applies to the city to convert it to condos. They then give notice to the tenants, who usually get the option to buy their home or move out within a set time period. The new developer then will redue landscaping, pools and community areas. They'll start to redue units in blocks. They might break up the community in sections and keep renting to most of them and redue one section at a time. Therefore, when you want to buy a unit, you'll have to buy in the section that they currently are working on or wait.

Eventually, all the sections will be redone and the community will be completely turned over to home owners or investors.

Here's some things to think about when buying a Condo Conversion.

1. Is it a new project? Or is it close to being sold out? You take the risk that a new project will convert back to apartments. If they have to sell 300 units and have only sold 5 in 6 months, some investors have chosen to revert back. Will you have to worry about this.
2. Are there fire walls or noise reduction between the units? Buildings built as townhomes or condos usually have these features. Not all apartment complexes do. Is your condo conversion built well or on the cheap?
3. Is it mostly owner occupied or investor? If you buy in a community with mostly investors, arne't you really buying into an apartment community? Will you have trouble securing a loan when it's mostly investor owned and will you have trouble selling down the road for the very same reason?

What other unique things do we need to think about when buying a condo conversion? Please leave a comment and we'll update this post as needed.

Thanks, Pat

What's a Condo? What's a Patio Home?

In arizona a condominium is a type of ownership. But most people that are looking at buying Real Estate are interested in the type of construction or building type.

Is it apartment style, townhouse, patio home or a single family Detached home?

An apartment style home generally will have neighbors on either side or behind and neighbors above or below you. This is a three story building with elevators for the home owners on the second and third floors.

Townhome style will have neighbors on either side, but not above or below. You'll probably get some private outdoor space with a privacy wall, but not always. The front space will be common areas. Some townhomes have carports or assigned parking. A few will have garages.

Patio Homes may have neighbors on either side. They look more like single family homes with attached walls. They have front yards that are usually maintained by the homeowners association and drive ways. They have back yards in most cases.

Single Family Detached Homes have no shared walls. This blog won't be dealing with aspects of owning this type of property.

All these properties can be single level or multiple levels. Apartment style homes can be single level, but not street level. These properties can be 2-3-4 plexes, clustered, string or high rise in nature.

About Pat

I'm Pat Monahan, a REALTOR® in arizona. I specialize in selling and buying townhomes, condos and patio homes. Any property with a shared wall with it's neighbor.

I've been doing this for almost 10 years (1997), specializing in townhomes for about 5. My wife joined me in Real Estate almost 4 years ago( 2003).

I hang my license at West USA Realty and can be reached at 480-917-1922. My wife's name is Amy. One of us will answer the phone.

Agents say to me all the time, why do you specialize and not sell everything. I wonder if they expect their doctors to know everthing in medicine? Or their lawyers to practice in all areas of law? I wonder if they want their plumbers to do carpentry work or roof work? Do they call Dominoes and ask for a cheeseburger and fries?

The truth is, if you specialize you become better and more knowledgable about your area of expertise. You know about the specific communities and about HOA specifics. You know when pricing is rising in one community, but not in another. You can also help your clients to make more money when they sell or save more money when they buy.

Some agents can wing it or pretend to be an expert in all areas of real estate. But, how many agents can truly know about all geographic areas, know about all communities whether they are townhome, single family, farm, resort or vacant lots? How many can know all the laws about commercial properties and then know everything about residential too? Do they know everything about horse properties, waterfront properties, high rise condos and historic homes?

I admit it. I do not know about most of those types of properties. But, I do know a lot about townhomes, condos and patio homes in Tempe, Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert Arizona.

I hope to share a lot of this knowledge in this blog.

pat

A Blog about townhomes

OK. I'm new to blogging. This is a blog for those folks that want to learn more about townhomes in the Phoenix area. Specifically Tempe, Chandler, Mesa, Gilbert and some parts of Phoenix and Scottsdale.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. I'll answer them the best I can.

I'll try to give you information about the market, various communities, HOA info and more.

Thanks, Pat