Before really searching for particular units, I checked out listings on Realtor.com.  This is where I was easily able to check out what you’d get in my price range in different areas.  My first searches were in Scottsdale, Fountain Hills and Tempe.

I was surprised to find a better selection in Scottsdale than the other two areas.  I think I also checked out Mesa and Chandler because my parents lived in Mesa and our friends live in Chandler.  But I’d always go back to Scottsdale.

I just think Scottsdale will offer more of the lifestyle we want and the ease of renting our condo out if we want to. Basically, it is our future retirement condo and we’re just getting it in advance. We want to use it and share it and we want to have access to shopping and dining and entertainment. I’m a city girl and I’m not interested in living too far out.

Realtor.com can leave a lot to be desired

They have since upgraded their website and it’s better and I can’t blame the site for the lack of information and photos.  That is how the listing agent presented their listing on their MLS.  I can’t understand why some agents provide zero or only one photograph.  Sometimes the one photo was of the community pool and not even the unit for sale.

Since I was just in the beginning stages of my search, I spent the most time on Scottsdale condos for sale with a description and multiple photos.  I wasn’t ready to buy yet and at this point was simply window shopping, just to see what was being offered.  I was pleansantly surprised to see that we could get a decent place in our price range.

I started my search probably about a year prior to actually looking.  This is how many buyers begin their search.  They go to a national site and do a search, just to get an idea.

Potential buyers need to understand that these large real estate portals do not carry every available property for sale.  They’re fine in the beginning stages of house hunting.  But when it gets down to the time when you’re ready to buy and really start choosing your properties to view inside and out, you need to utilize a local MLS search. 

Some of these portals do not clean up their listings and you could be interested in a property that was sold and closed a long time ago.  Realtor.com used to do this but they are more timely and once a property closes it is removed from the site.  Other sites do not do this as they don’t have direct MLS access like R.com does.

Better yet, get on an automated e-mail search where properties are sent directly to your e-mail, or a website set up for the listings in your price range and with the amenities you want.  To do that, you’ll need to have chosen the real estate agent that you will work with.  Happy Scottsdale real estate house hunting!

Let me know if you need a great Scottsdale REALTOR so I can refer you.  Call me at 708-536-8200 or leave a reply below.

They bought a newly constructed house that had 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, a formal dining room and living room plus a family room and eat-in kitchen.  There was an enclosed patio and a pool in back.

My daughter visited them by herself at the age of 10 or 11.  My Mom sent me pictures of her by the pool.  It looked nice and they also sent me a photo of the front of the house, which looked cute.

When I finally took the leap to visit them (after more than 10 years of them living there), I was excited to see how a home in Arizona is decorated.  I’m not a fan of mock southwest decor.  I like rustic, but not the phoney stuff like couches we saw here in the Midwest for awhile with the zig zaggy southwest patterns on them.  That’s what I expected to find at my parent’s house.

But I was a bit let down

As I stepped into their nice foyer, I couldn’t believe my eyes.  There was the same couch they brought with them from Oak Lawn, IL.  At least the plastic seat covers were removed.  But this was not what I expected.  You can’t move old 70′s midwest furniture to a brand new house in Mesa, AZ, no matter how good the condition is.

And even though I wasn’t into home decorating as a child or teenager, I always thought our light wood dining room set was ugly.  Yet there it was, in all it’s unglory, in the formal dining room of this newer Arizona house.  I wouldn’t have known I was in the southwest once I stepped inside this house.  I guess I was expecting adobe and rounded archways and something of a bit of southwest architecture.  But what I got was a deja vu moment.

The family room was a little better.  Although I think they originally had the couch from the family room back home in IL, they eventually replaced it.  But they did have one of those southwest “paintings” hanging over the couch.  The nice brick/stone fireplace was the only real architectural delight inside.

Don’t get me wrong, the house was cute and I would have loved it.  The backyard gave me a taste of Arizona living with some nice big palm trees, stones and the pool, all surrounded by a brick and block fence.

Another thing my Dad couldn’t give up, besides the old furniture, was grass.  He had grass in the front of the house.  I was prepared for this since my Mom told me about it.

But my favorite memory was my introduction to their big, beautiful bougainvillea.  What a beautiful flowering shrub.  And this one flourished with my Dad’s loving care.

All in all, I was pleased with the exterior of their home as it brought a tiny sense of what I expected living in Arizona to be, but the old furniture had to go!  And it didn’t until Mom finally moved after Dad passed away.

But it wasn’t just my parents

After my parents moved to Arizona one of my Mom’s cousins moved there too.  When we visited their house I felt the same thing.  Old fasioned midwest decor in a new Arizona house.

Not too long ago when I had a Girl’s Weekend Away in AZ we stopped in at the house of elderly sisters that used to work with my friend’s Mom many years ago.  They actually had plastic covers on their heavy French provincial furniture.  Not a hint of southwest decor in that house!  It was like a museum!

So I guess you can take the old people out of IL, but you also get their furniture.

Note:  photo of bougainvillea provided by v.plessky

Visiting Mom with my son

My Dad was already gone.  Mom was alone, so it was always nice when family and friends would visit her.  My oldest son was almost as apprehensive about flying as I was, so the two of us were a good match.  Unfortunately, I needed an aisle seat and he preferred a window.  On the flight in we sat together.  On the flight back we chose our preferred seats and a poor gentleman sat between us, sometimes having to be part of our conversation.

Prior to the trip, we discussed our fear of flying and joked about it.  Everything went fine and we arrived at Mom’s with no problems.  Mom had bad knees and we knew we wanted to do some things without her and she understood.  She let us borrow her big caddy.  She thought I was driving it.

But as soon as we turned the corner in her cul-de-sac, we swtiched seats.  I hate to drive and my son loves to, so it worked out.  I just don’t think Mom would understand as he was still her “little grandson.”  He was about 25 at the time.

I’ll go into our travels in later posts.  I wouldn’t have thought traveling with my son could be so much fun, but we have a lot in common.

When all three of us would go out together, Mom would drive.  As we’re driving somewhere, Mom makes a left turn in front of an oncoming truck!  I screamed, “What are you doing?!”  She slammed on the breaks and screamed back, “I don’t know!”

My son and I joked about how we couldn’t wait to get back on a plane – because it was so safe!  The jokes kept coming about how smooth the flight was and that we didn’t have to worry about a geriatric flying in the sky.

My fears of seniors driving in AZ were validated, by my own mother.  I was able to order my first senior citizen meal over my New Year’s Eve trip to Scottsdale this year.  I better stop making jokes about “us.”

Yet as much of a hard worker and perfectionist as he was, I truly considered him to also be very laid-back, funny, gentle, kind, friendly and a whole lotta fun.  He was popular at work and among his group of friends.  He was one of those guys that everyone liked, a lot.

He was also an attractive man and as laid-back as he was his perfectionism to his abode also translated to his bod.  He wanted his hair perfect.  He was always aware of his weight and would work out, doing his push-ups in the upstairs hallway.

And let’s get back to that speedo.  You have to be pretty fit to be able to wear one into your 60′s.  Of course, no matter how good he looked I was still grossed out.

Dad had open heart surgery and didn’t want any visitors because his hair was too messy.  He was upset that his perfect body now had a nasty scar.

Mom said Dad was losing it

Dad was fine after the open heart surgery.  I really don’t remember when he started going downhill.  Every time I spoke to him over the phone he sounded fine.  But Mom insisted he was talking crazy at times.  I figured my Mom and her cousin were driving him crazy.

My Dad smoked until I got him to stop in his mid 40′s.  But he ended up suffering from emphysema many years later.  He needed his oxygen tanks.  That’s when it hit me, that Dad was in trouble.

But the bigger thing was when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  I still didn’t notice it, even though Mom had some stories for me.  Like the time they went to visit my brothers in CA and Dad ended up in the hospital with pneumonia.  He supposedly was saying some nasty things to my brothers and their wives.  However, when I talked to him over the phone he was always fine.

I finally let my Dad go

Now that I flew and loved Arizona so much, I was eager to visit my folks.  I normally only went once a year so the visits were cherished.  Finally, I saw what my Mom was talking about.

Dad started talking some crazy stuff, like a man comes in every night and puts rubber around the tiles and the dog was doing back flips.  He though we were giving his Cadillac to my husband’s friend, who lives in Gilbert, and it made him very upset.

In a restaurant he went to the bathroom and after a while a waitress came to our table with Dad and asked us if he belonged to us – he was lost.  And it got worse.

My Dad was always so proud, and I was always so proud of him.  I knew he wouldn’t want to live this way, losing his dignity.

The last thing he said to me during that trip, on my way out the door, was “Judy, you’ve put on a few pounds since the last time you were here.”  In a week of visiting, that was about the only coherent thing he said.  He was losing his marbles but he could tell when I was gaining weight!  I laughed all the way home about it.

My Dad died about 3 months later.  His ashes are in a wall (I always forget what they call it) in Mesa, AZ.  One of these days when we’re more settled in Scottsdale I’ll have to pay him a visit.  I haven’t been there since the day of the funeral.

As little interest as I had in Arizona, another reason was the high temps.  Let me state that I am always cold.  I love warmth.  In the summer here in Chicago I only use the a/c if it’s really hot and humid, or if it’s warm and humid (which makes it feel hotter than it really is).  A 90 degree day in Chicago is extremely hot because there’s usually humidity in the air.

So when I’m hearing temps of 105, 110, 115 and higher, I couldn’t even imagine how it must have felt.  I had seen people fry eggs on the pavement on television.  My Mom even admitted that in the summer they try not to go out in the hot sun.  I could only imagine a vampire scene of people only shopping at night.

So as much as I like it hot, I couldn’t truly understand what her constant comment about dry heat really meant.  But I learned quickly on my first visit.  My thick hair normally took hours to air dry at home.  It dried almost immediately in Arizona.  My hair gets frizzy during Chicago summers.  It was nice and straight in AZ.  My hair never looked so good!

I also noticed that my lips and skin were very dry.  I needed chapstick and skin lotion, stuff I normally only use in winter in Chicago.  As a side note, I was also very dry during a trip to Keystone, CO in the summer (we went for a wedding).  I think I felt worse in Colorado.

So I’m completely into the dry Arizona heat.  It’s been so cold here in Chicago this winter that there is still snow piled around as it hasn’t been able to melt away since the last few snowfalls.  It has warmed up enough for the huge icicles to fall off the eaves of our house and the noise is really loud and the dogs bark, thinking someone is knocking on the door or something.  Even my daughter ran into the room I was in this morning asking me what that noise was.

I can’t wait to get back to Scottsdale, Arizona‘s dry heat.

And I was finally excited to be going.  After departing the airplane I noticed that the Phoenix Airport seemed small and more congested than our two Illinois airports.  Not impressed yet.

Driving from the airport to my parent’s house didn’t instill much excitement in me, either.  I did note that things seemed “cleaner” from my highway view.  I enjoyed the highway “wall decor.”

I don’t remember the exact moment when I saw a mountain.  But I do remember my Mom pointing out Camelback Mountain to me.  This was the first time I had ever seen a mountain!  That was a “Wow!” moment.

My next memory of that first visit was when my Dad insisted we go to Tortilla Flats.  I was kind of afraid of the winding roads to get there and the little restaurant joint we ended up at after that trek.  But it was fun and this was my other exciting moment.  I realized that I had never seen a real saguaro cactus.  And here they were, lined up on hillsides like an army ascending.  I was mesmerized and realized that I had only seen this kind of landscape on television and at the movies.

Hmmmm, Arizona was kind of cool!

It’s downright cold here in Oak Lawn, IL, with a temp of 24 degrees and a windchill factor of 12.  Brrrrrrrrr!  On the bright side, it is much warmer than last week and is a very sunny day.  It’s 73 degrees in Scottsdale but feels like 80.  I can’t wait to return!

Photo by atridem

But I wasn’t excited about my first plane ride.  I had never taken a Valium but I was trolling for some.  I got a couple from someone I knew.  I still wasn’t looking forward to it.

In fact, I envisioned the scene in Airplane where a woman is going crazy and everyone goes up to her to punch her (or hit her with something) to shut her up.  Even a nun hit her!  I could imagine myself being that screaming woman.

My friend, who is a travel agent, made sure we got to sit in the first seat (is that bulkhead) so I’d have more foot room (I’m claustrophobic, which is part of my fear of flying).  Needless to say, staring at a blank wall didn’t help with that and I have never sat there since.

I couldn’t sleep for weeks before the flight.  In fact, when we boarded I kept my eye on the exit door.  I was honestly thinking of bolting.  Then the valium must have started kicking in.

I was amazed at the smooth flight.  I don’t remember any turbulance or anything very exciting with the exception of hitting my head on the drop-down tv screen that we couldn’t even see.  It made a loud thump that made it sound like it hurt, but it didn’t.  It was just embarrassing.  They played a trivia game and I won a Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt.  Flying wasn’t too bad after all.  Or was it the Valium?

On our landing back home in Chicago we were greeted with 55 mph winds and it was a very rough landing.  My fingers dug into my boyfriend’s leg.  After we landed, I asked, “Is that normal?”  He said, “I’m so proud of you.  That’s the worst landing I’ve ever had.”

Cancun was nice although it was very built-up, something I wasn’t expecting.  It was like being downtown Chicago with palm trees, iguanas and an ocean in back.  It was fun visiting Mayan ruins and a natural “aquarium” we could swim in.  I do love Mexico and would love to return but I don’t think we’d do Cancun again.

I’m flying now, I have no excuse not to visit my folks

I can’t quite remember which trip it was, but it was among the 2nd or 3rd or 4th flight I ever took that I finally ended up in Arizona.  And for the record, I took Valium on my 2nd trip and I was groggy for days.  I never took it again.

It’s a balmy 18 degrees today in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.  Woo hoo!

My brother who had lived in CA for some time moved back to IL for 3 years to work for Motorola.  After that stint he went back to CA and has lived in San Jose since.

My Parents Did Their Homework

My Dad was like me.  He loved summer.  He’d be out working on the house and lawn in his speedo.  He always got a very deep, dark tan.  The neighbor lady across the street would be out taking care of her lawn and flowers in her bikini.  I’m surprised they didn’t cause car accidents.

My folks had visited my brother in California and that was one of their choices.  They loved Florida and went looking there.  And for some reason they checked out Arizona.  I had never really heard them discussing Arizona.

And that’s where they ended up, in Mesa.  They purchased a brand new 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house with a pool.  My daughter brought pictures home from her trip when she was 10.  Her friend said, “Ooooh, who’s the guy in the speedo?”  My daughter disgustedly replied, “That’s my Grandpa!”

The photo is not my Dad, but that’s pretty much what he looked like in his speedos.

My Kids Never Really Got to Know Their Grandparents

My daughter was about 9 when my parents moved.  My sons were around 6 and 1 1/2.  Neither of the boys really got to know my parents, although my daughter visited them once or twice (her first flight was at 10, mine was much later).

My parents would come out and visit us and their friends and family about once a year.  That’s the only time my kids got to see them.  I never had enough room for them to stay with us so they always stayed with other friends and family and we’d get together when we could.

I Wouldn’t Visit Them

I didn’t fly.  I was scared to death of flying.  It was too far to drive with 3 kids.  I ended up getting divorced and was a single mother for a long time so visiting Arizona was not on the list.

In fact, when I got divorced my Mom told me to come out to AZ and live with them until I got myself established.  I had no interest in living there.  I told her I don’t want to live in a desert with a bunch of old people.  She said, “Judy, there are young people in Arizona.”

All I could imagine was tumbleweed, desert sand, rattlesnakes and scorpions.  Not to mention temps above 100 – it’s hard to handle 90 degrees here in Chicago (I didn’t know about “dry heat” at the time).  I had no interest in moving there.

I Could Never Leave My Family Behind

One of my 3 grandchildren lives with us, along with my daughter. My coddled 24 year old son (going on 12) also lives at home.  He’s my unlicensed assistant and is a roadie for my husband’s band.  So as much as I’d love to live in AZ full-time, I just couldn’t do it.  At least not now.

I’ve know some of my large group of friends since 5th grade.  My husband also has a large group of friends here.  Not to mention our jobs.

So as much as I’d love to live in Scottsdale, AZ full-time, we’ll have to be what my Mom always called “those damn snowbirds.”

It is so cold here today in the Chicago suburbs you don’t need ice for your iced tea!

We stayed in the same hotel every year.  It was owned by a couple who lived on-site.  It wasn’t really a hotel, more like what you would think of as a motel – there were two or three ranch style buildings all on one level.  There were 1 bedroom to 3 bedroom units available.  They were like little apartments with a full kitchen.  We had to cross the street to go to the pool but the ocean was very close (about a block worth of sand once you crossed the street).

I was mesmerized by the ocean.  One time a girl I met and I were hanging on a blow-up raft and we were talking and kicking our feet.  I felt the water getting quite cold and when I looked back my heart dropped as the shore was very far away.  People on shore looked like stick figures.  We made a beeline back and we were lucky there were no sharks or rip currents around.

At night we would walk the beach and I had a fear of falling into the ocean and getting eaten up by it.  It was so magical to me.

The last two years of our family trips were with friends of my parents (we had to use two cars) to a house they inherited in Bradenton.  All of us in our car kept singing “Yellow Submarine” with my father leading the chorus.  And it really sucked when the other car broke down and everyone had to wait. My friend’s parents car had to get a new radiator before we could continue.

A Proud Tourist

Whenever I think back to my Florida trips my fondest memories are of all of the tourist traps.  Parrot Jungle, crocodile places, having a sip of fresh beer at Busch Gardens (at age 16) and so much more.  We were on a glass bottomed boat to watch a sponge diver but all I cared about was the monkey they had on board.

When I went back many years later (still by car) with a group of friends and our kids, we went to Safari Jungle and I have a picture of me holding a lion cub.  Poor thing.  One of them peed on my friend during the photo shoot.  This was also my first trip to Disney World (they only had the Magic Kingdom, they were still building Epcot).

I have to admit, my first visit as an adult left me feeling sad as Florida had become so built up. I didn’t have those warm, sentimental feelings like I used to. There was no longer that quaint, old-fashioned topical feeling to me.

The next time I went with a group of girls to West Palm Beach (about 10 years ago – it was my 2nd airplane trip) there were no visits to any kind of “jungle”.  Our tourist traps turned into restaurants and bars.  My fondest memory was having my first (and best) key lime martini at “My Martini” in West Palm Beach.  The only other touristy thing we did was go to the dog races (which I hate) because we had a gambler in the group.  She won some money and bought us all ice cream (cheapo).

I Wish I Could Live in Disney World

I’ve only been there twice but I’m one of those crazy people who could go every day if I lived nearby (and had a frequent visitor pass or something).  I promised my youngest child I’d take him there – he was 24 by the time we made it but my promise came true.  It was great taking my granddaughter, although she was afraid on one of my favorite rides, The Haunted Mansion.

So I was leaning towards buying a condo nearby, in Kissimmee or nearby Orlando.  Those prices are really low and some of the places have built-in renters for as many weeks as you’d want.  Of course, I can only imagine what those units look like inside, probably not much better than a hotel suite.  But the prices were right!

However, I’m not sure about financing on places that have high rental ratios.  I read online that you can’t get a mortgage if a complex rents more than 50% of the units.

Daughter Renee and Granddaughter Elle

I discussed it with my husband and he’s not crazy about Florida.  I also feel that Scottsdale, Arizona real estate prices, although lower right now, will creep back up more quickly than Florida prices.

However, I’m not giving up on Florida and depending on how good I do in real estate this year we might consider looking in Florida in the next year or so.  I still think they’ll be hurting for quite some time and prices will remain affordable.  Also, if we could get a place that has good rentals it would help with the mortgage payments.  I’m just not sure about the financing.

By the way, it’s 7 degrees below zero in Chicago with a wind chill factor of 28 below.  My 6 year old granddaughter (who lives with us) is home from school as classes were canceled today.  It is a nippy 54 degrees in Scottsdale that feels like 60.  It’s a little chilly for the natives, but it’s polar here!

I talked to my husband who was still trying to find his ideal work situation and who wasn’t comfortable starting anew in New York.  And my pre-set acommodations did not include a husband.  I would have had to share an apartment with several other girls

Had I known then that I would be divorced I would have jumped on it.  Even though I had a fear of flying this was an offer I almost couldn’t refuse.  But I did.  I chickened out.

Not to mention that New York held no magic for me.  I had never been there and had no interest to live there.

This is one of only a couple “What If’s” in my life.  I have no idea how different my life would now be had I taken this job opportunity.  But I didn’t, so I don’t dwell on it.

Little did I know that I would visit New York (Manhattan) in 2007 and fall in love with it.  In fact, if I had to live in a place with four distinct seasons and cold and snow, I think I’d pick New York over Chicago.

However, I was just in Manhattan and didn’t get to see any other boroughs or surrounding suburbs.  But I loved the history and vibe of Manhattan.  Of course, to be able to afford to live in Manhattan I’d have to win the lottery.

So like Chicago, I’d be living in an affordable suburb or one of the other boroughs.  Then it might be just like here, I’d only go “downtown” a few times a year.  It’s a lot different living in an area vs. visiting on a vacation.

The Naked Cowboy in Manhattan

It is 14 degrees here with a windchill factor of -7 and is snowing again.
In Scottsdale, AZ, it is 64 degrees but feels like 73
You know where I’d rather be…