Park Orleans – Our First Stop

The first unit we looked at was a ranch style unit we chose at Park Orleans in Scottsdale, AZ.  We threw it in at the end as it only had 2 bedrooms, but it had a family room that we figured we could put guests in to sleep.  It was listed as a townhouse.  We were in our agent’s SUV leaving the coffee shop where we met for the first time and I was (not sure about my husband) anticipating our afternoon of showings.  One of these units might be ours!

She pulls into what at first appeared to me to be a mobile home park.  It wasn’t.  The photo in the MLS was of a two-story building right by the pool.  That was not the unit we were being shown.

As we drove into the complex, my first thought blurted out of my mouth, “This looks like the Bates Hotel!”  There was a section of units that were in a two-story building.  I’m not sure if they were 2-story townhomes or a cluster of condos.  But upon our arrival we drove past a bunch of low looking, single story buildings that looked like a cheap motel.

This was the first chance my agent got a view of our personalities, or at least mine.  I didn’t look at her reaction when I let my feelings out as I was staring at the complex in amazement.  In my MLS, an agent would get in trouble for putting in a photo of a different unit.  But I’ve learned that real estate is handled differently in AZ than in IL. 

My heart sank thinking that this was representative of the kind of places we’d be viewing and maybe we can’t afford what we’d like in Scottsdale, after all.  Unbeknownst to me, my husband was ready to call the search off if this was all we could get. 

But I’m not picky and figured if this is how we’d have to start out in Scottsdale then we could move up in the future when we were ready to retire.  So we took a look inside.

Although the inside of the unit was spacious enough, it was very sterile and cold looking to me.  There was no charm, nothing unique.  This place could have used some staging to bring some warmth into it.  It was vacant and just didn’t show well.

And guess what?  It is still on the market at a price reduction of $25,100 from when we saw it at the end of December ’08.  And I think it’s too bad.  This is definitely a unit that spending a little on staging could maybe make the difference of a sale.

Even though the complex itself didn’t make me feel good, the idea of a single story unit was really good since you didn’t have anyone making noise above you.  Many ranch style townhomes were out of our price range, or the monthly maintenance fee was over $400.00 for the patio homes.

At the current price we might have considered it, but it was $25,100 higher when we viewed it and it was so high we wouldn’t have even thought of making an offer.

This is what we thought we'd see

This was what we actually saw

Please understand that although the complex was not what we expected, the unit we saw just wasn’t something we were drawn to, especially at the price it was at.  We might have actually considered it at a lower price but we did end up seeing nicer units and complexes.  If you are a happy Park Orleans resident, this is just our opinion.  Feel free to add your comments.

Also, to remind anyone reading this blog, we looked at Park Orleans because it showed that pets and renting were allowed.  In fact, I believe the unit we saw is currently up for sale and rent, whichever happens first.  This complex is located at E. Indian School Rd. between 83rd St. and N. Granite Reef Rd. in Scottsdale, AZ.