This is an oldie but goodie, timeless post. I have been asked recently, on more than one occasion, what is the best place to live in the Greater Phoenix area or what is the best area of Scottsdale real estate? That is a loaded question!
Real estate agents should not answer such questions but guide potential buyers to do their own homework. I believe buyers should be able to make a decision on where to live based on their personal preferences. But we cannot force our preferences or opinions on buyers. We could be accused of "steering," which means promoting areas based on ethnic or racial groups. This could result in punishment of paying hefty fines and even losing our real estate license.
Besides that, we can truly only give our personal opinions on different areas that we know, versus factual information. Our MLS is large, and there are towns I have never set foot in, even after being a licensed REALTOR® since 1983. After selling real estate for so long, I still don't know every little detail of every single town or area in the valley, and could not give anything more than what I have knowledge of. Like many large areas, like Greater Phoenix, most agents stay within a certain distance from where they live.
In fact, because I've been an agent for so many years, I connected with agents all over the world. I really liked an agent located in Mesa and was surprised when she told me she didn't work in Scottsdale when we purchased our first property, a 2nd home townhouse. After doing some studying and after living in Scottsdale, I realized that because Mesa is so large and Scottsdale goes far north and south, it could be a long drive for an agent in Mesa.
Some agents will travel all over, but is that good for their buyers? Even though we don't even know every last detail of a specific school or HOA in our own area, a local agent will know more than an agent coming from an hour away.
The same can be true for appraisers, although most travel far. I had to fight an appraisal that was low for a town that had 2 school districts. One was deemed better by residents and was much more preferred than the other one. I won, and the appraiser actually apologized because he wasn't that familiar with the town and didn't take into consideration the 2 different school districts and how they affected prices.
What Are The Best Valley Schools?
This is basically the same type of question that could get a real estate agent in trouble. Once again, unless an agent has a photographic memory, this is just not a question we have factual data for sitting in our heads. Also, there can be many different meanings to what the criteria is for "best" from person to person.
Data changes from year to year. Even school boundaries can change. This is an area where a buyer really needs to practice due diligence and get the information themselves. I try to get my buyers as much information as I can, but they might have questions I wouldn't consider asking.
What is the Crime Rate?
This is another question I receive a lot. It can be asked of an entire city, a portion of the city, or a specific subdivision. Like schools, we would only know what we hear from others, or read or hear about on the news. I always explain this to my buyers and guide them to crime stat websites or suggest they contact the local police station.
REALTORS® Get Tested
I don't think that buyers and sellers realize that real estate agents get tested. Testers can be actual buyers sent out to agents to test how they treat different buyers. These kinds of questions might also be asked to test our response. Even if I knew the answers to these types of questions, which I don't, I would not risk my long-standing license to give an answer that is nothing more than a personal opinion.
Where Can You Find the Answers?
Because our MLS covers such a large expanse, I don't offer information on every single area that it encompasses on this website, although I do offer most Greater Phoenix MLS listings in the city of Phoenix and the surrounding towns/suburbs. The towns and areas I specialize in are in the more northern areas like Carefree, Cave Creek, Fountain Hills, North Phoenix, Paradise Valley, and all of Scottsdale. You can see my Featured Neighborhoods on the home page of this site. However, I will go outside those borders, so call me first at 480-906-1500 if you're not sure.
If you ask the question about the best city/town or best school to an agent who gives you an answer, then beware. That is not a well-trained agent and might not be in the business much longer. And don't get angry with an agent who refuses to give you an answer. That is an agent who is professional and follows our standards of ethics and the law.
Helpful Links
Here are some quick links to get you started on your search:
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You can find many different statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, and my favorite source is their Quick Facts, where you can enter the town you're interested in. The state page starts here, although you might have to type "Arizona" in the box, or any city you're interested in. See another link below.
- The above link has been under maintenance for quite some time, so try this one if the above link isn't working.
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There are many different school search sites.Great Schools seems to be most popular as it gives each school a score, but there are many more - do a Google search.
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There are more and more crime statistics websites available. In the past, only large cities like Phoenix had crime stats.This one has individual suburban crime statistics for large and smaller cities. Scroll down the page to find different cities/towns, based on their size. Another one I like allows you to compare the crime rates of two different cities - click here. A new feature is that you can add multiple cities after choosing your first two and compare them all.
If you have the areas you're interested in, you can create your home search by clicking the link. You can easily change from low price to high price if that is your preference, and you can change the towns searched and other things by using the Filter button. Or give me a call at 480-906-1500 and I can create an automated search via our Multiple Listing Service (MLS).
Posted by Judy Orr on
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