This guide to the Valley’s best neighborhoods for a variety of personalities can help you navigate today’s crucible of a real estate market and find your ideal home.
Queen Creek’s Cortina
For young millennial families and suburban flight-ers.
Every morning along the shady Queen Creek Wash path, bicyclers and joggers can spy cottonwoods and roadrunners, circle around a lake where fishermen cast for bass and listen to the bang of new home construction. Welcome to Queen Creek, a sleepy Farmville where real estate development is racing like a runaway bull.
“Queen Creek has really taken off for families,” says Blair Ballin, owner of the Ballin Real Estate team at Conway Real Estate. What’s the draw? “At the top of the list is the newness of the homes and the area, and after that, bigger lots,” he says. “There’s room for a pool, a trampoline and space to park the boat or the four-wheelers. Families know they don’t have to redo the home, and they’re in a good school district.”
For comparison, a “small” in-fill lot in Phoenix is around 6,000 square feet, while new homes in Cortina sometimes have lots as big as 14,000 square feet.
Neighborhoods in QC won’t win prizes for architectural distinction: beige boxes generally rule. But the Cortina district, for one, is admired both for its centrality and newer homes with old-fashioned flair. Drive around, and you might see kids picnicking on the lawn or parents gathering at communal spaces like a basketball court or barbecue. Cortina Elementary is within walking distance, and the Queen Creek Wash is a short bike ride away. Hop in the car, and in roughly 15 minutes you can nibble antipasti in a grove at Queen Creek Olive Mill, pick peaches at Schnepf Farms, saunter the San Tan Mountains or watch a rodeo at Horseshoe Park & Equestrian Centre.
’Hood Price Range
From $430K for a four-bedroom to about $800K for a six-bedroom on a .3-acre lot.
