We do the real estate thing for a living, right?... so we knew to sit down and make a list of everything that is important to us for the new house.

Things that lined up:

4+ bedroom, Larger Lot, 2500sf+, Pool, Privacy, Variety of High Rated Schools, Freeway close

Things that did not:

His: 3 Car Garage, Full Remodel Needed, Open to Building Pool, View of City or Mountains or both

Hers: Garage not Important, Close to Historic Mesa, Move-In Ready, No Scorpions

For awhile the differences kept our home search in a stalemate. We searched online a lot and went out to actually tour property with Jaxin in tow maybe 10 times or so over a two year period and mostly in the north/northeast Mesa area because it was the most bang for the buck and ticked the most boxes. We'd walk into a full remodel and, before we even got over the threshold, it was a no from the Mr. We'd visit a semi-custom on a huge lot with flood irrigation and it was a no from the Mrs. Layla, the family dog, would just track mud inside and the scorpions were inevitable in those areas.

It seemed like we would never move even though we did make a few offers. They just never worked out for one reason or another. Maybe, even though we sell quite a bit of real estate there, Mesa just wasn't for us?

So we decided to explore other areas. We were hooked on Tempe for a hot minute and even considered Chandler in the area around our son's current school. He is only at this school for two more years though so we knew basing our home choice on that school might not be necessary.

We were excited about Tempe! What a great location, close to everything. There was quick freeway access from most of the neighborhoods we targeted. We found some homes we really liked but no views, or no pool, or no 3 car garage, or less than 4 bedrooms or it backed a busy street.

Knowing the market conditions we expected low inventory but this was getting frustrating and seemingly hopeless. We exhausted all ways of sourcing property, MLS, For Sale By Owners, our off MLS lists, wholesale lists and upcoming listing hot sheets. Nothing was coming up.

So then we had a thought... if Chandler was a consideration, why not Ahwatukee?