The more I dig, the more I get confused. We've talked about the quad home my mother bought when she left Eldorado and I think it is one of the coolest designs around. It's roomy (1500+ square feet) and a massive garage and storage area. She's two blocks over from the Bell Rec Center (a great location in Phase 2) and she loves having all that space and privacy. Back in the mid 2000's, they were going anywhere between $175k to $200k (dependent on what had been done to it). I watch homes for sale in Sun City, especially in that neighborhood and came across a listing that threw me a bit. There's a nearly 1700 square foot quad, a few blocks down on Pineaire for $125,000. When I took the virtual tour, it was vintage (almost nothing done to it). In my opinion, that's far better than folks who do half-assed fixes and you have to rip them out because they aren't up to your standards (but still charge you for them). Here's the listing for it. This again isn't your typical single family dwelling, because it's actually four units that sit back-to-back-to back-to back. The back yard area is small as you can see in the pictures on the link, but what mom did was put in a huge front court patio in (with her neighbor) that is really cool. The problem of course is getting along with your neighbors and making sure the HOA for the units approves any outside modifications. Back to my confusion: I see this is listed as a Q-400. I have the model home brochure from the Galleria '74, and it shows quads as Q-500's. When I look at the "it's Showtime" (from 1972) brochures, there are no quads listed. Obviously they built them, but it stumps me. Anyway, take a look at the link above and you'll see yet another variation of Sun City living. When I look at this unit, I see the potential to have a blast remodeling it from top to bottom.
Just for the heck of it, here's the marketing brochure from Galleria '74 (which was located north of Bell Road and west of Del Webb Blvd). You'll see they now call them "the Forsomes" (guess it sounded better), but are still listed as Q-500's. Click on the picture to enlarge:
We were lucky to find an original home, mostly untouched except for some goofy electrical stuff the owner did .....and pink and blue berber carpet yikes. Some of the "handy man" fixes we come across in our work are eye opening for sure. Remodeling these homes is part of the fun if you do them right.
You might consider having the Fire Department check out that "goofy electrical stuff" just to be on the safe side.
$175k - $200k for 1500 sq ft = $116 - $133/sq ft. Opinion as a buyer: I would need to see new windows, floors, kitchen and bathroom(s) before considering that property. Opinion if I got that price as a seller: Dang, why do I only have one of these to sell?
That's why this one is a honey; just over $70.00 a square foot and taxes at $758. Sun City prices haven't begun to come close to where they were 7 or 8 years ago. Buyers were in bidding wars and listing prices weren't reality in many cases. Good news is you can still buy right, the trick is to find what you want or like.
