New Homes & Lifestyles

Arizona Lifestyle - Designed into Master Planned Communities

As the season turns from summer to fall then to winter, people anticipate the changing color of the leaves and the cooler weather. Most people enjoy the fall color show, however, the bitter cold of many Midwestern and Eastern states drives people to warmer climates during the winter. This is especially true for Arizona, which benefits from this seasonal migration. The state was once known for the "snowbirds" that it attracted, a phenomenon of part-time residents, usually retirees, who spent the winters basking in the desert sunshine away from the harsh winters and frigid temperatures of their native states.

Arizona still welcomes its winter visitors. However, during the past 10 years the demographics of the state and the motivations of prospective residents has changed. No longer is the Grand Canyon State perceived as a haven for retired folks who are here only for a season at a time. The Baby Boomer Generation, those born between 1946 and 1964, along with young families looking for first-time or step-up homes have chosen Arizona for its weather, affordability and lifestyle and are staying for the long haul. These two groups have become a tremendous force in the Arizona real estate market and have garnered plenty of attention from homebuilders.

Homebuilders have also changed with the times and now provide many different types of master planned communities to cater to the changing demographics and lifestyles of Arizona homebuyers. Communities throughout the state await Baby Boomers or "active adults" as they are often called, single-family home buyers with their growing families, and every kind of homebuyer in between.

Just as homebuilders create neighborhoods and communities for varying types of homeowners, they also plan around market seasonality. October marks the beginning of Arizona's active adult key home buying season, which extends through late spring. This is an important time for active adult homebuilders as they see an increase in the number of prospective homebuyers visiting their communities. For single-family homebuilders, traffic slows in the winter since people with younger families are focused on the holidays. However, buyer traffic really picks up in early spring and improves as the year progresses.

"Many active adult builders and communities use the 'shoulder' season to prepare for the influx of winter season residents visiting the state as well as prospects that are in the market for a new home due to an impending move," said Gary Sorrels, senior sales manager of Meritage Active Adult Communities in Phoenix. "Our people like to shop for homes during the more temperate part of the year."

Making changes to communities helps builders keep pace with homebuyer demands and market competition. Homebuilder preparations for key home buying seasons can include model home park launches, introducing new home designs and floorplans, adding community amenities, launching new classes and clubs at community recreation centers and more. This constant evolution of communities helps homebuilders meet the needs of their changing homebuyers while optimizing the lifestyle of the residents in their communities.

New Home Models and Floorplans
Meritage Active Adult, with five communities in Arizona, opened new model home parks at two of its communities this October to introduce updated home models, interior and exterior design schemes and colors palettes, along with new floorplans. The active adult homebuilder unveiled one newly constructed model home park at its Las Campanas community in Green Valley and a re-designed model home park at its Mission Royale community in Casa Grande.

"We constructed the brand new San Miguel model home park in the fall to introduce new floorplans at Las Campanas," said Heidi Yetzer, vice president of sales for Meritage Active Adult Communities in Green Valley. "The timing of the opening allows us to showcase our newest neighborhood and offer something new to prospects in the upcoming sales season."

Construction of the renovation at the Mission Royale community in Casa Grande, which includes the new Casa Leandro floorplan, was constructed during the summer months. This enabled the builder to complete the project in time for the fall and winter sales season and to minimize inconveniences to winter visitors.

Adding More Amenities
Meritage Homes, one of the countries largest single-family homebuilders, is using the fall and winter months to complete a Family Water Park to open in the spring of 2007 at the Mission Royale in Casa Grande. The 5-acre family water park will become the centerpiece of 1,040-lot multi-generational master planned community. The water park will include a uniquely designed 6,000-square-foot multi-use pool, 20-foot hillside tower with a speed slide and serpentine slide falling into the pool, courts for volleyball and basketball, and park space with picnic facilities for residents to gather.

Missie Valliere, vice president of marketing for Meritage Homes in Scottsdale said, "The water park adds another dimension to the community, which helps attract a broader audience. Our decision to develop the water park was motivated by the changing demographics of the area."

Just a few years ago, Casa Grande was primarily a community composed of older residents. Today it's much different. The proximity of Casa Grande to Phoenix and Tucson, access to a major highway like I-10 and affordable real estate has drawn new housing developments and many younger residents with families to the Casa Grande area. The Mission Royale community opened as an active adult community in 2004. Home sales in the single-family section of the master planned community began in 2006.

Recreation Centers Add New Classes
Many master planned communities include built-in amenities such as fitness facilities, golf courses, swimming pools and other lifestyle enriching features. Some offer a bit more with social clubs, hobby classes, and technology that allows residents to connect with others. This helps build a sense of "social community." Green Valley Recreation, a non-profit organization serving the leisure and social needs of Green Valley residents, epitomizes this principle. Green Valley Recreation owns and operates 12 recreation facilities providing more than 126,000 square feet of interior space and runs hundreds of programs year-round for its estimated membership base of 24,000 individuals.

"The fall and winter are our busiest times of year, so we do a lot of scheduling and planning during the summer to make our volunteers and classes ready for residents coming back to the community," said Allison Brown, assistant recreation manager for Green Valley Recreation. "We sent our winter class catalog out in December to give people an idea of what's available."

Classes range from advanced yoga to beginning cooking courses and ballroom dance to travel clubs.

"We need all the space in our 12 recreation centers since we have more than 120 instructors running classes and many new classes are launched in the fall and winter because so many people are in the community," she said.

Although homebuyers will consider location, price, style, size and options when selecting a new home, homebuilders do not forget the importance of selling the lifestyle of their communities, which they say is just as critical. Homebuilders create real value for owners by enhancing the lifestyle with more home options, floorplans and design choices, and adding more social and health opportunities and facilities each year. When it comes time to buy a home, a buyer benefits by the diligent work homebuilders do in the off-season. They get the total package: a home they love in a community that satisfies the social and recreation interests of its residents.