Foothills Reserve · Relocation
Relocating to Foothills Reserve
Moving in from out of state, with someone who has lived here eighteen years telling you the truth about it.
Photographs are very kind to a hillside
Almost everybody relocating to Foothills Reserve finds it the same way: a listing gallery with a mountain behind the house and a view off the back. It photographs beautifully, and that is exactly the problem with choosing it remotely.
What a gallery cannot show you is grade. How steep the driveway is. Whether the view is off the main living space or only the upstairs bedroom. Whether the flat part of the lot is big enough for what you had in mind, or whether the yard is mostly slope with a retaining wall holding it up.
What you get from me is the version I would want if I were doing this from another state. Video of the streets and the terrain rather than only the interiors, a straight read on whether this community fits how you intend to live, and a willingness to tell you a house is not worth your airfare. If the honest answer is that you want flat ground and walking paths, you hear it early rather than in your second year.
Start with the community overview if you would rather read before you talk.
Questions about your move? I'm glad to help.
I made this decision myself, in 2008
Savvy Realty Group is my practice at HomeSmart. My name is Amy Richardson, and I did not grow up in Ahwatukee. I moved here in 2008 having already lived all over the Valley, so this is where I stopped on purpose after seeing the alternatives. Eighteen years later I am still here.
That is a different kind of knowledge from market knowledge, and it is the one a relocating buyer actually needs. I can tell you what a summer here is like without softening it, what the outdoor season gives you back, and what living against the mountain does to your daily habits in both directions.
Since you cannot drop in and take a view of me in person, the checkable part: licensed since 2017, more than 80 transaction sides and over $52 million in career volume, and 100% five-star across more than 35 Google reviews. That takes a minute to verify and is worth the minute.
What I will not do is tell you this community suits you before I know anything about you. Being the right agent occasionally means saying you should look somewhere else. My relocation page covers how I work generally, and there is a free Ahwatukee Relocation Guide if you want the wider orientation. Or tell me where you are moving from.
How a move you are making from somewhere else runs
Relocation changes the order of things, because you cannot drive past on a Tuesday and look again. The underlying track is at how I help you buy.
- Orientation before inventory. We start with how you want your days to look. That is what decides between elevation here and the flatter ground a few minutes away, and it narrows the search faster than any price filter.
- The terrain on video, not only the house. I walk the streets and the grade, because in this community a large part of what you are buying is outside the front door and none of it survives a wide-angle lens.
- Honest video on individual homes. I tell you what the photographs are flattering, and I tell you when a property is not worth the flight.
- One concentrated visit. Where you can come once, I stack showings into that trip rather than expecting you to keep flying out. You arrive with a list and we finish it.
- Documents before the offer. Association provisions for the specific property, read before you commit rather than discovered afterwards.
- Timing and closing. We work the closing and possession dates backward from your start date. Arizona closings run through escrow and title, and remote signing is routine.
The honest orientation
Foothills Reserve backs to South Mountain. Elevation, views and privacy are the reasons people choose it, and they are real rather than marketing.
The cost is flat usable yard and easy walkability. If a level garden and a walkable loop are near the top of your list, Lakewood is built around a lake with greenbelt and paths through it, on flatter ground, and it is a better answer to that question.
Two neighbors worth understanding before you land on one. Foothills Club West offers the same setting with a master-planned structure and a clubhouse, where each neighborhood carries its own tract declarations in addition to the master CC&Rs. The Foothills is a name that means three different things depending on who is using it, so pin down which one a listing means before you compare two homes you assume are in the same community.
The part I would want said plainly: Ahwatukee has no walkable evening district and does not pretend to. If restaurants you stroll to are near the top of your list, Chandler genuinely does that better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I buy in Foothills Reserve without visiting first?
Yes, and people do. I walk the home and the terrain on video and describe what the listing photographs are flattering, with particular attention to grade, driveway pitch and whether the view is off the rooms you will actually use. I will also tell you plainly when a property is not worth the trip.
What is the terrain actually like?
Hilly, and that is the point of the place. It buys elevation, views and privacy against South Mountain, and it costs flat usable yard and easy walkability compared with the flatter Ahwatukee communities.
What are the real downsides of Ahwatukee for someone moving in?
Being on the far side of South Mountain means a genuine drive to anywhere north of it, so check the commute to your actual workplace rather than the map distance. The summers are severe and nobody adjusts as fast as they expect. And there is no walkable nightlife district here, which matters to some people a great deal.
How early should I get in touch?
Earlier than feels necessary. The earlier we talk the more room there is to choose a community properly, rather than picking a house because a start date ran the clock down.
Foothills Reserve
What relocation looks like in Foothills Reserve
A Foothills community backing to South Mountain, with gated and custom pockets inside it.
One of the Ahwatukee communities I work most often.
- The homes
- Named neighborhoods inside the community include Sunrise (gated, on hilly terrain), Mountain Views, The Vistas, The Crossings and Summit. Summit is gated, sits on hilly terrain, and holds 88 homes built between 2004 and 2007 by Woodside Builders. Calabrea and Promontory sit right beside Foothills Reserve and are often described as part of it, but each is its own community with its own HOA.
- Why people choose it
- Buyers who want elevation and proximity to the mountain, with the gated pockets drawing the custom and luxury end.
- Getting around
- Chandler Boulevard is the only way out, west to 17th Avenue and down to the Loop 202, under ten minutes. The pitch here is the mountain and the hiking; the shops are a drive.
- The trade-off
- Hilly terrain is the trade. It buys you elevation, views and privacy, and it costs you flat usable yard and easy walkability compared with a community like Lakewood.
Foothills Reserve
The associations in Foothills Reserve
The association that applies here, linked to its own site so you can read the documents rather than take my word for it.
- Master association
- Foothills Reserve Master Owners Association 590 single-family homes, established 2001. Managed by Vision Community Management.
Dues and rules change, and which documents apply can depend on the parcel. Confirm both against the association before you write an offer.
The method
How we do it in Foothills Reserve
Relocation: keep exploring
Ready to make your move with Savvy Realty Group?