At Home in McCormick Ranch

I live on McCormick Ranch Golf course and feel just a bit spoiled waking up to these beautiful views each morning.

Here’s a Flickr photo set of the golf course, so you can see more of photos of the course. Also you can subscribe to this photo set, so you will be updated as I add more pictures of this centrally located public course.

For more information about the specifics of playing on the centrally located public course, your can visit the McCormick Ranch Golf Club site. 

Here is a free event for the Valley’s special needs children and their families.

Special Day for Special Kids

March 29th, 2008, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

McCormick Stillman Railroad Park

Special education children and their families can join us for FREE train rides, carnival activities, carousel rides, balloons, activity booths, clowns, face painting, petting zoo and lots of free food and ice cream.

This little guy has been hanging out on my back patio for the past couple of weeks, and today I was finally able to get a photo.  He even came out of his hiding place so I could really see him.  Cute.

McCormick Ranch Golf Club is a beautiful golf course and is inhabited by an abundance of animals. 

About 15 minutes after I took the photo of the rabbit, three coyotes sauntered by.  This one got pretty close to the house, but didn’t find the rabbit.  Thankfully.

Check out this great event sponsored by local resident and Realtor, John Wake, at Mountain View Park this weekend!

McCormick Ranch Landscape & Garden Fair
Saturday, March 15
10:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Mountain View Park

Meet gardeners, landscapers, stagers, and more.  Best of all, it’s free. 
 

John Wake, another McCormick Ranch Realtor / Blogger and I met for lunch a couple weeks ago at Crust, a newer McCormick Ranch restaurant.   John was running late, and I was crunched for time, and we had a ton of business to talk about.  Service was friendly and quick, once we took the time to decide on what we wanted

Crust had a great variety of pizza, salad, sandwiches, and more.   What I really liked about my very green and fresh salad, was that it came in a pizza crust bowl.  I like pizza, but I love the crust, so I was thrilled. (Salads can be ordered crustless.)

It’s nice to have a new location for lunch time meetings in the McCormick Ranch area, and Crust is set up to accommodate.  I’ll be back for more!

Crust located on the southwest corner of Hayden and Indian Bend, on the northside of the Albertson’s building.

Home selllers and their agents continue to search for the right price for listing their homes in zip code 85258.  The two major communities of this zip code are McCormick Ranch and Gainey Ranch. 

 The number of days it is taking to sell a home continues to increase.

I’ve heard that there was a eagle living in McCormick Ranch, and thought I saw one last week.  We weren’t sure, but the folks behind us on the bike trail, who happened to be from Washington state, took one look at it and went so far as to say it might be a bald headed eagle like they were used to seeing back home.

Yesterday, I was have a quick lunch on my back patio which overlooks the McCormick Ranch Golf Course (and wild life sanctuary :-), when I was interrupted by a huge bird landing on one of the trees.  It’s times like this that I wish I had a telephoto lens.  I just couldn’t get a close enough  photo, although I kept trying, and then the bird took off.  At first I thought it was a hawk, but now I’m thinking it might have been an eagle.  What’s your opinion?

The sunrise was breathtaking this morning. 

With a little research at the Library of Congress, I discovered a bit more on the adage, “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor’s warning”. 

A red sunrise reflects the dust particles of a system that has just passed from the west. This indicates that a storm system may be moving to the east. If the morning sky is a deep fiery red, it means a high water content in the atmosphere. So, rain is on its way.

Interestingly enough, we are looking at a cloudy day, with rain tomorrow.

Here’s the upcoming weather report, via weather.com.

At the beginning of this year, I spent a bit of time compiling statistics for each of the six communities in McCormick Ranch that line McCormick Parkway.  I had some sense of where the market was last year and decided to compare the first and second halves of the year, to see how prices were changing in each of the individual communities.

First, a quick profile of these McCormick Ranch subdivisions, each of which have some homes that line the McCormick Ranch Golf Course:

Camello Vista - Condo style living with detached garages.  Some with golf course view.  Community center and pool.

Santa Fe - Single and two-story townhouses.  Spanish style exteriors. Community pools.

Spanish Oaks - Townhouse style living. Single and two-story units. Guard gated.  Community pool.

Meridian - Single family homes in very close proximity to each other, so they do have a townhouse feel.  High ceilings.  Gated, no guard. Community pool.

Sandpiper - Single level patio homes spread out on large grassy grounds. High ceilings, spacious rooms.  Guard gated. Eight community pools.

Colonia Encatada - On the tax records, this community is called Cuernavaca Segundo.  Edmonds built town homes, Spanish style, with high ceilings and open floor plans. Guard gated. Community center, community pools, tennis court.

Click on the chart above to get the full report.

As you can see from this report, real estate really is local. Each of the communities is in a different price range, some have increased in value in 2007, other have not. By reviewing the chart at the bottom of the report, you can see the changes that these communities experience from the first to the second half of 2007.

Questions, call or email. I’ll be glad to review.

Was sitting in my car southbound on Scottsdale Road, waiting for the light to change so I could turn east onto McCormick Parkway (aka one of the prettiest roadways in Scottsdale), and took a quick photo of the new McCormick Ranch signage.  Nice.