The Foothills is essentially divided into two zip codes, 85718 and 85750, with Craycroft Rd. the dividing line between the two. (a smidgen of the foothills extends into 85704)
In my experience buyers usually have a preference for one or the other, and more often their preference is for 718. Why? Because there’s more to choose from in 718. More variety of homes and communities and much more nearby restaurants and shopping, and much quicker access to downtown Tucson and the UofA.
For everyday shopping and a few restaurants, in 718 there’s the fairly complete retail scene at the corner of Swan and Sunrise Dr, - with dueling banks and Walgreens and CVS, Ace. And a little further west is La Encantada , along with the shops and restaurants at the three other corners of Campbell & Skyline, St Phillips Plaza and Joesler Village at River Rd & Campbell, plus Casas Adobes Plaza just beyond the western edge of the Foothills on Oracle Rd at Ina Rd.
(click any link to see all the homes for sale)
Homes in 718 come in all shapes, sizes and styles and are built from the 1930’s to the day before yesterday – and are available in an enormously wide range of prices, in upper-end communities like - the Canyons, Hacienda del Sol Estates, Pima Canyon, Cobblestone, Catalina Foothills Estates 10, Foothills ll and La Puerta and others. There are also plenty of choices for more moderately priced homes in communities like - Coronado Foothills Estates, Las Alturas, Shadow Hills, Pontatoc Canyon, Skyline Bel Air, Foothills Clusters, Flecha Caida, Bellas Catalinas and Pinnacle Ridge. And yet others where prices run the gamut from the
low-mid range to the upper-upper, like, Catalina Foothills Estates, Skyline Country Club, La Paloma Country Club and Sin Vacas.
85750, with much less retail and restaurant development, is quieter, with much less traffic and congestion than 718. And with Sabino Canyon and Sabino Creek on its eastern border there are no roads and no direct access to or from the Tanque Verde Valley (85749) further contributing to its more peaceful environment. Retail & restaurants are at Sunrise and Kolb and Craycroft & River Rd (straddling the SE & SW boundaries of 718 & 750) with the new Whole Foods across from that totally out of place and incredibly ugly QT gas station.
(the 2 ** links will expire on 3/8/14 – the others will last forever)
With the exception of a few of pioneers, home building in 750 began in the 1960’s, with the pace picking up somewhat in the 70’s, and then really catching on in the 80’s and 90’s and into the 2000’s, with small pockets of new homes being built as we speak. So, perhaps a higher percentage of newer homes, and more buyers like newer, but no homes from the 30’s and 40’s and no Joesler’s, and nothing like the old foothills with its many classic adobe homes.
The upper-end market in 85750 is, to a large degree, represented by Ventana CC, though, similar to Skyline CC & La Paloma, Ventana also has a large selection of less expensive homes. Other than Ventana, at the upper-end there’s **Canyon Ranch, Finisterra, **Miramist and also Alta Vista and Sabino Mountain (though they are not strictly upper-end). And there are a few smaller pockets along Summit Ridge Rd, Via Tres Patos and Sabino Shadow Lane and, occasionally, an upper-end listing along Cloud Rd.
For lower to mid priced homes checkout Fairfield/Sunrise,which is huge, Cimarron, Bonita Ridge, Villages of Ventana and other subdivisions in the area of the Villages of Ventana.
And for you number crunchers, 85718 vs. 85750 by the numbers, the number of homes for sale, in contract and sold in the last 90 days, along with the average/median price.
85718
198 for sale @ $959,707/$699,500
52 in contract @ $532,759/$484,000
78 sold @ $590,285/$497,000 - @ average of $187/sf
85750
214 for sale @ $842,922/$575,000
39 in contract @ $415,022/$365,000
57 sold @ $427,698/$349,000 – @ average of $161/sf.
List prices, in contract and sale prices are quite a bit higher in 718, yet it’s outselling 750, even in this cautious market. Because more buyers prefer 718.
see thefoothillsToday.com
to find your Catalina Foothills home