Think relaxing desert evenings on the patio. Weekend hikes along breathtaking mountain trails. A day on the links, at a Spring Training baseball game or wandering an arts festival.
The growing Southwest Valley region — anchored by the communities of Buckeye, Goodyear and Litchfield Park — draws new-home builders and new-home buyers from all walks of life for value, lifestyle, mountain views and unique amenities.
"The permit activity in the west side of town year over year is higher than anywhere else in the Valley,” said Austin Woffinden, division vice president for Meritage Homes. “Anytime you have area growth like that you have more homes, of course, but that also drives a lot of new schools, amenities and attractions. Those kinds of things equate to a great investment for a homebuyer.”
Outdoor- and arts- aficionados' paradise
The Southwest Valley is an outdoor lover’s dream-come-true with hiking, biking, camping and other recreational opportunities at the Estrella Mountain and White Tank Mountain regional parks. The area is also dotted with stunning golf courses including courses at the historic Wigwam Resort in Litchfield Park.
Sports enthusiasts flock to the Goodyear Ballpark — Major League Baseball’s Spring Training home of the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds — and Avondale’s Phoenix International Raceway for all the NASCAR action.
Arts- and culture-seekers have their fill of events across the region from the Native American Fine Arts Festival in Litchfield Park to the Goodyear Lakeside Music Fest.
Plethora of new-home communities
Several new-home builders offer communities in the Southwest Valley with homes and amenities geared toward buyers at all stages of life.
Mattamy Homes, for instance, offers a range of single-family one- and two-story homes in its Kenwood community which is located in the master-planned community of Verrado in Buckeye. Another Mattamy community, The Cove at Palm Valley North in Litchfield Park, features low-maintenance patio homes.
The Southwest Valley’s top selling points include the fact that it is centrally located to a number of major freeways including Loop 303, Loop 101 and I-10, said Julie Olson, a new home sales counselor for Mattamy Homes at their Sunset Terrace community in Litchfield Park. “Plus, we have a lot of folks who are very impressed with the sense of security with the Air Force base [Luke] close by,” she said.
David Weekley Homes also has a handful of communities in the region that appeal to various types of buyers, from Golf Canyon at Estrella in Goodyear (including golf course home-sites) to Victory at Verrado in Buckeye.
Meanwhile, Woffinden said that Maritage Homes has found the perfect match in first-time homebuyers who can snap up a new home for just north of $200,000 at a community such as Watson Estate in Buckeye.
"The Southwest part of town allows us to provide an unbelievable value to the first-time homebuyer market,” Woffinden added. “They are the ones who seem to be the most active in acquisitions these days so we can build brand-new homes with a lot of technology that resale homes don’t have and still allow people to get in well below the FHA price limits.”
