An abundance of move-in-ready homes can be a boon for empty-nesters trying to avoid having to move into a temporary living arrangement after selling their existing home while a new home is being built.
A quick move-in home can be completely built before a buyer makes a purchase or it may be under construction at the time of purchase. Most homebuilders offer at least one or two quick move-ins at nearly every one of their communities.
"We have homes in all stages of construction," said Steve Snoddy, vice president of sales, Arizona Division, AV Homes Inc. “About half of our inventory homes are complete with all options chosen. About 25 percent of our homes are early in construction and the other 25 percent are at least halfway through construction. The homes early in construction allow certain high-impact options [such as countertops, flooring and cabinets] to be chosen by the customer.
Advantages for empty-nesters
Over the last few years, “the Valley has seen tremendous success in sales which has led construction costs to increase,” said Hal Looney, Arizona president of Shea Homes’ Active Lifestyle Communities, branded as Trilogy. “Our designer homes that are currently being built have secured construction costs because the home has already started with trade partners. Trilogy has a variety of move-in ready homes offering popular floor plans to satisfy the needs of the consumer. There is also a level of convenience when purchasing a move-in designer home."
Move-in ready homes offer multiple advantages for empty-nesters, Snoddy said. These include:
- Faster occupancy
- Moving into a professionally designed home
- Oftentimes better incentives
- Avoiding construction noise and chaos
“The building process can take seven or eight months so the ability to move in quickly and not have to go through the build process is a great plus,” Snoddy said. “Our move-in-ready homes are designed
by professional designers. The options are specifically chosen for our buyer profile and the homes are presented in a way to appeal to most people.” And, he said, “because the buyer isn’t making option choices we typically offer a slightly higher incentive than if a customer bought and built their home and made all the choices themselves.”
Alina Hushka, senior vice president of marketing for Robson Communities, echoes these sentiments. “The collection of Robson Resort Communities’ move-in-ready designer homes are designed by professionals with complementary color choices and amenities,” she said. “Buyers who choose a quick move-in home generally have fewer decisions they have to make," Husha [of Robson} added, stating: “Many of the designer homes showcase upgrades [such as] higher-end fixtures, cabinets and flooring. Our buyers get to benefit from our professional designers’ expertise [and] love that they don’t have a million decisions to make. They can focus on the actual move and begin enjoying their new life.”
Robson’s move-in-ready homes are based on their most popular home designs, with “seamless transitions between indoor and outdoor space and open-concept designs integrated into the floor plans,” Hushka said, commenting that their move-in-ready homes are constructed on some of the most desirable home-sites within the community.
Earlier occupancy
If the designer home is complete and it's a cash sale, Looney [of Shea Home Trilogy] said, occupancy can occur in four weeks or less. “Going through the mortgage process can take approximately 60 days,” he said. “For a cash purchase, we allow five to seven days to do this and create the closing documents for signature,” Snoddy [of AV Homes] said. “If the buyer needs a loan, the process from contract to close is
approximately 45 days.”
This compares to occupancy in a home built from the ground up once a purchase occurs which can vary from five to eight months depending on the builder and the conditions in the construction industry.
Where are the quick move-ins?
Robson Communities’ Phoenix-area locations are PebbleCreek in Goodyear and Robson Ranch Arizona just south of Sun Lakes in the Casa Grande area. Usually, Hushka said, five or more movein-ready homes are in different stages of construction.
Several move-in-ready homes are available at each Trilogy community: Trilogy at Vistancia in Peoria; Encanterra, the Trilogy Resort Community in the Southeast Valley; Trilogy at Wickenburg Ranch; and Trilogy at Verde River, located just east of North Scottsdale.
AV Homes has two large active adult lifestyle communities — Encore at Eastmark in Mesa and CantaMia
at Estrella in Goodyear — and eight traditional family communities throughout the Valley. Up to six inventory homes in every community are available depending on the size of the community.
In addition, many other Valley-wide homebuilders are currently offering movein-ready homes. Be sure to check out the two-plus pages of move-in-ready and/or quick move-in homes listed on pages 6, 7 and 8 in this section.
