Indian Bend Ranchos Neighbors to the City of Scottsdale Please Install Proper Drainage & Infrastructure: Our Home Values will SkyRocket

Have you ever driven down Indian bend road to and from the 101 freeway? Notice some beautiful homes west of Pima, and South of Indian Bend? Do you ever wonder why these homes seem to be listed forever? Well we figured it out. There is a major issue going on with the city drainage and infrastructure in Indian Bend Ranchos.

I was out doing a Home Valuation at Indian Bend Ranchos (We sell and appraise real estate). Had the privilege of meeting one of the home owners. The nicest Italian man I have ever met. He greeted me with a huge smile, on top of the little mountain in front of his house. We did the shake one hand and hug with the other greet, well I did and he fallowed. He gave me the grand tour, we chatted about his time in Italy, and he even taught me some Italian. This guy made me feel right at home, his home. The neighbors in that area are nice, extremely friendly, and show pride in their homes. Every neighbor I drove past waved and smiled at me, great neighborhood, and location.

I finally figured out why homes in this area take so long to sell and sell a slight discount.

“From the owner: This subdivision Indian Bend Ranchos was developed in the 60’s under the Maricopa County Zoning and Planning dept. With no modern infrastructure, when the City of Scottsdale annexed this subdivision in the 70’s they ignored us and still. We don’t have the storm drainage system. We are all floating here, the water comes by the front door of my house (see pictures in the report). It gets so bad here that the water comes by the kitchen door and fills the backyard. We don’t have the wide streets, curbs, sidewalks, and street lights, and we are still on the Septic system, not on city sewer like the other subdivisions nearby. Average of 2 homes per year have been sold in this subdivision in the last five years. I think this is ridicules, I never heard of something like this before, any other area with a subdivision of 35 homes so slow on sales, there must be a reason?”

We did reach out to the City of Scottsdale and this is what they let us know

“This area is adjacent to a 36″ sewer trunk line that the Water Resources Department has discouraged connection with. This pipe in the vicinity of 86th Street is not available for connection and extension into the subdivision as there are some potential sources of odor that could be carried by a proposed collection system and conveyed into the neighborhood. I understand the neighborhood soils are favorable to onsite wastewater systems so we have not required further extension of the sewers into this area. FYI – when sewers are available to extend, the City relies on individual property owners to design and construct the improvements. Each property owner is responsible for the cost to extend the sewer across their property frontage. Anyway our recommendation is for this area to remain on individual septic systems for the time being.

Per the owner the cost is upwards of $100,000. Some can afford this expense but not everyone. We are only aware of the homes on Joshua Tree Ln (Pima to 86^th St) and did notice proper drainage and infrastructure throughout the outsides of Indian Bend Ranchos 2. We are not aware of Indian Bend Ranchos 2 but believe that area does have proper drainage and infrastructure.

I know it’s a huge expense for the city of Scottsdale but they need to figure a way to help these homeowners. Some of these homeowners were the original Scottsdale Cowboys who purchased their homes back in the 60’s. They are the ones who were a part of Scottsdale before it was cool to live in Scottsdale. We also noticed that the homes in Indian Bend Ranchos were selling for $30-45 less than Indian Bend Ranchos 2 and any other area outside the subdivision. These homes should be selling at $190-260 a foot, not $155-190 a foot. By fixing this issue property values will increase $100,000+ and will pay off the minute the work is complete.

We have included photos provided by the owner during one of the many rain storm? The other photos I took on April 26, 2015, the day after it rained. If you are a home owner in this area we would love to hear from you. Do you have a problem with your Neighborhood, let us know about it.