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Single-Story Homes in Scottsdale

A Next-Chapter Guide for Empty Nesters

One-Level Living in Scottsdale, Arizona  •  2026

Krisy Clayton

Single-Story Homes in Scottsdale: What 2026 Really Means for Your Next Chapter

Why this chapter deserves the right home

You raised a family in a house that worked hard for you. It held birthdays and slammed doors and holiday chaos, and it did its job. But the home that fit a family of five rarely fits the two of you, and that is not a loss. It is permission. Permission to stop climbing stairs to do laundry. Permission to have the primary suite on the same floor as your morning coffee. Permission to pick a place designed for the life you actually live now, not the one you were living twenty years ago.

A single level home is not about slowing down. It is about spending your energy on the things you love instead of on a staircase. And if you are moving here from out of state the way I did, it is also about landing somewhere that feels like a fresh start the moment you walk in the door.

Where the market stands today

These are the current, real numbers for Scottsdale. Think of them as the weather report for your search, not the price of any one house.

Here is the number I love for you. More than three out of four Scottsdale homes sold for less than the asking price this season, and fewer than one in ten sold for more. That is what a market with room to breathe looks like, and it is a gift after the years of bidding wars.

What these numbers mean in plain talk

That $854,000 typical value. This blends every kind of Scottsdale home together, from Old Town condos to golf course estates. It tells you the temperature of the whole city. It is not the price tag on a one level home, which lands in its own range depending on where you look.

Sale price and list price sitting almost even. When what sellers ask and what buyers actually pay land this close together, it means expectations have calmed down on both sides. That is a healthy, sane market, not a stampede.

Buyers paying about 97 cents on the dollar. On a typical sale there is roughly a three percent gap between asking and closing. That gap is your negotiating room, and it simply did not exist a few years ago.

Homes taking 53 days to sell. You are allowed to see a house twice. You are allowed to sleep on it. You are allowed to think. Take the time. This chapter is worth getting right.

What changed, and what has not

What changed. There are more homes on the market than a year or two ago, and the pace has relaxed. Sellers are trimming prices more often, and they are agreeing to help with costs more than they used to, especially on homes that have been sitting a while. All of that works in your favor.

What has not changed. Scottsdale is still Scottsdale. Values are still gently rising, the area keeps drawing people and jobs, and one level homes on good lots stay in demand because there simply are not that many of them. A calmer market does not mean a weak one.

A straight answer about one level homes

Here is where I will be honest with you, because I would want the same. The big websites do not publish a clean number for single story homes in Scottsdale on their own, so I am not going to hand you a made up statistic. What I can tell you comes from actually working this market:

• One level homes are a smaller slice of what is for sale, especially in the newer North Scottsdale communities that were built with two stories. That scarcity is exactly why they tend to hold their value so well.
• The established neighborhoods and the older ranch style pockets usually have more single story homes than the brand new subdivisions. So where you look matters just as much as when you look.
• Scottsdale is really several towns wearing one name. Prices run from around $625,000 in the south up past $1.9 million in the northern luxury areas. Your real budget depends entirely on which Scottsdale you fall in love with.

If you are buying

1. Get fully pre approved, not just pre qualified, so you know your true number and can move the moment the right home appears.
2. Write down what matters most: one level layout, a step free entry, where the primary suite sits, garage space, and a yard you actually want to care for.
3. Pick your part of Scottsdale first, based on your budget and the life you want, before you fall for any single house.
4. Let me set up alerts so you see the one level homes the day they list, not after someone else already saw them.
5. Write a calm, well reasoned offer. In this market that is normal, and it works.

If you are selling your current home first

Most of us funding a next chapter are selling the home we are in right now to make it happen. In a market like this one, the homes that end up cutting their price are almost always the ones that started too high. Price it right from day one, present it well, and let me line up your sale and your purchase so you are never stuck carrying two homes or scrambling with none. That timing is where I earn my keep, and it is a weight off your shoulders.

The honest line between fact and opinion

The facts. Every number in that table above is real, dated, and pulled straight from Zillow. Those are solid ground.

My read on them. When I call this a good time for buyers, or say one level homes hold their value, that is my professional judgment and my years in this market talking, not a printed statistic. Another agent might frame it a little differently. I would always rather you know which is fact and which is my opinion, so you can trust me on both.

Three things to keep an eye on

1. Mortgage rates. These move your buying power faster than anything else, so they are worth watching month to month.
2. How many homes are for sale. If the number keeps climbing, your choices grow. If it starts to shrink heading into our busy winter season, the balance shifts.
3. How fast homes are selling. If that 53 day figure starts dropping, sellers are gaining ground. If it grows, you have even more room.

Questions you are probably asking

Let us find your next chapter together

Numbers set the stage, but they will never tell you whether a particular home on a particular street is the one where your next chapter belongs. That part is personal, and honestly it is my favorite part of this whole job. When you are ready, reach out and we will look at real homes that fit the life you want now. No pressure, no rush, just two empty nesters figuring out what comes next.

Equal Housing Opportunity. Market figures are from Zillow (Scottsdale, 2026) and are informational, not a promise of future results.