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Surprise, Arizona real estate is located in a fast-growing city less than 30 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix. A constant flow of new residents continues to move into Surprise, Arizona existing homes or resale homes every day. Searching Surprise MLS resale listings is almost effortless on NewHomesRealEstate.net because we have volumes of comprehensive listings of Surprise existing homes for sale, from mansions to investment properties to condominiums to townhouses.
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More than 80 percent of all homebuyers start searching for their new home on the Internet and our Surprise MLS listings are the perfect place to start. View our library of resale listings and see for yourself. Each listing contains detailed information including color photos, property type, square footage, distance from major metropolitan cities, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, garage size and MLS number. With this amount of information at your fingertips, it is easy to see why NewHomesRealEstate.net is one of the premier Internet resources for Surprise resale homes.
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Surprise, Arizona Area DemographicsSurprise, Arizona real estate is located in the south-central part of the Grand Canyon State in Maricopa County, which has a population of 3,635,528 (2005 U.S. census estimate), is the fourth-largest county in the U.S. and has grown 18 percent since the year 2000. More than 61 percent of all Arizona residents live in Maricopa County.
Surprise is the second-fastest-growing city in the Phoenix metropolitan area, after Gilbert, Arizona, and the 10th-largest city in the state of Arizona, but Surprise is growing so fast that even census estimates are woefully outdated when they are released. In September, 2006, Surprise celebrated passing the 100,000 population mark. Less than 10 years earlier, at the end of 1997, Surprise had 15,254 residents. The city’s official 2000 census population was 30,848. The population is projected to reach more than 165,000 by the end of 2010 and balloon to more than 360,000 by 2020.
Phoenix, Arizona (population: 1,388,416) is the largest city in the state as well as the state capital and the county seat of Maricopa County. Phoenix is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. The Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale metropolitan area is known locally as the Valley of the Sun and is home to about 3.9 million people, making it the sixth-largest metro area in the U.S. In addition to Surprise, other large cities in Maricopa County include: Mesa (population: 451,860), the third-largest city in Arizona; Glendale, the fourth-largest city in the state, with a population of 232,838; Scottsdale, the fifth-largest city in the state, with a population of 221,792; Chandler (population: 220,705), the sixth-largest city in the state; Gilbert (population: 165,685), the seventh-largest city in the state; Tempe, (population: 160,676), the eighth-largest city in the state and home of Arizona State University, the largest university in the U.S.; and Peoria (population: 127,580), the ninth-largest city in Arizona. Six other cities and communities in Maricopa County have populations of more than 20,000 and there are about 75 total cities, towns and unincorporated communities in the county.
Phoenix, less than 30 miles southeast of Peoria, is ranked as the hottest (temperature) city in the U.S. and the second-driest city in the U.S. by the Weather Channel. Phoenix is called “Hoozdo” in the Navajo language, which translates as “the place is hot.” The Phoenix area’s arid climate produces some of the hottest seasonal temperatures anywhere. Out of the world’s large urban areas, only some cities around the Persian Gulf, such as Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Baghdad, Iraq have higher average summer temperatures. The Phoenix metropolitan area temperature reaches or exceeds 100 degrees an average of 89 days during the year, more than anywhere in the U.S., including most days from early June through early September. On June 26, 1990, the temperature reached an all-time high of 122 degrees. The dry Arizona air makes the hot temperatures more tolerable (“it’s a dry heat,” the locals say) and mild, sunny weather in the winter months makes the area extremely popular for golfers and others seeking to escape the cold typical of the northern U.S. Phoenix has about 300 sunny days per year and little precipitation: the average annual total rainfall at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport is 8.4 inches. Freezes occur — although not every year — usually between mid-December and early February, but temperatures fluctuate widely depending on terrain and elevation. The all-time lowest temperature in Phoenix was 16 degrees in 1913. Measurable snowfall has been recorded just seven times over the past 110 years, the last time in December 1990.
Surprise, Arizona History and CultureSurprise, Arizona real estate has undergone dramatic changes since the county was formed in 1871, but especially in the past decade, when its population has exploded.
Surprise was little more than a gas station and few small houses in 1938 when its founder, Homer C. Ludden, a real estate developer in nearby Glendale, Arizona and a former state legislator, subdivided the rural one-square-mile parcel into low-cost home sites for the area’s agricultural workers, naming it after his southeast Nebraska hometown. Surprise was incorporated in 1960 with about 1,000 residents. Even as Del Webb’s retirement community, Sun City, grew rapidly nearby, Surprise remained a sleepy hamlet until the 1990s. Now it is estimated that a new home is completed in Surprise nearly every hour — every day of the year — about 7,000 new homes per year, with no end in sight.
A $48 million baseball spring training facility was completed in 2002 and hosts both the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers, whom the city lured away from Florida. Downtown, Surprise Center is an ongoing development that features shops, government offices, restaurants and entertainment venues. About 75 percent of expenditures in Surprise’s $336 million 2005-06 budget went to capital projects. The budget includes a public safety building, two fire stations, a 25-court tennis center, three water reclamation facilities, design of a new city hall and nearly $18 million in roadway improvements. Yet, Surprise property tax rate ranks among the lowest in the state, at 91 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. Commercial development is booming, as well. The state’s largest Wal-Mart Supercenter and a huge Home Depot opened in 2000 as anchor tenants of Surprise Towne Center, a massive retail development with more than 40 stores.
The earliest settlers in the Valley of the Sun were the Hohokam Indian people, who lived there as early as 300 B.C. They were the first to farm there, building an extensive network of irrigation ditches that brought water from the Salt River. They are also believed to have lived at the Pueblo Grande cliff dwellings between 700-1400 A.D. Their disappearance around 1450 remains a mystery, but historians speculate that drought may have destroyed or displaced them or they may be the ancestors of the modern Pima Indians who now live on the Salt River and Gila River reservations, and the Tohono O’odham, who live in southern Arizona along the Mexican border.
Marcos de Niza, a Franciscan, explored the area in 1539 and Coronado’s expedition entered the area in 1540-42 during its search for C�bola, one of the legendary seven cities of gold. Father Kino developed a chain of missions and taught the Indians Christianity in Pimer�a Alta beginning in the 1690s. Spain founded fortified towns (presidios) at Tubac in 1752 and Tucson in 1775. All of what is now Arizona became part of Mexico’s northwest frontier when Mexico asserted its independence from Spain in 1810. The U.S. took possession of most of Arizona at the end of the Mexican War in 1848, after paying the Mexican government. In 1853 the land below the Gila River was acquired from Mexico in the Gadsden Purchase.
In 1867, Jack Swilling of Wickenburg, Arizona came to the area, dug a canal from the Salt River and began farming about four miles east of what is now Phoenix and a few miles northwest of a similar farming community at Hayden’s Ferry, which would become Tempe. The area was named Swilling’s Mill in his honor. The town of Phoenix was officially recognized in 1868 and named for a bird in Egyptian mythology that dies in flames and is reborn from its ashes. Phoenix was incorporated with a population of approximately 2,500 in 1881.
The arrival of the railroad in the 1880s and an expansion in 1926 were the first of several important events that revolutionized the Phoenix-area economy. Merchandise now flowed into the city by rail instead of wagon. Phoenix quickly became a trade center and by 1910 the state population swelled to almost 300,000. In 1911, the Theodore Roosevelt Dam, then the largest masonry dam in the world, began operation east of Phoenix. It created Roosevelt Lake, expanded irrigation of land in the Valley of the Sun for farming and increased the water supply for the growing population. Arizona was the last of the contiguous 48 states to gain statehood, in 1912.
The 1940s marked another turning point, as World War II changed the Phoenix area from a farming center to a distribution center. Phoenix rapidly turned into an industrial city, with mass production of military supplies. By 1950, Phoenix had 105,000 residents within the city limits and thousands more lived in adjacent communities. The state population rose to 1.75 million at the 1970 census.
The development of air conditioning and a more reliable water supply led to an explosion in population in Phoenix and its surrounding communities in the past three decades and the Phoenix metro area is now one of the nation’s leading urban places in land area, population and amenities. Copper mining as well as cotton, cattle and citrus farming remain significant industries, but tourism has grown to rival them all. High-tech and manufacturing are also growing industries.
Politically, Maricopa County has consistently voted Republican in Presidential elections since 1952.
Surprise, Arizona Attractions, Activities and AmenitiesSurprise, Arizona real estate offers a full range of housing options as well as a myriad of attractions and activities one would expect in a major, sophisticated American metro area. Located less than 30 miles northwest of Phoenix along Grand Avenue (U.S. Highway 60), Surprise offers a refreshing escape from the big city.
West Valley Art Museum has an extensive collection of ethnic costumes from more than 60 countries and also features 19th- and 20th-century American art, focusing on the works of Henry Varnum Poor and George Resler.
Eight miles southwest of Surprise is White Tank Mountain Regional Park, which offers 22 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding, as well as Hohokam petroglyphs.
Lake Pleasant Regional Park, at the northern edge of nearby Peoria, is a 23,000-acre public recreation area that encompasses a 10,000-acre lake set amidst a mountainous landscape and is popular with swimmers, boaters, anglers, hikers and campers.
Phoenix Mountains Park and Recreation Area is the collective name of a number of mountain parks located in and around Phoenix. Also known as the “Phoenix Mountains” or “Phoenix Mountains Preserve,” they include: Camelback Mountain Echo Canyon Recreation Area, Dreamy Draw Recreation Area, Lookout Mountain Preserve, McDowell Mountain Regional Park, North Mountain Preserve, Papago Park, Piestewa Mountain Park (formerly known as Squaw Peak Park), Shadow Mountain Preserve, Shaw Butte Recreation Area and South Mountain Park.
President Calvin Coolidge sold 13,000 acres of South Mountain, west of Mesa, to the city of Phoenix for $17,000 in 1924. At its present size of 16,500 acres, South Mountain Park is the largest metropolitan park in the world, and it entertains 3 million visitors each year. These parks largely consist of small mountains and adjacent foothills that reach about 3,000 feet above sea level. They also interrupt the checkerboard pattern of the Phoenix area’s man-made environment and are quite prominent, especially since most of the city is flat. All feature extensive hiking trails and many have public access areas with parking, ramadas (picnic tables) and restrooms. Some, such as South Mountain, offer horseback rental into the parks.
The Challenger Space Center of Arizona, which opened in 2000, is also in Peoria. The center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, features a two-hour simulated space mission that includes launching and docking exercises. The mission control room is based on the design of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and the “spacecraft” simulates rooms on the international space station. Space exhibits, a 75-seat planetarium and stargazing programs are some of the other educational activities offered at this awe-inspiring facility.
In urban Phoenix, high-rise office buildings mesh with planned housing developments. A dedication to arts and culture is evident in the museums, theaters and other public buildings. The civic plaza in downtown Phoenix houses a modern convention center and symphony hall.
Although Surprise is far from the ocean, many nearby lakes and rivers promote water-based activities. Scenic Saguaro Lake is another haven for fishing, boating and camping, as are Canyon Lake and Horse Mesa Dam, all east of Phoenix. Bartlett Lake, an irrigation reservoir along the Verde River, is known for prize bass, bluegill and catfish. Rafting is popular at recreation areas north and east of Mesa along the Salt River. The famous fountain at Fountain Hills, northeast of Phoenix, shoots a 560-foot jet of water into the air every hour.
Nineteen Indian reservations dot the entire Arizona landscape and account for about one-quarter of the state’s lands, including Gila River Indian Community (population: 14,000) and Salt River-Pima Indian Community (population: 8,500) in Maricopa County, which combined account for about 5 percent of the county’s land.
Surprise and the Phoenix area love team sports. The Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball (MLB) won the 2001 World Series in just their fourth year of existence. The Phoenix Suns (NBA basketball), Phoenix Coyotes (NHL hockey) and Arizona Cardinals (NFL football), also represent the area. In addition, MLB has 12 teams that conduct spring training in Arizona and are collectively known as the Cactus League. In addition to the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers, who train at Surprise Stadium, the Cactus League includes San Diego Padres (Peoria), Seattle Mariners (Peoria), Los Angeles Angels (Tempe), Chicago Cubs (Mesa), the Diamondbacks (Tucson), Chicago White Sox (Tucson), Colorado Rockies (Tucson), Milwaukee Brewers (Phoenix), Oakland A’s (Phoenix), and San Francisco Giants (Scottsdale).
Whether you seek a luxury home, a starter home, a condominium, a townhouse or an investment property, NewHomesRealEstate.net can help you find the Surprise, Arizona real estate you desire.
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