THE CHANDLER ARIZONAN | WWW.CHANDLERNEWS.COM | DECEMBER 26, 2021
21 REAL ESTATE
From Uptown to Downtown, we cover Chandler like the sun
Camelot’s remodel division surges in pandemic BY DAVID M. BROWN Arizonan Contributor
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bout five years ago, third-generation Scottsdale homebuilder Cammie Hancock Beckert led an extensive renovation of a McCormick Ranch home built in the 1970s by her family’s Camelot Homes. Founded by her grandparents, JW and Maggie Hancock, more than a half-century ago, the company has built thousands of Valley homes, including $3–$5 million customs in luxury golf communities such as Grayhawk, Desert Mountain and Silverleaf, all in north Scottsdale. “The home had never had been updated; everything was original,” said Beckert, who lives in Silverleaf with her family. “A friend of a friend asked if we would be interested in remodeling the home. She liked the idea that we were the original builder and was familiar with our current work.
“We took the house down to the studs, rearranged spaces, took down a wall to open up the kitchen, added on in a few places and completely updated the interior finishes,” she added. “The before/ after photos were dramatic and something I was proud to be a part of.” Owners Valerie and David Blanco were enthusiastic. “You helped us get our home to where it is. It feels brand new, and we love the design and interior finishes,” Valerie told Beckert. Their redo was perfectly timed. During a management retreat, Camelot Homes had discussed the possibility of adding a division that would offer $350,000-plus remodels of its homes and those built by others. In 2019, company completed another renovation in Grayhawk. “So our team said, ‘Let’s get serious about this,’ and we began marketing our Custom & Remodel Division to previous Camelot owners in Grayhawk.”
Then in 2020, the pandemic changed homebuilding. Beckert and others thought the Arizona real estate industry, including new-builds and re-builds, would collapse. “Well, I said, ‘There goes that,’” she recalled with a smile. “But it ended up just the opposite. “The pandemic intensified the need for this service.” People felt imprisoned in four walls and couldn’t escape, even by traveling. “I think just having to sit in our homes during the pandemic caused a lot of people to focus on aspects of their homes that had been bothering them, but they hadn’t made a priority to fix,” she said. ”We can do that tomorrow.” Since then, clients of the remodeling division have been requesting open floorplans, removing walls and interiorfinish makeovers. Other common requests are adding casitas, or separate living quarters, for visiting family and friends; updated workout rooms and of-
fices; dedicated homework spaces; teen rooms; and wine walls or other type of wine storage, she explained. “A lot of these existing homes might have an open kitchen, but that could be accompanied by a more formal dining room that goes mostly unused, so this space could be repurposed,” she said. “Or, they want to update their bathroom’s once-popular ornate fixtures and curving ‘snail’ style showers with a sleeker, symmetrical modern look that brings an open, airy feel to even the most intimate of spaces.” “With 60 percent of homeowners now saying that having outdoor space is more valuable than indoor square footage, many want seamless connections between indoor and outdoor spaces. Our clients love that they can open up the living room to the outside with the flip of switch thanks to roll away pocket walls
through rental income than a traditional lease, and (2) increased demand by guests who prefer to rent out a house for a few days rather than stay at traditional lodging such as a hotel. In Arizona and elsewhere, short-term rentals are controversial and the debate surrounding short-term rentals tends to be polarized. On one end of the spectrum are people who strongly favor shortterm rentals. These people are typically investors and favor short-term rentals because they are more profitable for the owner of the property. Also, people tend to like short-term rentals because they offer an innovative approach to lodging. On the other end of the spectrum are people who strongly dislike short-term rentals. From their perspective, shortterm rentals cause nuisance-like issues
that include (1) excessive noise, (2) excessive litter and garbage, and (3) lowering of overall neighborhood reputation. While Arizona state law prohibits cities and towns from prohibiting shortterm rentals from operating, homeowner associations can prohibit short-term rentals through the governing documents (i.e., covenants, conditions & restrictions or CC&Rs that encumber the HOA properties. This can be accomplished through an amendment to the CC&Rs that unequivocally prohibits leasing HOA properties for a short duration. While the current law appears to provide clarity on the issue, a common question that arises is how a court might resolve the scenario where a purchaser purchases property in a HOA and begins utilizing the property as a short-term rental. At the time
of purchase, the governing documents do not prohibit short- term rentals. Later, however, the community passes a lawful amendment, amending the governing documents to outlaw short-term rentals. The question becomes, can the short-term rental operator continue to operate the property as a short-term rental since it was lawful at the time it purchased the property? Under Arizona law, an amendment may not be imposed if it unreasonably alters the nature of the governing documents. If the original governing documents contain limits or regulations on renting property in the community, the purchaser is arguably put on notice that rentals were subject to regulation in the com-
see CAMELOT page 23
Short-term rentals and grandfathered rights in HOAs BY BEN GOTTLIEB Arizonan Guest Writer
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rizona is known as a business-friendly state. A few years back, Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law state legislation prohibiting towns and cities from enacting codes or ordinances that prohibit a property owner from operating a short-term rental. This law is viewed favorably by investors who wish to purchase property and utilize the property as a short-term rental. Over the past decade, short-term rentals (properties that house guests rent for very short periods of time) have soared in popularity in Arizona. The reasons for the surge include (1) the potential ability for investors to make more money
see GOTTLIEB page 23
