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REAL ESTATE
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Camelot’s remodel division surges in pandemic
BY DAVID M. BROWN ArizonanContributor
About 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 offices; 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
seeCAMELOT page 23
Short-term rentals and grandfathered rights in HOAs
BY BEN GOTTLIEB
ArizonanGuest Writer
Arizona 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 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-
or quickly change an open space into a private home office that keeps the kids, and their noise, out,” said Beckert, who expects the division to triple its business in the next few years.
New technology has helped her team. This includes 3D cameras that accurately measure a client’s living spaces and HGTV-style renderings provide them with a virtual walk-through of their planned space or allow them to explore different layouts, finishes and fixtures.
Her clients vary from younger professionals wanting to expand their homes to empty nesters, whose space needs have changed.
Many requests come from existing Camelot homeowners who love the location and quality of their aging homes and want to update them to fit their changing lifestyles. About half request space additions, depending on their lot sizes.
Often, people who have visited the company’s models ask if the company can build one of the designs on their property, which the company can do through its Custom division. Or they ask if the company can replicate one of the model home kitchens in their existing homes or provide indoor-outdoor living space.
John and Sandra Moses liked their Camelot Home in the Firenze neighborhood at Grayhawk but needed more space for entertaining; they were considering moving.
Then, they visited Camelot’s luxury White Horse models in Scottsdale. “We loved the open floorplan and engaged Camelot’s remodel division to help in reconfiguring our space and updating our interior finishes,” Sandra said.“We recently hosted a large dinner party, and everyone loved our new and improved home. We are thrilled with the finished product.”
Beckert is very much at home with her professional role. From youth, her grandmother Maggi and mother, Julie, taught her the value of the woman’s viewpoint in home building, she explained.
After graduating from Arizona State University with a bachelor’s degree in communications, she worked at NBC affiliate KPNX, The Meyers Group and Nathan and Associates. About 15 years ago, she returned to the family business, first as a sales associate, then marketing manager and today managing director of the Custom & Remodel Division.
For years, people have been regularly calling the company regarding renovations. “But the answer was always, ‘Sorry, we don’t do custom or remodels,’” she said. “We always knew the demand was there, but we just had to figure out how to offer the same design quality, craftsmanship and attention to detail before we were willing to put the Camelot name on it.”
Information: camelothomes.com/custom-remodeling.
GOTTLIEB from page 21
munity. Further, to the extent that the governing documents contain amendment procedures, the purchaser is also aware the governing documents could be amended at a future date. If these facts are present, the purchaser is arguably on notice that the shortterm rental property could be regulated through a subsequent amendment to the governing documents, and that the purchaser could have anticipated further restrictions within the scope of the governing document’s regulations. In other words, the new short-term rental prohibition will apply to the purchaser and the purchaser will not have “grandfathered” short-term rental rights.
On the other hand, to the extent the amendment unreasonably alters the nature of the governing documents, the purchaser arguably will have “grandfathered” rights and be able to continue to operate the short-term rental. This conclusion is even more strong if the original governing documents did not reasonably put the purchaser on notice that a subsequent amendment could prohibit short-term rentals.
In all cases, it is important to review the HOA’s governing documents prior to purchase property in a HOA to fully understand one’s legal rights and obligations.
If you have any questions, you can contact Ben Gottlieb at ben@mandglawgroup.com or call 602-533-2840.
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