A Line With Nothing on the Other Side of It
Most statutory tests come with a degree of judgment. This one does not. A.R.S. section 33-814(G) applies to trust property of two and one-half acres or less, and a parcel of two point six acres is simply outside it.
Across the Foothills, and further up toward Skyline and the canyons, parcels of that size are ordinary rather than exceptional. The framework is on our page covering anti-deficiency protection and the word utilized.
Why Raise This With People Who Can Afford Their Mortgages?
The Second Limb Can Also Bite Here
The statute requires the property be limited to and utilized for either a single one-family or a single two-family dwelling. Guest houses, casitas and separate quarters are common in this part of Tucson.
Whether a particular arrangement remains a single one-family dwelling, becomes a two-family dwelling, or falls outside altogether is a question of fact and configuration. It is not something to resolve from a website, and it is worth resolving before it matters.
What Should I Actually Go and Check?
We publish no anti-deficiency assessments, parcel determinations or values for individual Foothills properties. The Pima County Assessor, the recorded documents and an Arizona lawyer answer those.
What the Terrain Does to a Repair
Access matters more here than anywhere else in the metro. Narrow shared drives, steep approaches and long hauls raise the cost of demolition, of getting material to the site and of every trade's day rate.
That is priced into any offer, and a buyer who has not driven the approach will guess at it. It is one of the reasons offers on the same Foothills property vary more than they do lower down.
Masonry Frequently Survives
Much of the substantial stock here is block or masonry with timber roof structures. It is common for walls to stand while everything inside and above is destroyed.
That changes the repair route materially and an engineer settles it. On a file where a shortfall is possible, the same report also tells you what the property would realistically fetch, which is the other number that matters.
The Foothills in Context
Where lots are small and the acreage limit never arises, see our page about the barrios and central Tucson. Where acreage is the norm rather than the exception, see our page for the wider region.
The Sections and the Numbers in Them
A.R.S. section 33-814(G) sets a ceiling of 2 and one-half acres and requires a single 1-family or 2-family dwelling. Section 33-729(A) applies the same property test to judicial foreclosure of a purchase money mortgage.
Subsection (H) applies to deeds of trust originating on or after 1 January 2015 and names 3 exclusions; Wildwood was decided 23 January 2015.
Statutory References for This Page
The governing provisions are sections 33-814 and 33-729 of the Arizona Revised Statutes. Section 33-814(G) blocks a deficiency action after a trustee's sale; section 33-729(A) covers judicial foreclosure of a purchase money mortgage.
Section 33-814(H) was added by a 2014 amendment applying to deeds of trust originating on or after 1 January 2015, and not to those originating on or before 31 December 2014. BMO Harris Bank, N.A. v. Wildwood Creek Ranch, LLC, 236 Ariz. 363, was decided on 23 January 2015.
Foothills Questions
How Do I Find My Parcel Size?
The Pima County Assessor's record states it. Do not estimate from the plat or from memory when a hard statutory line is involved.
We Have a Guest House.
Then whether the property remains within the one or two family requirement is a real question. Put it to an Arizona lawyer.
Will You Buy in the Foothills?
Yes, and where the claim settled properly and the walls stood we will frequently tell you repairing beats selling.