The Tucson Homeownership Checklist

Every item below is a question to find the answer to or a record to keep, never an assessment of the condition of anything. Kyle Berglund is a REALTOR®, not a home inspector, a licensed contractor or a county official. Where a question is decided by an office rather than by judgement — septic transfers, well registrations, floodplain status, permit history, contractor licensing — that office is named and linked, because the answer that matters comes from them.

Cooling and heating

In Tucson the air conditioner is the system that decides whether a summer is comfortable or an emergency, and it runs harder here than almost anywhere. Everything below is about knowing its condition before June rather than during it.

How old is the condenser, and is the model and serial number written down somewhere you can find?

Age is the single best predictor of a summer failure, and the data plate is what a technician asks for first. Refrigerant type matters too: a system built for R-22 is servicing a refrigerant that is no longer produced, which changes the repair-or-replace arithmetic well before the unit actually dies. (Once, then keep the record.)

Has it been serviced before the cooling season, by someone licensed?

A pre-season service is the difference between a capacitor replaced in April and a failure during a stretch of 108-degree days when every company in town is booked. Licence status is public and worth checking rather than assuming. (Every spring.)

When were the filters last changed, and does anyone in the house know where they are?

Dust load in the desert is high enough that a filter interval written for a temperate climate is too long. A restricted filter raises the electric bill before it damages anything, which is why it goes unnoticed. (Every one to three months.)

If there is an evaporative cooler, is it on a seasonal changeover schedule?

A cooler left wet through winter corrodes, and one left connected through a freeze can split a supply line. This is the maintenance item most often inherited and never explained when a house changes hands. (Twice a year.)

Is there a heat source, and has it been checked since the last time it ran?

Tucson heating runs a few weeks a year, so a fault sits undiscovered for eleven months. On a gas furnace that is a combustion check rather than a comfort one. (Every autumn.)

• Arizona Registrar of Contractors — licence lookup — Confirms a contractor's licence, bond and complaint history before work starts

Roof and roof coating

Flat and low-slope roofs are common here and they are maintained rather than ignored. A coating has a service life measured in years, and the failure is gradual until a monsoon cell finds it.

What kind of roof is it, and when was it last recoated or replaced?

A foam or built-up roof needs recoating on a cycle; a tile roof's underlayment ages out long before the tiles do, which is why a tile roof can look sound and still leak. Knowing which you have decides what question to ask next. (Once, then keep the record.)

Is there a transferable warranty, and do you have the paperwork?

Roof warranties frequently survive a sale but only if the paperwork does. This is one of the most commonly lost documents in a transaction, and it is worth several thousand dollars. (At purchase, then keep it.)

Have the roof penetrations and parapet walls been looked at since the last monsoon?

Vents, swamp cooler curbs, skylights and parapet joints are where low-slope roofs actually leak. Monsoon rain arrives sideways and finds them. (After monsoon season.)

Do the scuppers and roof drains still run clear?

Standing water on a flat roof is a load and a leak at once. Debris blown in during a storm is the usual cause, so the check belongs after the storm rather than on a calendar. (After each major storm.)

Drainage and the monsoon

Most Tucson water damage is not a plumbing failure. It is rain arriving faster than the ground can take it, following a path that was fine when the house was built and is not fine now.

Where does water actually go when it leaves the roof, and where does it end up?

Grading settles, landscaping changes and a neighbour's wall can redirect a flow path years after anyone thought about it. Walking the lot during a storm tells you more than any document. (Each monsoon season.)

Does any part of the lot sit in a mapped floodplain or a regulated wash?

This changes what you can build, what insurance costs, and whether a wall or fill you are considering needs a floodplain use permit. It is a public record rather than a judgement call. (Once, and before any exterior project.)

Are the washes and drainage easements on or beside the property clear of debris?

A blocked wash moves the water somewhere it was not designed to go, and after a storm the debris is someone's fence. (Before and after monsoon season.)

Has soil settled against the stem wall or above the weep screed?

Stucco is not designed to sit in soil, and years of landscaping raise grade a little at a time. The damage is slow, hidden and expensive. (Every year.)

• Pima County Regional Flood Control District — Floodplain maps, regulated washes and floodplain use permits for the unincorporated county
• FEMA Flood Map Service Center — The federal flood map of record, which is what an insurer reads

Water, wells and septic

Not every property here is on city water and sewer, and the ones that are not carry obligations that appear at the worst possible moment — usually the week a sale is meant to close.

Is the property on a septic system, and when was it last inspected and pumped?

Arizona requires a transfer-of-ownership inspection before an on-site wastewater system changes hands, and the transfer has to be reported to the regulating authority within a set window after closing. Sellers who discover this late lose weeks. (Every three to five years, and at sale.)

If there is a well, do you have its registration number and its most recent water-quality test?

A well is registered with the Arizona Department of Water Resources and its record is public. Quality testing is not automatic — nobody sends a reminder — and a buyer's lender may ask for a recent one. (Test yearly; keep the registration permanently.)

Do you know where the main water shutoff is, and does it actually turn?

The moment you need it is not the moment to find out that it is seized or buried under gravel. (Check yearly.)

Is there a water softener or RO system, and is anyone maintaining it?

Tucson water is hard enough that softeners are common, and an unmaintained one quietly stops working. Salt use also matters if the property is on septic. (Per the manufacturer's interval.)

Has the irrigation been checked for leaks since the weather changed?

A drip line failure underground can run for months. It usually shows up on the water bill before it shows up in the landscape. (Twice a year.)

• ADEQ — on-site wastewater (septic) transfer of ownership — The state rules that govern the inspection and the notice of transfer
• Pima County Environmental Quality — septic permits and records — Local permitting and the county's record of an existing system
• Arizona Department of Water Resources — wells data — The registration record for a private well, searchable by owner or location

Solar, batteries and what transfers

Solar is common enough in Tucson that a homeowner should know which of the three arrangements they have, because they behave completely differently when the house sells.

Is the system owned outright, financed with a lien, or leased under a PPA?

Owned adds value and transfers with the house. A financed system usually has a UCC filing or a lien that has to be paid off or assumed. A lease or PPA has to be assumed by the buyer, who has to qualify — and that is a contingency, not a formality. (Once, then keep the documents.)

Do you have the interconnection agreement and the export rate it locked?

Tucson Electric Power's export credit is locked for ten years from the interconnection request, so the date on that agreement determines the rate. It is a document a buyer will ask for and a seller often cannot find. (Keep it permanently.)

What is the production this year compared with last year, and are you actually checking?

Panels degrade slowly and inverters fail suddenly. Nothing notifies a homeowner about either; the monitoring app does, if anyone opens it. (Every few months.)

Is there a battery, and does anyone know what it is configured to do in an outage?

A battery set for bill management rather than backup does nothing in an outage, which homeowners discover during one. (Once, then after any change.)

Alterations, permits and the HOA

Unpermitted work is the single most common thing that derails a Tucson sale, and it is almost always work done in good faith by a previous owner. It is worth knowing about it years before you list.

Was every addition, conversion, wall, pool or detached structure permitted?

An enclosed patio or a converted garage that never got a permit is not just paperwork: it can put the square footage on the tax record at odds with what you are selling, and lenders and appraisers do notice. (Before you list, and before starting any project.)

Which jurisdiction issues your permits — the county, or a town or city?

Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana, Sahuarita and South Tucson each permit their own, and unincorporated Pima County is separate again. Asking the wrong office wastes a week and sometimes produces a confident wrong answer. (Once, before any project.)

Do you have the CC&Rs, and do you know what needs architectural approval?

Many Tucson associations require approval for paint colour, roof material, solar placement, walls and desert landscaping. Approval after the fact is a harder conversation than approval before. (Before any exterior change.)

Have you kept the invoices, permits and warranties for work that was done?

At sale this file is worth real money and real time. Rebuilding it from memory five years later is how a good renovation ends up looking undocumented. (Continuously.)

• Pima County Development Services — permits and records — Permit history and applications for unincorporated Pima County
• City of Tucson Planning and Development Services — Permits and records inside Tucson city limits
• Arizona Registrar of Contractors — licence lookup — Confirms a contractor's licence, bond and complaint history before work starts

What this is not

Not a home inspection, not a contractor's assessment, and not a substitute for asking the jurisdiction that actually holds the record. For condition, hire a licensed inspector. For licence, bond and complaint history on whoever does the work, the Arizona Registrar of Contractors publishes it. For anything on this list that turns out to matter to a sale — an unpermitted addition, a septic system with no inspection record, a leased solar system — the time to deal with it is years before a listing rather than during an inspection period.

• Selling in Tucson — Pricing, prep, marketing, and negotiation
• Seller net proceeds calculator — What a sale actually nets, line by line
• Solar calculator — What solar does to a Tucson home's value and payback
• Ask Kyle a question — About any item on this list

Frequently asked questions