Whether you are looking to buy or sell, having an idea about the real estate market in the city where you live can give you a good indication about what you can expect. If you're selling, comparing real estate with a zip in Mesa with similar homes elsewhere will let you know what you might be able to afford when you move. It might also help you decide whether now is the right time to sell or not.

On the other hand, you may be putting your Oakville home for sale in order to take advantage of all the sunny days Mesa has to offer. In that case, what can you expect in exchange for the money you made off of that sale?

Before we get to the numbers, a little bit of recent history on the Mesa real estate market. Everyone knows about the crash in the American real estate market. What you may not know is that the state of Arizona was among the worst hit in the country. When the economy started to go south, vacation homes were the first thing to go, and if there is one staple on the Arizona real estate market it is the vacation home. People would come south from their King West condos and other points for the winter each year, but when the recession kicked in, they had to offload in a hurry.

The result was a remarkable crash in the prices of homes in Mesa and other Arizona cities, even though the economy itself seemed to remain intact. Tourism still plays a big role, it's just that people prefer to rent again rather than commit to owning a home outright. For Canadians, many wonder why they would bother with a condo on a golf course when they could get a cabin along the Trent Severn waterway for the same price.

So, the upshot of all that is that prices in Mesa are fairly low, compared to most other markets. They are so low, in fact, that many people may start thinking about buying vacation property here once again.

Take, as an example, the typical new construction two storey, two bedroom house. Such a home would cost around $400,000, if we were looking at Mississauga detached homes. Proximity to Toronto and the economy of the city ensure that.

Well, in Mesa one could find a similar home for under $300,000. Mesa has many of the same draws as Mississauga; it's got a solid economy backed by a large population, and it's quite close to both Scottsdale and Phoenix. The big difference is that there is a lot more sun in Mesa, yet housing prices here are significantly less than in similar sized cities to the north.

Maybe it's time to once again exercise your option to buy a Toronto condo and have a spacious getaway in Arizona. Price comparisons point to this as a good move, anyway.