How to Locate a Home in Mesa, Arizona

Pinpoint a price range. Mesa is about the size of a major city, and there are properties there for low-income singles, wealthy families, retirees on fixed incomes and everyone in between. According to Solutions Real Estate, home prices in Mesa currently range from about $89,000 for a mobile home to $4.2 million for a 7,300-square-foot single-family house that was built in 2009 and has six bedrooms.

Attend open houses. Local newspapers, especially those that have weekly real estate sections, should have notices for upcoming open house events. Plan to look at several houses in your price range over the course of a weekend, and try to visit as many different neighborhoods as possible.

Drive around the city. Once you've looked at houses in your price range and narrowed your list down to a few choices, it's important to also decide which neighborhood is the best fit for you. After driving a few blocks from the house, you can see if there are potentially dangerous neighborhoods nearby. You should familiarize yourself with the community's main roads. Look for parks, shopping plazas and schools. Get a sense of the traffic patterns. Observe how many other properties are up for sale in the community, and find out how much they are selling for.

Visit local real estate agents and visit websites like Solutions Real Estate, Trulia.com and Zillow.com. If your open house tour doesn't produce enough choices, agents or online real-estate services can provide additional listings based on your desired price range, neighborhood and type of home.