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Real estate photography in Desert Mountain, Scottsdale
Desert Mountain is the private club community in far north Scottsdale, climbing from the high desert floor into the foothills on the edge of the Tonto National Forest. Seven golf courses, a dozen gates and some of the best light in the Valley. We photograph it for agents whose buyers are choosing a club as much as a house, almost always from somewhere else. Luxury packages from $950; standard photography from $165 with a free 2D floor plan.
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What sells here
Desert Mountain covers about 8,000 acres of villages, each with its own character: course-side homes, hillside customs with long views south over the Valley, and the newer builds in the Seven section at the lower end of the community. The club has six Jack Nicklaus signature courses and Seven, the par-54 short course, plus clubhouses, a spa and a trail system that runs into the forest. Membership is separate from the home purchase, which is one of the first questions a buyer asks and one an agent should answer in the listing copy.
Buyers come from the coasts, the Midwest, Canada and Europe, often as a second or third home, and often already members or guests of members. They have seen a lot of luxury galleries. What sets a Desert Mountain listing apart in those galleries is the setting: elevation, boulders, saguaros, the course below and the Valley beyond. A gallery that could have been shot anywhere in north Scottsdale undersells the property.
How we shoot Desert Mountain
Every Desert Mountain listing is planned before anyone arrives. The planning call settles the package, the twilight date, which rooms get a hand-finished image and where the drone can launch. The gallery leads with the view, because that is what the buyer paid for: the terrace at twilight, the house from below with the mountain behind it, and an aerial that shows the lot, the course and the forest edge.
Elevation changes the light. Homes up the mountain get sun earlier and lose it later than the Valley floor, and a west-facing terrace at 3,500 feet has a different sunset than one in Grayhawk. We schedule around that, which sometimes means two visits: the interior in the morning when the north light is soft, and the exteriors and twilight in the evening. Drone shows the lot in its setting, and iGUIDE from $155 gives the remote buyer a measured plan of a home that is often large and split across levels.
Luxury packages use a fixed, hand-finished image count: 30 images in the Signature package for homes up to 5,000 square feet, 40 in the Estate package up to 8,500. A standard shoot is still available for the smaller course-side homes and the newer Seven builds, with 25 to 40 edited photos and the free 2D floor plan. Our luxury real estate photography page sets the two side by side.
Access, gates and airspace
Every entrance to Desert Mountain is a staffed gate, and the guards admit visitors the listing agent has registered. Call our photographer's name in with the shoot date and the address when you book, and tell us which gate is closest to the home, because the drive between gates inside the community is long. Twilight shoots run late, so make sure the registration covers the evening.
Course and clubhouse photography is at the club's discretion. We shoot the course from the home's lot and from the air over the lot, which is what the buyer needs, and we do not drive carts or launch from club property without permission.
Far north Scottsdale is largely outside controlled airspace, so drone is rarely a problem at Desert Mountain. We still check every address before the shoot, and the planning call covers wind, which is a bigger factor at elevation than airspace is.
Pricing
Luxury packages start at $950 for the Signature package, covering homes up to 5,000 square feet with 30 hand-finished images, a senior photographer and a planning call. The Estate package is $1,450 for homes from 5,000 to 8,500 square feet with 40 images, and larger properties are quoted from $2,000. Twilight from $200, drone $100, iGUIDE from $155 and a full film from $399 are added on top. Standard photography from $165 by square footage with the free 2D floor plan, Zillow 3D from $110 and virtual twilight at $50 for five remain available. Standard orders deliver the next business day; luxury packages deliver in three to five business days. Full details are on the pricing page.
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Book a Desert Mountain shoot
Request a luxury shoot on the luxury real estate photography page, or book a standard shoot at portal.thelistingbees.com. For the rest of the city, see the Scottsdale real estate photography page.