Maryland to Prescott (Phoenix: realty, house, rental)

[locoenlacabeza]

I don't believe that Prescott is the small town that people once thought. On my last visit there, the place had fully exploded. People everywhere and cost of living has seemed to have doubled.
Prescott used to be the place that the Phonecians ran to when they were looking for Mayberry. It is no longer that....
Also, many of the smaller "suburbs" of Prescott proper are highly populated with drug activity.
Prescott is a lovely place to visit, especially if you love history but it isn't a place that I would reccomend living.

[RBH Automotive]

I grew up in Prescott and Chino Valley. Then it was a small town and a **** nice place to grow up/live. Now it's over run by people who actually WANT a city atmosphere but had to run there for whatever reason. It has also become a haven for barefoot new age hippies(Prescott college ) and Starbucks groupies. The whole place is being built up by outside contractors and big money, so there is little money staying locally to help handle the insane amount of traffic and struggling utilities. It is an incredible area and was once an incredible town. Now it's just an economic free for all, everyone grabbing up all they can and not really caring about anything else. I would look quite a bit further out like Paulden or Dewey. Property now in Chino is selling for amounts figured in fractions of millions, Prescott Valley is not a whole lot better, but it is an industrial hot spot for the area.

[Curious]

Originally Posted by BiggsHomes

Where are you from in Maryland? We moved from Maryland to the Prescott area in January. We love every day here. We lived in Germantown, MD and now we live in the Prescott Country Club, which is a very friendly neighborhood. People wave at you as you drive by.

How did you come to choose PVCC over StoneRidge and others? Also do you feel there is enough organized senior activity (besides golf) without being in a 55+ AARCommunity? We are age appropriate now, but need to see our college kids through their education.

[brian_2]

StoneRidge aka 'CookieCutterRidge', tiny little lots with rows of tract houses without any of the charm of Prescott proper, and isn't that drive between PV & Prescott a delightful jaunt! Well, after another 75,000 California transplants we might finally start getting that place to look and feel the way we want it.

[BiggsHomes]

Originally Posted by Curious

How did you come to choose PVCC over StoneRidge and others? Also do you feel there is enough organized senior activity (besides golf) without being in a 55+ AARCommunity? We are age appropriate now, but need to see our college kids through their education.

Hi Curious,

We wanted to live on a golf course, so we looked up every golf course and drove around looking for houses. There are about five courses in the area. After visiting Hasayampa ($1M), Prescott Lakes ($700K), Antelope Hills (none available), and Stoneridge (none available, but $600K anyway), we were a little down-hearted. Someone at Stoneridge told us about the Prescott Country Club, so we took a drive down to Dewey. There were five homes available on the course, ranging from $469K to $320K.

We fell in love with the lot of the $320K house. It sits right on the 4th tee overlooking two lakes, the 3rd fairway, the driving range, the 18th fairway, and on to the mountains. The house was a decorative disaster inside, but we were planning on renovating any house that we bought. We have since gutted most of the house and updated it.

We can't say enough good things about the Prescott Country Club. Everyone is very friendly. The houses all all different and spread apart, so you don't feel claustrophobic. The course (if you play golf) is very playable. At some of the other courses, if you hit your ball outside the fairway, you can kiss it goodbye. There are mostly retired people here, but we're in our 30's and 40's and we enjoy it. Some younger families are moving in.

Jobs can be a problem, but if you're retired, then that doesn't matter. My wife and I were aerospace program managers before coming here. We tossed around a lot of ideas about what to do. We thought about opening a sandwich shop and even a cement company, but decided to become realtors in the end. We love showing people different areas and helping people buy and sell homes. We have become quite successful, so I guess we made the right decision.

As far as other 55+ activities, there are lots of organizations around town for bridge, astronomy, bunko, exercise, theatre - you name it. There is a renowned aerospace college called Embry-Riddle and Northen Arizona University is building their on-line campus in Prescott Valley.

Cheers,
Brian

[brian_2]

"We thought about opening a sandwich shop and even a cement company, but decided to become realtors in the end."

More realtor(s) in the PV/Prescott area. What a novel idea.

[BiggsHomes]

Originally Posted by brian_2

More realtor(s) in the PV/Prescott area. What a novel idea.

We figured we would sneak in while all the part-time realtors flee the down market. Here's an interesting statistic for you: Only 60% of the active realtors in the Prescott area had one or more transactions in the last six months and only 11% had at least one transaction per month.

[Gretchen B]

Originally Posted by Curious

We have checked out the Trilogy site and floor plans, but so far everything seems to be in the Phoenix area as opposed to the Prescott area we are currently more interested in. Eight months of the year with temp's reaching 80+ seems more than we would want. However we are not crossing anything off our list yet. We were originally hoping for a 55+ master planned community for the social aspect. We are torn...fearful of the excessive heat in southern AZ...and fearful of the lack of 55+ AAC's in the Prescott area. We need to experience the area better, to hopefully make an intelligent choice.

Hi Curious - one of the reasons you won't see very many 55+ adult communities in Prescott is because of the demographics. Check out the City-Data page for Prescott and you will see that Prescott is a popular place to retire. It was recently named one of the Top 5 Places to Retire by Money Magazine (for the 2nd time). Because of this, retirees are very much at home almost anywhere in the city, and there are always a number of activities and community events that give Prescott that "small town" feel where you can meet people. Check out this link for the City of Prescott event calendar http://www.cityofprescott.net/news/events/ to give you an idea of the "goings on" in the area. Of course, May through October is the busier time with arts and crafts fairs on the courthouse square and free concerts, etc almost every weekend. There's also alot of clubs, etc depending on your interests. Plus you're right about the weather - 4 mild seasons.

[BiMS]

We moved here from Maryland 11 years ago. There a lots of nice quiet areas here, but I suggest you decide if you want a house with a view, in the pines, on the golf course, etc. We live in a great area called Hidden Valley Ranch on the south side of town. We have a great view of downtown Prescott, Granite Mountain, Thumb Butte, Williams Mountain and (on a clear day which most of them here are) the San Francisco Peaks. Prescott is a great place to live once you decompress from suburban DC stress. Strongly recommend you come for a preview - you'll love it.

[BiMS]

PS Just read the previous exchanges and discovered you are muscle car fans. There are lots of car things going on in Prescott especially in the summer.