Ashfork, Arizona - Water Situation? (Phoenix, Flagstaff: loans, real estate, foreclosed)

[exlexisnexis]

Great feedback,I appreciate objective feedback that is unbiased.
FYI the population of Arizon ais expected to double over the next 20 oe so years.

[exlexisnexis]

I appreciate your unbiased objective feedback. FYI the population of AZ is expected to double over the next 20 years and many of these folks will be wealthy retirees who will want a home in the cool mountains of northern AZ. Flagstaff and Williams are not able to grow that much more and the next town over is Ash Fork, presently very inexpensive and very underdeveloped.
Chino Valley and Paulden are booming as well and they are about 30-40 minutes from Ash Fork.
They are building a new connecting road to Nevada and that is expected to cause Kingman to explode as a bedroom community. A developer named Rhodes want to build a few hundred thousand homes there.
Then you have the theme park and by the way they are building a new website for it at www.gcnae.com (broken link). You are correct about timing being hard to predict but it is always better to be early to an exploding growth area than to be late.
There was these little podunk towns called Gilbert,Queen Creek,Maricopa and Buckeye which were dirt just farm areas and it seemed like overnight the land turned to gold there. Go figure?

--
ô¿ô Richard

[JeepGirl118]

Pardon for my being ignorant and a bit spoiled over here for being able to get water from a faucet with the flip or turn of a handle/knob without giving it much thought - but to "carry your own water" sounds like a lot of work. Is it as much work as it sounds? How does this exactly work in regard to water usage for drinking, laundry, the dishwasher, landscaping, swimming pool, etc.?

[LBear]

Originally Posted by TN Gal in AZ

Where in Prescott have you seen prices for land under $100K? Acreage or tiny subdivision lots? I live in Prescott Valley and have been looking for land or home and land.

I meant that the prices HAVE DROPPED around $100K for some vacant lots. So, for example, if the vacant lot was selling for $490K, it is selling now for $390K.

[LBear]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

I applaud your championship of this rather destitiute-looking little town, but in all honesty I think you're going to have a longgggggggg uphill climb to make Ash Fork into a place most people will want to live. For those who want to live "off the grid" yet still be close to the Freeway system - yeah, Ash Fork will fit the bill - but for your average retiree or family looking for a homesite close to medical facilities, shopping options and dining and entertainment choices. It's a really poor choice.
Ken

AMEN to that! That is what I have been trying to say but apparently there is someone here who REALLY thinks Ash Fork is the diamond in the rough. That Ash Fork is the next Microsoft.

I don't see that happening EVEN IF they build the theme park. IMHO, Ash Fork would need 20 Tons of TNT to make it a nice place....

[LBear]

Originally Posted by JeepGirl118

Pardon for my being ignorant and a bit spoiled over here for being able to get water from a faucet with the flip or turn of a handle/knob without giving it much thought - but to "carry your own water" sounds like a lot of work. Is it as much work as it sounds? How does this exactly work in regard to water usage for drinking, laundry, the dishwasher, landscaping, swimming pool, etc.?

NOT having a well or "City water", Ash Fork residents must "haul their own water". They must have a water storage tank on their property that needs to be filled constantly to keep up with your water demand. In other words, you have to own a pick-up truck and put this 100 gallon tank in the back. Then you drive over to the city well, they pump water into the tank in the back of the truck, then you drive to your home. Once there, you have to pump it into the tank that is on-site as lifting 100+ gallons of water would not be possible without a forklift.

OR, you can call a company and they drive by and with a huge tanker truck, they pump water into your above ground holding tank.

It is a real PIA. Also, it is a real property value killer. SHOW ME, one thriving town that has this setup? Prescott, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Chino Valley?? NOPE. None of them have this setup. That is ONE reason of MANY why Ash Fork is Ash Fork...

[LBear]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

... Ash Fork to fix a flat tire. Have to say that in all honesty the town struck me as bit of a dump -with nothing there to recommend it except that there is a great stone business there with an enormous choice of stone to choose from if you ever build a house in the area and want to put in a stone patio etc. Not enough reason to live there though in my opinion.

All in all, not impressed.

Ken

Thank you! My thoughts also. There is only ONE person here who keeps pushing Ash Fork as the next hottest real estate area. Unfortunately, that one person is the only person who believes that. PLUS, they are also A REALTOR. No surprise there. They are pushing that area as it is their market area and/or they own property there...

[LBear]

Originally Posted by LordBalfor

Well, I gotta tell you the theme park COULD bring hope to Ash Fork - providing it actually gets built in a timely manner. Without that theme park however, I just don't seem much chance of Ash Fork developing all that much in the next 5-10 years. In 10-20 years? Yeah probably - even without the theme park, but not within 10 years. The fact is, it's just not all that close to anything. The distances you mention are just too great, with too much vacand land in between. "Nearby" Williams is just not that big of a town and any growth that occurs there (which I'm sure will happen) is likely to occur along I-40 between there and Flagstaff (which is empty) before it moves west towards Ash Fork. Prescott is too far away so it's going to take a long time for growth to reach Ash Fork from there. Likewise the distance between Ash Fork and Kingman is vast - and almost completely empty (why build in Ash Fork when you can build on the 100+ miles that are closer to Kingman?).

Ken

YES, thank you! I am glad that I am not the only one who sees those distances as being TOO FAR. Even though the Ash Fork REALTORS use those distances to "play up the town", they are in all actuality, TOO FAR. It would take over 70 minutes of driving to get to Prescott. That is WITHOUT any traffic and doing 70MPH. Between those points there is tens of thousands of acres of vacant land.

[JeepGirl118]

Originally Posted by Pettrix

NOT having a well or "City water", Ash Fork residents must "haul their own water". They must have a water storage tank on their property that needs to be filled constantly to keep up with your water demand. In other words, you have to own a pick-up truck and put this 100 gallon tank in the back. Then you drive over to the city well, they pump water into the tank in the back of the truck, then you drive to your home. Once there, you have to pump it into the tank that is on-site as lifting 100+ gallons of water would not be possible without a forklift.

OR, you can call a company and they drive by and with a huge tanker truck, they pump water into your above ground holding tank.

It is a real PIA. Also, it is a real property value killer. SHOW ME, one thriving town that has this setup? Prescott, Phoenix, Flagstaff, Chino Valley?? NOPE. None of them have this setup. That is ONE reason of MANY why Ash Fork is Ash Fork...

Thank you, Pettrix.

Oh forget that. . .no way, no how could I live like that. If that is the "up-and-coming" (ha!). . count me o-u-t!

[LordBalfor]

Pettrix -

I do think that there is long term hope for Ash Fork (at least to a limited degree). I mean lets face it, us aging northern folks are really starting to look south. I myself just bought an acre in AZ (near Benson) in January with the idea of retiring down there - and I'm not alone. Truthfully, the population of AZ is going to grow and anywhere along an interstate is likely to share some of it. Having said that, it's also clear that some areas are going to grow faster than others. Ready access to water, major medical facilites, shopping, dining and entertainment choices are all important criteria that will define where the growth is maximized and where it is minimized. We were looking for land in the general SE corner of the state because of the climate (I did NOT want 4 seasons - but rather 3 (spring, summer, fall) - but without the searing heat of SW AZ. Having chosen that part of the state for the climate, I then started analyzing the services etc of the area. Among the places I looked into was Three Points (to the SW of Tucson). This is an extremely scenic area, and there were lots of plots available at reasonable prices that had both water and power and I have to say I was sorely tempted. However, a couple of things helped me decide "no". First off, like Ash Fork, Three Points is a "depressed" area without much in the way of goods and services. It's also an area with a bad reputation crime-wise. In truth, I was actually OK with both of those - provided that there was a substatial chance of major change in the relatively near future. The problem is, though change is almost certain to come to Three Points, the timeline is just too uncertain for me. When I investigated the Tucson growth plan, it indicated directed growth (and road improvement) to the north, northwest, south and southeast - but not to the southwest. While growth is certain to come there anyway, it's probably going to be slow and moving forward in fits and starts rahter than in any planned, consistant manner. All in all, though it is probably a decent long-term area to invest in, it just didn't hold out enough hope of having the improvements I want to be in place when we retire to make it a very safe bet.

In the end, we found a place out near Benson, 4 minutes to the freeway, with more services already available, and many more planned in the next decade (with many more probably coming in the next 5 years). It already has the basics we need and nearly 100,000 homes (and the large Passages of Tucson mall) planned for nearby Vail and another 20,000+ homes planned for Benson/Whetstone (many already going up) it seemed like a much better choice.

So, to me Ash Fork is kind of like Three Points. The potential is there (one day) but the timing is pretty suspect. It MAY happen in the 5-10 year time frame, but it also may happen in the 10-20 time frame (and at a much lower level). Just too hard to say in my opinion.

Ken