Moving to Prescott Area (Prescott Valley, Parks: HOA, mobile home, neighborhoods)

[PVAZno1]

Are you moving to the Prescott area??

Do you have questions?

Ask away...

[mic111]

Hi, thanks for volunteering to answer questions. We are looking at Prescott for retirement. The areas near downtown appeal to us as we would like to be within a mile or two of walking to restaurants. It appears the area to the west and southwest are treed, older homes and within this distance (SW of Gurley and Montezuma). Am I eyeballing the map correctly? If so are these areas quiet and safe? From what I can tell on the map, this is the area with non-grid layout, and the town area has more of a grid layout.

The other area we would be interested in is walking distance to Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage. Any suggestions for neighborhoods in that area?

Any other areas where there are concentrations of grocery and/or restaurants? Also need access to walking trails to walk the dogs. Prefer to be in an area where people obey leash laws.

Budget up to about $500K. Prefer rural look to neighborhood. Minimal to no HOAs. 3 car garages or ability to have outbuildings. Liberal to independent neighbors.

Thanks!

[agorski]

Originally Posted by mic111

The areas near downtown appeal to us as we would like to be within a mile or two of walking to restaurants.

I live 1 mile east of downtown off of Bradshaw. Takes me 17 minutes to hike to the library, 20 minutes to anywhere downtown.

Originally Posted by mic111

Also need access to walking trails to walk the dogs. Prefer to be in an area where people obey leash laws.

Acker Park has the dog walking trails you're looking for. Between me and downtown.

Originally Posted by mic111

Budget up to about $500K. Prefer rural look to neighborhood. Minimal to no HOAs. 3 car garages or ability to have outbuildings. Liberal to independent neighbors.

I live in Manzanita Village. It has 3 of the things you're looking for. ;-)

[mic111]

Originally Posted by agorski

I live 1 mile east of downtown off of Bradshaw. Takes me 17 minutes to hike to the library, 20 minutes to anywhere downtown.


Acker Park has the dog walking trails you're looking for. Between me and downtown.


I live in Manzanita Village. It has 3 of the things you're looking for. ;-)

So no garages?

Edit: I was making a guess but I see that it is co-housing and that is the item! Unfortunately I don't think co-housing is for us although there are alot of appealing items like the other residents, vegetable garden, chickens and proximity to town.

[PVAZno1]

Hi.

A 3 car garage with no HOA within a few miles of the courthouse is going to be a tall order - though not impossible. There likely will be limited choices and you may have to be very patient. For example, there are homes in Haisley Homestead, but there is an HOA there.

You will have better luck in the area near Natural Grocers.

Tons of hiking here. One of the reasons that many people move here.

As a fellow dog person, I can tell you that Prescott is VERY dog friendly. There is even a dog park on Willow Creak (down by ERAU) that received a $500,000 renovation when it was a contest with Beneful dog food. Pretty darn cool: Willow Creek Dog Park - 37 Photos - Dog Parks - 3181 Willow Creek Rd - Prescott, AZ - Reviews - Yelp

On another note, just so you are aware, Arizona and the Prescott area tend to be more conservative. The communities and neighborhoods are representative sample of the Quad-cities as a whole. I would not say that there are communities that lean one way or other.

[keninaz]

Yes at times I think you are supposed to own a dog and take him everywhere you go in town here. My dog stays at the house although he would rather be with me.
Just a note however, I notice a lot of divided opinions on Prescott and Prescott Valley yet they join together at the boundries.
We lived in Prescott for the first 5 years we moved up here from the SE corner but bought a 13 year old 3 bedroom/3 car garage home at ViewPoint in North PV for under $200K 3 years ago. It's a pretty quiet area with lots of active and retired LEO types living in the area. Via 89 it's just a few minutes at 65 MPH to Willow Creek that runs through Prescott from where we live.
I am older and the one thing I did not like about living within 1 mile of the Court House Square in Prescott was the traffic resulting from the tourists that love to come up here. I had to have several routes ready to use when the streets were blocked to get through the area. Then again I never did much care for tourists.

[PVAZno1]

I agree. There are divided opinions regarding PV and Prescott. I think it just depends on what you are looking for. I actually live in the Viewpoint and we LOVE it. I like that it is till a little on the quiet side, yet in a good central location. I like to visit downtown, but I am not sure I would like living there. I like to be a little away from the hustle and bustle. Plus, homes are less expensive in PV.

The bottom line is that PV is what is booking and growing by leaps and bounds because there is still room to expand. Prescott is limited. PV just passed Prescott for population for the first time this year. That is a trend I do not see reversing.

[keninaz]

I read that article. No impact on us in ViewPoint North other than perhaps a few more cars on the way to 89A.
Not sure how many homes they are building total in the North development but I think it's around 1200 total and they are building/selling now.
Our home was built some 13 years ago. The North section will be the largest of the developments out here.


There are some very nice developments in the Prescott area that I consider costly and simply not worth it. But many have more money or want status with their home. You can find $1 million homes in Prescott but I don't think there are many like that in PV.


People must remember that this entire area for many years was a retreat from the heat for people that lived in the Valley and both towns have older sections which include mobile home parks and such.
Bot areas are very nice to live in as far as we are concerned. We would not be in the area otherwise.

[mic111]

Originally Posted by PVAZno1

On another note, just so you are aware, Arizona and the Prescott area tend to be more conservative. The communities and neighborhoods are representative sample of the Quad-cities as a whole. I would not say that there are communities that lean one way or other.

Thanks for all the helpful information! I figured this was the case but since there was a 1 in 3 voting Obama I figured there might be areas of concentration.

Originally Posted by keninaz

Yes at times I think you are supposed to own a dog and take him everywhere you go in town here. My dog stays at the house although he would rather be with me.
Just a note however, I notice a lot of divided opinions on Prescott and Prescott Valley yet they join together at the boundries.
We lived in Prescott for the first 5 years we moved up here from the SE corner but bought a 13 year old 3 bedroom/3 car garage home at ViewPoint in North PV for under $200K 3 years ago. It's a pretty quiet area with lots of active and retired LEO types living in the area. Via 89 it's just a few minutes at 65 MPH to Willow Creek that runs through Prescott from where we live.
I am older and the one thing I did not like about living within 1 mile of the Court House Square in Prescott was the traffic resulting from the tourists that love to come up here. I had to have several routes ready to use when the streets were blocked to get through the area. Then again I never did much care for tourists.

Thanks! Our dogs are a bit antisocial to friendly pooches so I love areas where people obey the leash laws. That is why I was trying to stay more in town vs in the national forest where people would tend to let them run free.

Really appreciate the insight into town living. I hadn't thought about the tourist and their major routes in and out. I will pay attention to that from now on.

I'm going to come out for a week and stay in 2 or 3 different airbnbs so that I can experience the different areas. Trying to narrow down what areas to stay in. Probably one close to town, one near the mall (if I can find one) and one more in the suburbs. I will also scope out PV and the area near the Natural Grocers.

Is there a web site where one can search for homes by neighborhood name?

[BriansPerspective]

Originally Posted by mic111

Is there a web site where one can search for homes by neighborhood name?

I cannot post the website directly, but if you go to my Info page and click on the Contact Info tab, our website allows you to search our MLS directly, in real-time, every field except for the Agent-Only information. So, you can search on Subdivision Name. You can do a map search. You can search for lot size, granite counters, whether or not there is an HOA... pretty much anything you can think of.