Finding Your Home – Page 2 – The "Prescott Pickle Lady"

Bad Inspectors?

The results of your property inspection can make or break the deal. Find out what separates the good inspectors from the bad ones, and how to make sure you have the right one on your team whether you're buying or selling.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello peeps our fellow friends out there fellow friends fellow friends fellow pickle peeps no that’s us that’s this is that’s them yeah we are Diane and Randall bro that’s who we are that’s who we are we are local real estate agents here in the lovely mountain town of Prescot Arizona presc Arizona we love to do our little videos here we hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoy making them and giggling and getting our way through it um we wanted to talk about something that we come across a lot um we get phone calls from fellow agents what inspector are you using and I say the name who’s our great inspector yes we’ll say his name yeah Matt gormer Matt gormer property National National Property inspection National Property inp we just call him that we just call him that he’s great guy great friend great part of our great part of our team he works super super hard he will go in and really give you the honest truth yeah and we have run across we’ve used Inspectors That Gloss Over other inspectors that gloss over very important things yeah so does that help you you know close the house it does but you might have a big problem later so we would rather have a tough inspector who really catches some very bad things so our buyers aren’t caught with this later and have a big problem later on down the line so sometimes if you get a uh you know an inspector and he’s really he finds a lot of things sometimes you have to make the hard decision and say I have to walk away yeah and it’s well you should have that option if you didn’t know about the problems then you wouldn’t have that option we’ve had real estate agents uh tell us oh you know I I I heard about him he he uh um cancels a lot of transactions you know he he’s such a I’m glad because that’s what I want him to do exactly I I want the best for my buyers I want them to come out Buy A Home ahead and buy a home that they know is safe reliable that they aren’t going to have big expensive repairs later um we’re not in it just just for us to get our commission let’s just sell it oh I’m sorry is that broken just don’t say anything gloss it over it’s no big deal they can fix it later evidently a lot of do that we’ve had oh you need to find another inspector you know it’s no no we don’t because that’s what we want and I would go so far to say if your agent hasn’t canceled out uh you know transactions in the past because of due diligence then you need to find another agent due diligence needs to be real it’s very important our job is to represent you and make sure your home is in the best and most efficient operating um what condition condition very you conditional work yeah but you know we we don’t want you to buy move in and then find out oh wow the grinder pump isn’t working oh wow um there’s a the the slab is cracked oh wow there’s a leak in my roof and nobody noticed it nobody caught it you know we value you know our inspector you know we we really a AAR he does a great job if there’s something wrong he’s going to find it he’s going to find it and uh and and at the same time if it’s good it’s great he’s delighted he’s like this is an amazing house you’ve got a real gem on your hands um other times he can say you need to think about this you need you need to think about this he doesn’t say yes about no he doesn’t he will never say The YES or NO That Will Surprise You yes or no he will present his facts and then you know he says this is up to you but these are my findings you need to really carefully consider and go through this and decide what’s worth it to you in terms of later repairs yeah absolutely and so it’s important and it’s our job as as your representative to make sure you’re getting something that’s really in good working condition yeah I hate to get phone calls later this broke that broke and d and something wasn’t caught I had one house where the inspector actually said oh I don’t get on the roof I will never do that yes yes I won’t get on the roof and I’m like well okay and uh so what happened there was over a 100 crack tiles this is very important you know you need to have a full service inspect who doesn’t pick and choose oh I don’t want to go up in that attic I don’t want to go in the crawl space I don’t do the Not A Good Inspector roof that’s not a good inspector that’s not a good inspector you need somebody who gets in there and does every possible a lot of times the problems are found in the crannies you got to be willing to get in there yes so hats off to Matt yeah uh we’re so glad he’s part of our team yes he will also we use Matt 2 on on the cell side as well oh yeah important yeah there are sellers you know they’ll use an inspector as one of these gloss over types you they want to Gloss Over Types make the transaction go forward and they’ll hire them to do a pre-inspection when you’re the seller and you’re doing a pre-inspection you want to know everything the whole point is to get away from you know so you don’t have a surprise when you go you don’t want to have a surprise after you’re under contract so yeah we also do for our sellers we also recommend a pre- inspection especially if the home is older we never want to be under contract and about to end you know the inspection period and you find out there’s a crack SLB or the reef has a major leak or there’s mold we want to discover that stuff before you go on the market so you can address it and fix it because I can guarantee you if you have a good inspector they’re going to find it and it could queer the whole deal yeah people get scared they’re like well they these people didn’t take care of their house I don’t want to take this on yes so if so as as a buyer you need to use a real inspector a tough inspector as a seller you need to use a tough inspector that’s right that’s the bottom line inspection should be real it shouldn’t be ins should just a a you know rubber stamp something that’s right we’re looking for that’s not what we’re looking for you’re right so sometimes we’re disappointed sometimes our buyers are disappointed sometimes it can be a Heart Breaker heartbreaker but in the long run we will definitely find you something better uh where you don’t have to worry and have any angst at all about what you just did or what you just purchased yep so hang with us stay the course as I always say stay the course we will make it happen and we will find something for you even better so there you go don’t get thrown by you know get a good inspector so tip of the day good inspector good inspectors will save your hide that’s it okay if you like tips the place to go is pickle 411.com that is our free information site whether you are a buyer seller somewhere in between there’s something waiting for you that will Amaze astound and form andt Aston Vaporize Aston vaporize I I don’t know a lot of stuff a lot of stuff and the price is right it’s all absolutely friend that’s right absolutely we look forward to hearing from you put the credit cards away it’s all fre that’s right we’d love to help you in your next steps yeah and uh and introduce you to our great Wind Down inspector all right friends that is all for today have a fabulous fabulous rest of your day bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

3% Interest?

If you're waiting for the days of 3% interest to return before you buy a house... we have some news for you. Tune in today to find out what you can expect, and how you can make the best decision possible.

Video Transcript

good morning good morning good morning and hello hello hello to all beeps peeps of that’s right to all of our fellow pickle peeps out there happy to join you this morning and talk about the interest rates it makes you sad it makes me sad um sure do miss the dates uh you know when we had lower interest rates one more time we have any two and a half to 3 and half% it was a beautiful thing was a beautiful an unusual thing um honestly it was like getting free money it’s really not the most sound thing for E economy yeah and so we all got very very spoiled by that and we loved it but it’s really not the norm yeah um we did get used to it and we were adjusted to it but if you recall from the 70s and ‘ 8s interest rates used to be like 13 14% so we just were blessed for a little while there but it’s really not the norm no not at all and and and some would argue not even healthy to have a not really healthy for the the in terms of predicting where uh interest rates are going people will talk about the fed or they’ll talk about the inflation these are all things that people you know spend a whole lot more time studying that and actually get paid to do it uh we don’t do that uh but you know all those things are um uncertain one thing that you can hang your hat on is demographics demographics are unchangeable so we had Baby Boomers and then we had the what was it Gen X and then Gen Y is essentially uh the Millennials yeah the so we’ll talk about those three baby boomers are huge you know we had a bunch of baby boomers Gen X was the baby bust yep and in Millennials they call the echoboom yes so here’s what you need to know uh when people reach a certain age they start investing you know they’re kind of past raising the kids and all that and they’re reaching the maximum of their income potential they start investing money that is the supply of money oh is it yeah that’s that’s where investment dollars come from it comes from people investing right never knew and you got to have money to do that and Baby Boomers during the time we had very they had lots of money cuz most of them had not retired yet M okay mhm the people who were using the money those are people who are doing things like buying homes starter homes cars raising children education those were the Gen xers or the baby Busters okay that’s me that’s you yeah she’s a baby buster I’m a baby bu yeah I’m the youngest I’m in the the cohort the youngest of the uh the Baby Bloomers yeah yeah so what we had was we had a bunch of people supplying money and very few people demanding money so interest rates went down yes it’s it’s just that simple I mean all the other you know factors and everything it came down to demographics y yeah so that’s why it was so it’s so unusual to get demographic shifts historically unless you have you know a plague or something uh well we kind of did yeah we kind of did we kind of did we didn’t that was not a plague plagues kill you know third a third of the population had nothing like that but anyway well not good was not good but it it did not affect the interest rate No it sure right all right so moving forward what we have is the Gen xers the baby Busters are now entering the phase where they can invest and the Millennials the the echo Boomers they’re going to start borrowing so what that means is you’re going to have very high demand and very low Supply meanwhile the Baby Boomers they’re all probably let a three4 of us have reached 65 now something like that so most the rest are dead dead or retired you know but for the purpose of this conversation they’re not investing money they they if they invest their money they put it in very safe stuff you know T bills or something like something very conservative because they have a nest preserve it MH so we’re going into a phase now where you can anticipate very low Supply and very very high demand of money and that my friends means interest rates are going to stay hot yeah which is kind of a bummer yeah it’s a bummer and you’re going to have some movement you know short-term things are going to move the rate around but I think the days of 2 and a half% mortgage rates I don’t it’s going to be a long time till it comes back yeah I just don’t see how that’s going to happen but historically even 7% is still a good rate a good rate uh you know as I said when you compared earlier we had aunts and uncles that had had 16% interest rates so and again even don’t let it scare you even at 7% because hopefully with time things the rates will drop you can always refinance it’s not like you were tied to this for the rest of your life with this huge Rock tied around your neck yes not really I’m sure with time things will adjust refinance at that point yeah if you have to borrow let’s just say the g rate now is about 7 and a half I think let’s say you borrow at 7 and a half uh one of three things is going to happen the interest rate is going to stay the same well you you got the going rate interest rates are going to go up thank God you got the rate interest rates are going to go down you refinance yep you know but uh the idea that in you know 3 months it’s going to go down to 3% no get past it get on with your life none of us are young anymore you need to move on some of us are young young at heart yeah be young at heart and move on with your life don’t don’t let the the interest rates drive your life cuz you could sit there waiting for I mean don’t play that game just just grab Life by the horns get out there and do it don’t let this all don’t try to play The Guessing Game I’ll wait a year or two it it it may be worse so now is the time be decisive just accept it move forward get there and start your new chapter yeah absolutely don’t play that waiting game you’ll drive yourself crazy I’m already crazy with you know um this one I don’t need to worry about the rest of that baby buster can you believe that she Buster I believe it that’s our tip of the day if you like tips the place to goes pickle 411.com that’s our free information site whether you are buyer seller somewhere in between there’s something there waiting especially for you that will Astound Amaze inform and entertain you silly and it’s all free it’s all free it’s all we don’t charge anything for charge anything we just share our wisdom yeah less than going to a pay toilet you know you go to our free information I’ve never gone to a pay toilet Remember You The Quarters oh you’re you’re a baby buster remember that yeah little quarter and you go in that’s I never heard of such a thing why is that any worse than a bathroom you just there’s a little quarter you put in that’s ridiculous used to do that used to have you used to have these metal things they called them coins [Laughter] and it was almost like a credit card oh yeah yeah I have a vague recollection anyway give us a call Diana Randle bro here your local Friendly competent smart hardworking agents we’d love to help you absolutely take care have a great day bye bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Buying Sight Unseen

Once upon a time it was unheard of to buy a house sight unseen. Covid changed all that. Watch this video to learn about the great process we use to make sure our buyers get the house they want and sellers can trust them to follow through.

Video Transcript

good after oops I jumped ahead sorry gotta move fast yeah I can’t I got a Sprint he has to Sprint yeah with the pickle lady good afternoon this is Diane and Randall bro coming to you from Prescott Arizona our favorite little mountain town that we retired to about seven years ago no we’re not retired by work well true we moved here we moved here yeah we retired from Paris I guess I think it’s just wishful thinking yeah I think you’re right we retired from Parenthood we didn’t do that we had been empty nested so we started a whole new chapter chapter and here we are here we are in Prescott Arizona and loving every minute of it that’s right now one of the things we wanted to talk about today is sight unseen yeah so this is when people put an offer on a home that they have not physically seen and this is uh controversial a lot of sellers don’t like it with good reason yes uh it’s not it’s not it’s not a rule that’s etched in stone though so that’s why we wanted to talk about it yeah so a lot of folks are out of state and they see a house they identify a house on MLS they’re like oh my gosh this house looks really interesting and they give us a call what are your thoughts and what we always do is we say you know what let us go preview it for you we will do a walk through video that makes you feel like you’re standing right next to me walking through the house just like if you had an appointment you were local then we send it to them we edit it we Randall sets it to music he he does a voice over and we send it to you at that point if you still are really interested then we suggest let’s put an offer in and you get down here as fast as you can so you can see it in person so most of the times people love the video they’re like wow I think only one time somebody said no I changed my mind most of the time we have sold many many houses site unseen in person um particularly if people have already been to Prescott and we coach people on oh actually yeah we know that if you haven’t been here you really don’t know the neighborhoods you want to make an offer based on a video we’re going to try to dissuade you yeah but if you know the neighborhood you’ve been here you’ve selected you know I want this neighborhood in Prescott Lakes I want to view you know I want to be in a gay I want to be a gay community you know and you’ve seen all these things before uh you know with our video it’s kind of like having been there absolutely um but a lot of I can’t say a lot because uh it used to be in during covid uh they would say if they haven’t physically been in the house we’re not going to take the offer and in part that was just because every home was getting like 30 offers so you’re trying to come up with any excuse at all to cut people out now it’s more of a buyer’s market and seller agents have learned well you know maybe we should we should think about this um once you go under contract with the house the first thing that happens is the inspection period inspection period is 10 days so all you as seller you’re on the hook for setting for 10 days the worst that can happen is you go 10 days and then they say no I really don’t want the house and then you don’t get the earnest money I guess during covet people were being very aggressive I heard a story someone had never been to Prescott before put an offer in a house site unseen and they went under contract the inspection period starts and then she finds out that it snows here yeah oh I yeah so I understand from the seller Sellers and seller seller agents listing agents point of view you know you have to be responsible about that and we are quite responsible we communicate very much everything all that Prescott what it’s about what the town is like with the weather is like we’re very communicative so if you get a sight unseen offer from us yeah it’s going to be a good one people are completely educated about what they’re getting into then they have 10 days they hurry up and get down here they look at it and then usually I mean I’ve never had I think I had one person back out usually we go to you know people like I do love it which is you know make it happen people who you know they they come they see the house they’re in the house they love the house they put the camp in their tent in the house and stay there for three days and then during the inspection period you know they still bail out it’s it happens there’s a certain percent for whatever reason whether it’s buyers cold feed or a loan issue or it doesn’t inspect out well there are any number of reasons why something could fall out that’s right uh our percentage of people who do sight unseen offers that fall out is about the same as our buyers who uh who have been in the homes and that’s just because we are very uh responsible what’s the word I’m looking forward we we understand we try really hard not to bring people’s bad offers that’s not good for that’s right you it’s not good for your seller it’s not good for us and in the end it’s not good for our powers that’s right so if you’re thinking I’m out of town how am I supposed to do this if I see a house I’m going to miss out on it we’ll help you through that process yes we will we will completely educate you we will video for you we’ll talk to you we’ll go through each stage of it and then you know we’ll try to write up a contract so you can get down here and it won’t be sold from underneath you so uh we work really hard to make that happen for you so don’t think how will I ever achieve this it’s doable it’s certainly doable uh one thing you can do if you’re on our website you can look around for property videos uh and you can kind of see the style of videos that we do and I mean we walk through the home with the camera it’s like walking through the camera slow yeah and you know people really feel like they they have seen them I agree yeah all right so that’s it so if you’re thinking how will I achieve this and I’m long distance well it could happen Captain we’ve done this before we know what we’re doing we know what we’re doing we know we know a few tricks of the trade we’re gonna make it happen and try to make it uh as stress-free as possible for you okay so that’s our deal with side unseen don’t be afraid of sight unseen yes whether you’re a buyer or your seller excited insane particularly if it comes from the pickle lady that’s right yeah we’re gonna try hard we will okay my friends that is our tip for the day and we sure hope you’re having a beautiful day out there take care bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Solar Snags

Here in sunny Prescott, solar energy might seem like a no-brainer. But if you're considering installing a solar rig on your home, you'll want to check out this video to make sure you understand all the pros and cons - especially how it can affect the sale of your home.

Video Transcript

good afternoon good afternoon folks hi hi hello hello Bonjour you know all those things that’s right multilingual there you go she’s the pickle lady I am this is a pickle that’s right Diane and Randall bro here coming to you uh your local Friendly helpful Realtors here in Prescott Arizona and we are here to talk about sometimes it’s the bane of my existence it makes me take a deep breath yeah so we’re here to talk today about solar solar can be a four-letter word yeah in my world all right so first off solar is available here uh some of the newer construction homes come with solar uh for the most part when people come from Why So Little? other areas where there’s a lot of solid they’re surprised there isn’t more of it there isn’t more of it right they’re like how come most of the houses here don’t have them well here’s the thing um our utilities are quite inexpensive yeah uh our electric bills are not super high like in some other areas of the country and people are getting these Sky High you know 900 electric bills it just doesn’t happen here so the financial component of solar is not that compelling here the people they do solar It’s Green, But… they’re for the most part it’s to be green uh absolutely most people here who do it now Phoenix absolutely they meet solar they’re running that AC constantly we don’t have a three-digit temperatures so we don’t have to run our AC we’re not running at 105 like it is down in the valley yeah that’s right um it’s very temperate temperatures here especially during summer it’s just not that bad we might get in the 90s you know and then you know uh it cools down to the 70s so we’re not really hitting that AC so hard that solar would be a positive thing we have the sun form but it the energy that it produces is a war as much as that’s right energy produced in other areas and Owned vs. Not so now I love own sonar I will say that ohm solar if you want to put solar on and you really want to help the environment and I appreciate that and I honor that I think that’s a beautiful thing and you pay it off I love it even more but if you put solar on and you take a sixty thousand dollar loan to have uh solar installed uh you should know most people who buy your in the future who might want to buy your home are not interested in assuming that loan yes most people are like I don’t want to pay how much did you pay it down ten thousand yes I don’t want to buy a 50 000 solar system I don’t want to take over this lease and I don’t want to pay it off so you’ve had sellers in their 80s and they they take out you know a 30-year yeah you know lease on solar it’s like what do you thinking and that’s not yeah well somebody is somebody’s not you know yeah they’re doing a sell job yeah and so it’s very important and so it can be a real deterrent to potential When it’s a Deterrent buyers yeah so what’s your name yeah unless you can find a buyer first of all you to find a buyer is willing to do it you’ve cut your buyers at least in half yes uh because they’re going to have to take over the lease and a lot of them they worry about you know the roof Other Worries and was it installed properly that’s right you know is it going to be damaged if they remove it and so you’ve got it opens up a whole can of worms it does um particularly if it’s leased and they don’t want to take over the lease you have to remove it it it can be a real nightmare if it sleeps we have yet to work with a lease company that makes that process fast easy yeah it’s a pretty it’s a grueling process a grueling process so if you are thinking Pay it Off about doing solar at least here in Prescott yeah pay it off pay it off because yeah yeah you’re probably going to end up having to pay it off when you go to sell yes anyway just the buyers that’s true most of the buyers will say okay I’m interested but I don’t want to take this on they have to pay it off yeah so be prepared if you were thinking about putting solar on your house here in Prescott uh there’s a lot of pros and cons Pros and Cons so the pros are I mean if you get it and you pay it off then you have you know what 60 dollar bills or less way less that can be a great thing that’s it can be yeah it can be a very good thing now some of the buildings of Mandalay in particular I know they’re doing solar in a lot of their new homes and you know that’s part of the deal it’s part of the package and it’s owned you know you’re not you’re not uh leasing it separately so you’re not going to have that same the same number of issues but our advice When it’s a Benefit is if you’re thinking about doing solar make sure you pay it off and then enjoy all the perks and the Beautiful benefits of uh owning your own solar and then if you ever have to sell your home it’s a real positive for incoming buyers yes they don’t want to lease it though they don’t want to lose it but you’re going to get all your money back but that’s when we’ll go for a premium if it does have solar absolutely and we’re saying this is and it’s owed yeah and it’s on this is 2023 uh solar technology is improving all the time that’s right you know they may come up with something that changes the whole aspect the the costs and all this so this may change but as of now given the technology that’s in place if it’s a new home and Retrofitting they’re incorporating solar as part of the package that’s okay that that’s a pretty good deal but if you have a home and you’re thinking about retrofitting I would I would discourage that yeah just just looking at this from the point of view of a realtor right it makes your home harder and trying to resell yeah for sure for sure so that’s our little tit solar yeah not again solar I think solar is amazing yeah I think solar is great and by the Diane Beats Lease Companies way if if you do have a home that is leased it has lease on solar there is no one better on the planet than bulldogging the the lease companies to get them to do the thing in the pickle lady we just released her to you know release the dogs and uh let’s slip the dogs of war or whatever it is because she goes after him and she is Relentless yeah they hate me but uh it’s not a pleasant it’s not a pleasant uh yeah happening for anyone so no so keep that in mind solar can be a very positive thing if it’s owned otherwise I don’t know yeah so that’s our tip of Wind Down the day yes do you want more tips we have plenty for you and a place to go is pickle four one one.com there’s a free information site whether you’re a buyer seller or somewhere in between there is something waiting for you that will inform astound and entertain you and it’s all absolutely free that’s right she likes much feel so silly all right everyone out there hope you’re having a great day and we hope you uh this was informative for you about solar absolutely we’re here to serve take care bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Water Worries

Worried about water issues in Arizona?  Well, in this episode we discuss the communities that are having trouble and what that might mean for the city of Prescott.

Video Transcript

that’s right okay he’s talking about javelinas yet again we do have some nice javelinas our regulars will remember the skunk pig that’s right yeah that’s right so we are here to talk about something that keeps popping up quite a bit lately yeah and we thought it was very important to bring up and discuss and address and that is the issue of water water uh is there going to be water shortages here in Prescott yes the short answer is no no no people come up here oh yeah I heard Prescott’s Running Out of Water absolutely yes we’re not running out of water I just I I don’t know where it comes from I know a lot of people have in other areas of Arizona make presumptions or assumptions whatever you want to talk about however you want to call it about Prescott they don’t live here they don’t really fully understand um it is not an issue here yeah um there are some towns in Prescott mostly down in the valley that are experiencing water shortages and issues kind of on the west side I think Buckeyes 101 yeah Buckeyes one of them correct so it is my tenuous understanding of their situation not our situation yeah so these communities were built and they did not provide for water at least one of them was taking uh now the I guess it’s the Ohio some Colorado River some river is being uh reallocated so uh Scottsdale cut them off yeah Scottsdale was kind enough to kind of share for a while and now times have changed so they’re worried it’s been getting a lot of press because uh these towns are pulling from aquifers I guess and if they pull too fast they will lose flow and lose their water supply so this is a big deal the only thing that would make it worse is if it were in any way our problem here in Prescott it is not uh so I don’t know how they’re going to solve their problem but we do not it is unfortunate it does happen as things develop and people spread out I understand um but here in Prescott we have to have a hundred year plan so any major development that comes in has to prove they have access to water in the aquifers for at least 100 years yeah yeah and that’s not pulling from the awkward yeah they have to come up with some other source most of the town is pulling from an aquifer so snow falls further north than us where all the mountains are like Flagstaff and all that and that water flows downhill we are about a quarter mile lower than Flagstaff so we we get flow at this point in time we are pulling from the aquifer all new construction we’ll have to have a 100 year plan that’s outside of the aquifer uh we are degrading our um our aquifer at point two percent a year 0.02 it’s a very small amount which means that the aquifer will dry up in about 450 years right they’re already on it and they’re already trying to address it to bring us to even so we’re not depleting anymore so uh we are managing it well we don’t have a problem and no one anticipates a problem over a very long time and we’re already intervening so yeah we’re wet we’re pretty Progressive we’re uh look ahead we plan ahead um so if you come to Prescott don’t have any fears about water restrictions or water shortages or running out of water the other thing to consider is we are pretty much a rock city we don’t have a lot of Lawns we don’t have any agriculture here where we’re watering lots of crops and tomatoes or almonds or whatever we don’t have any of that so there isn’t a lot of draw on the water everyone is pretty much very escaped here your front yard is Rock uh low you know plants that take low watering strip system I lived in Texas Force 17 years I had more water restrictions in Texas all the time I have water restrictions no running water between this time and this time I have yet to receive anything like that here like any notification to please you know not use as much water between five and not anything like that so um when you’re coming here I know it’s a big concern for a lot of people and it should be rightfully so but here in Prescott it is not an issue we are really working hard on keeping this to be a non-issue yeah yeah so so responsibly managed yes and uh yeah we don’t have a sprinkler system we have drip systems yeah and it literally drips yeah so you don’t have that yeah we don’t have any of that and this spraying water we just have little slow drips this little Chinese water yes that’s it so uh the people who are coming in they’re not they’re not really demanding a whole lot of water we do take showers we do drink water yes bathroom yeah that’s about it and there are golf courses but you know there are golf courses not enough since yeah so keep that in mind um if that is one of your concerns we just wanted to allay your fears that um really not water here is not a big issue and it’s not going to be an issue for the foreseeable future as well so I know there is some talk in other towns but keep in mind that’s in the valley yeah that’s down in the Phoenix area more the desert heavy desert oh they do have some places outside of Prescott um uh in Dewey Humboldt the Dewey Humboldt area the paulden area where there was uh mining where some of the water has been contaminated that’s not anywhere close to us correct us right so not not to worry here aquifer we don’t know no no no it’s all good it’s all good water is our tip for the day so if you’re getting the tips the place to go is pickle411.com our buyer a seller or somewhere in between there is something there waiting for you that will Amaze the sound and form and destabilize your whole life yeah you’ll get destabilized because you’ll be so excited about it coming here you’re ready to throw your life that you have into uh into a bin and start over that’s right have a big glass of water yeah there you go all right friends we hope to hear from you soon take care and have a wonderful day bye cheers cheers

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Clever Low-Pressure Tactic

Buying and selling real estate can be one of the highest stress situations you'll ever face... or you can turn the tables and make it downright enjoyable.

In this episode, we reveal a little-known low-pressure trick that lowers your stress and gives you the edge in negotiating.

Video Transcript

hello this is Diana Randall bro here coming to you live from Prescott Arizona we’re happy to talk to you about if you’re thinking about moving and you’re like wow I gotta sell first I don’t know what a drag I can’t get my time frame to line up so we wanted to talk to you about buy first then sell yeah it’s a new program it’s designed to help you out one of the things we observed is that when we have buyer we have buyers that are um full of cash a lot of times what they’ll do is they’ll just buy a house right they’ll buy a house they’ll move their stuff in and then they sell it really reduces the uh the pressure associated with the whole deal uh it doesn’t force them into a house really quick so they have the time to find exactly what they want and when they’re negotiating on the buy side they’re not under time pressure they usually negotiate better deals and on the sell side same thing they’re not in a hurry and so they can negotiate a better deal uh not a lot of people fall in that category and unfortunately they can’t um enjoy those benefits but now there’s a new program that’ll do that and it’s called buy then sell so buy themselves yeah it’s great so we have a number of contacts that we can connect you with where you can get a bridge loan but it’s not the bridge loans of yesteryear this is a really great product uh you can identify a home here in Prescott that you absolutely love you don’t have to worry about losing out because you’re under a contingency and perhaps your home didn’t sell in time so you can identify it put the offer in if you qualify if you qualify depending on your credit of course if you’ve got great credit you get cash up front from the company they give you the cash up front for you to buy the home that you’ve identified here in Prescott you then can negotiate better right because you quote have a cash deal yeah from the from the seller’s point of view your offer is a cash offer it’s considered a cash offer which always gets priority always a cash is King cash will win out on any kind of bidding war that you may be in so you will win that you’ll get the home you’ll get to move in you’ll you’ll get to slowly but surely move in without all the pressure of oh my gosh I’ve got to sell my house and now I got to get the house packed up and I got to get out of here this lets you have some Breathing Room it lets you identify the home you love you won’t lose it you can buy it you know it’s there it’s safe it’s sound it’s waiting for you you can slowly start to move in yeah then you can stage your existing home that you want to sell and and not have to worry about being there and Fielding calls for showings and all that you pack up you move here to Prescott you let it sit there yeah you let it sit there while it’s selling and it’s a lot less pressure it’s a lot less trouble yeah uh you don’t have to keep your house picked up and cleaned while you’re waiting for the next showing you don’t have to sit there and be like I have 10 days to get this sold otherwise I’m going to lose my house in Prescott yes all that foolishness goes out of the window yes the good thing is there are fees associated with getting the buy then sell program but here’s the thing the amount of money that you pay is offset by the extra money you’ll get by being able to negotiate better deals on your buy side and your sales side that’s true and honestly we’ve done this a couple of times and it’s almost a wash I mean it really ends up being very cost effective yeah and when you just think about the the reduction in pressure dealing with the movers the moving right and the state the logistics the logistics yeah it’s just kind of a no-brainer kind of a no-brainer the other good thing is I think a lot of people think oh if I get a bridge loan I’m then paying two mortgages I’m paying the mortgage on my existing home and I’m paying the mortgage on no you have up to a year to get your existing homes sold yes you do not have to pay any not even interest during that time frame now the interest is accrue yeah it’s a crew but it’s not like you will have an additional house payment or interest payment to make during that year process it won’t take you a year to sell you might accrue a little interest for two or three months yeah that’s it then you sell you pay off the bridge loan yeah boom comes out of your comes out of yourself it’s a beautiful thing if you have amazing credit uh and you qualify we highly suggest it because sometimes we get people who come in they absolutely fall in love with a house and they’re heartbroken because they know I don’t even have my house on the market yet right there’s no way I can get this together I can get this sold to purchase this one right and it’s very upsetting you know to leave a home you love that you’ve you really want so we think it’s a great product we’ve had enough friends uh it’s a great idea use it and I love it if you think about it you the pressure is okay so let’s say you sell your home first well now you got to find a home really quick and you don’t want to that’s a lot of pressure you gotta hustle down here and yeah I gotta find it got it and you’re gonna settle for something maybe that’s not on the market right because maybe that perfect one isn’t quite there it isn’t there so you’ll be like well this one is okay I mean you’ll you end up settling we hate when our clients we want you to be happy we don’t want you to settle we want you to be happy and excited or you find the perfect home and you put an offer in it’ll it’ll have to be a contingency yeah so you’re going to have to pay top dollar yep and then you’re going to have to Discount your home wherever you live now to get it to move as fast as possible hustle it’s just it’s you’re behind the eight ball this gets you out from behind me so if you are fortunate enough to be in a position that you could qualify for this bridge loan product hey it’s something to really consider if you really had enough and you want to get out of Dodge where you are yeah there’s other options available to you yes that will help you get that done faster and quicker now we have no vested interest in this at all oh absolutely no actually we’re not allowed to have any vested interest in the lenders that we we recommend to you just to be clear yes and if you want to do it the hard way you know we’ll help you that’s what we do absolutely do it well uh but this is another option for you so something we just thought we’d throw that out there to you folks out there and um who are still thinking of the bridge loan as the olden days when you had to pay all this extra payments every month just wanted to give you a little heads up the product has changed it’s very effective it’s easy and it’s well worth it if you are ready to really make the change and you don’t want to wait another six months absolutely so that’s our tip of the day tip of the day if you’re in the tips the place to go is pickle411.com that is our free information site whether you’re a buyer seller or somewhere in between there is something waiting for you there will Amaze astound and entertain you and tickle your funny bone heavily hopefully all free all three all right thank you for listening we appreciate your time and have a great day bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Parties on the Terrace

Some of the most happening social events around Prescott are the parties held on the terrace at the clubhouse in Prescott Lakes.  Even if you don't live in this subdivision, you can still join in.  In this episode, we explain how that works and why you don't want to miss out.

Video Transcript

good afternoon my fellow pickle peeps hello hello hello Diana Randall bro here coming at you from Prescott Arizona happy to be here yeah we’re starting off our new year yeah we’re getting the gears going uh we’re excited to be back in the action started some action and we had a lot of fun uh New Year’s Eve New Year’s Eve great time and so we wanted to talk about we actually live in Prescott Lakes we wanted to talk about the amazing social amenities that Prescott Lakes has to offer all right so if you don’t know Prescott Lakes Prescott Lakes is the largest subdivision in city of Prescott and I believe it is the second largest in the Prescott area there’s one subdivision on PV it’s a bit bigger yes it’s a big place they have about 1500 Lots probably about and now I’m saying maybe 1300 1350 have been developed totally yeah just some idea how big that is so Under the Umbrella as I call it of Prescott Lakes are about 13 different neighborhoods yeah we all go to the one center of the of the whole development which is the club and uh so there they have a private restaurant it’s amazing they always have something fun going on always always always and now that covet is lifted we’re back back in action so we wanted to talk about this New Year’s Eve we actually went to the club it was open for New Year’s Eve they had a live band they had an amazing Buffet um and we had a good time The Time Of Our Lives it was a good time yeah just to be clear so if you live in Prescott Lakes you will belong to the club that those two go together it is uh it’s not optional you you pay monthly dues you belong to the club you belong to the athletic center uh and if you’re interested that we can give you more information so here’s a great idea if you’re looking here in Prescott you find a house that you absolutely adore and but you want the social amenities that Prescott Lakes has to offer but your home Falls outside of that jurisdiction so to speak you can get a social membership I think it’s 60 or 65 dollars a month and that enables you to come to the restaurant and enjoy all the social events that they have one being uh New Year’s Eve we were there you could get tickets to that and you could go the other being um party on the Terrace which is always fun right yeah so the party and the Terrace they do that two three times a month oh I don’t know that much but yeah well it depends on the month this month they’re doing I think they have three of them but uh it depends on the month but uh yeah they’ll have live bands uh there’s a nice Terrace outside the club and has a beautiful view uh the weather’s good they’ll do it outside there’s a fire pit people hang out by the fire pit they’ll have live music they’ll have a great buffet dinner yeah it’s really uh dancing drinking it’s lovely it’s lovely lovely the other good thing is uh there are clubs within the club here at Prescott Lakes and with the social membership you are allowed to join some of those not all but some if it doesn’t involve the athletic center you can still come do bridge club book club The Women’s Club uh there’s a variety of them that are open to you so if you’re new here you can still kind of enjoy some of the Prescott Lakes social amenities we have a lot of friends who do not live in Prescott Lakes proper but they belong and we go out we have a great time yeah and meet them for dinner meet them for lunch the club is always having amazing brunches they have a beautiful Easter brunch Mother’s Day Mother’s Day Father’s Day so if you’re always kind of Prescott legs they’re essentially two options if you’re a big golfer you may want to join the golf as a golf membership golf memberships are not uh limited to just people in Prescott lake so you get a golf membership for a little bit more you’ll get access to the Athletic Club and everything so right uh if you do that it what you pay is marginally more than what you would pay if you lived in Prescott if you’re not a golfer do the social membership 60 65 absolutely no-brainer have a good time yeah and we’ll see you there you know eat in the restaurant we’re always there and it is a tremendous way to meet people new to the area yeah lots of people are not from here and they become members and it’s great to meet people and make some new connections yeah absolutely we highly recommend it we love the club we love the social membership so don’t be sad like oh I love what it has to offer but I bought a house outside of Prescott Lakes not to worry yeah we can still make it happen and you can have fun and we’ll see you there absolutely okay another tip if you’re into tips check out our free information site you can reach it at pickle411.com lots of information about real estate about events things to eat places to go things to do it’s all there whether you’re a buyer seller somewhere in between there’s something waiting for you that will Astound an amazing maybe I hope so all right friends that’s it for today have an awesome rest of your day take care bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Hotel Recommendations

Heading to Prescott to check out the city?  In this episode, we give our thoughts on the best places to stay... which may surprise you.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello this is Diana Randall bro here coming live to you from Prescott Arizona and uh we’re launching into a happy 2023. woohoo absolutely can’t wait so we were already into the first week of January and we are pleasantly surprised tons of calls right tons of calls tons of calls things are picking up it’s heating up again so it’s been a great first week of January lots of people coming in for the first time to visit and the number one question is where should we stay where should you stay where should you stay when you come here well we kind of are of the penguin of the we are of the opinion we are of the opinion I’m struggling with my words today that’s why I’m here that’s right Mr sidekick’s gonna fill in for me when I can when I can’t get it out but anyway um instead of trying like an Airbnb or something like that we kind of think just go with the old tried and true you’re going to be busy we’re going to be looking at houses yeah uh stay around the square then when you’re done you can easily walk to some nice restaurants see some of the nightlife on Whiskey Row and uh so our top three yeah would be Spring Hill Suites Spring Hill Suite so Spring Hill Suites is a couple of blocks from the main Square here obviously it’s a chain hotel so you know exactly what you’re getting right if this is your first visit to Prescott I wouldn’t go too far off the beaten path in terms of your hotel Choice there are some old sort of I don’t know one-off hotels you know they’re not chains and you may like that kind of thing but if you get into some place the room is small or the bathroom is weird or you run out of hot water don’t be so Charming yeah it’s going to color your whole visit to Prescott so I first trip in just driving through chains yeah and Spring Hills is a is a great choice it’s comfortable they have breakfast there and it’s close to the square another good one is the Hilton Garden which is a relatively new hotel a little more upscale about the same distance from the action uh that one is on Montezuma at the end of Sheldon Spring Hill is on uh Sheldon Sheldon yeah right now uh Spring Hill is super close too you go a couple of blocks to my favorite one of my favorite restaurants papa is Italian all within walking distance My Thai Cottage oh yeah exactly and the same thing with the Hilton yeah Hilton Garden there’s a great restaurant called Triple Creek in Hilton Garden a number of places within a block there’s a great pizza place there’s Farm Provisions lots of good stuff so all within walkable distance and you know you can feel safe you don’t have to worry it’s all great neighborhoods honestly there really isn’t anything unsafe around Prescott yeah negotiate across in the street absolutely easy walking easy walking the other one we also like to recommend is the haciampa Inn yes so this is a old school yeah Lovely Hotel beautiful great Lobby great bar there come on all Art Deco the rooms have been recently renovated we can’t really say well we haven’t seen them so we can’t really say yay your name on the runes themselves but if you absolutely have to do a non-traditional Hotel a non-chain Hacienda and it’s probably your best bet so charm 1927 1927 it is a block from the square super location yeah they have amazing restaurant there a great bar with music sometimes and and it’s just extremely Char I mean completely Art Deco yeah it’s lovely don’t blame us if you don’t like the room yeah I can’t vouch for the room but we have heard that they’ve recently renovated and um we hear it’s nice it’s where we always like to meet our clients too yeah yeah we always meet in the lobby we chit chat before we head out for the day and all of these are also good places to stay when you finally pull the trigger you get your house here sometimes there’s a lapse when you’re waiting for the moving van to come all of these offer long-term renting so if you have a week where you’re waiting to get in your house yeah they have some sweet hotels further afield actually when we moved here we stayed in the Spring Hill Swim sure did uh they allowed pets which yes we had three of them at the time yeah so uh yeah that that it it and it was very comfortable and very nice yeah so for all of my fellow pickle peeps out there who were thinking about uh upcoming visits uh those are the top three that we would recommend for your initial visit then as you come here and you get your feet wet and you learn more the lay the land you might discover something else you might want to try but I think just for the first time these are great ones to stay in terms of being close to the square and we’ve had a lot of friends who’ve done who’ve stayed there and then they said wow it was good for us to stay there because then we discovered restaurants and we really learned more about Prescott yeah so that’s our Spiel for the day tip of the day so if you are looking to come to Prescott anytime soon check out those three hotels book your appointment call us up we’ll have a good day we’ll go take you on a nice tour of the city as well as look at some great houses absolutely we got plenty more tips for you if you’re into that if you want to check them out you can go to pickle411.com that is our free information site whether you are a buyer seller or somewhere in between there is something there that will Astound you that’s right so you should check it out all completely free free yeah Free People free absolutely we don’t charge anything yeah real estate and we’re here to serve you we are full service it’s full service full service all right that’s it for today have a lovely lovely rest of your day and uh here’s to a beautiful start to 2023. Cheers

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Asbestos

Older homes can have dangerous stuff in them... things like asbestos.  In this episode, we discuss common places where asbestos can lurk and what to do if you find it.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello peeps this is Randall and Diane bro here coming to you live from our little town of Prescott Arizona we are here to kind of talk about some things cut them Charlie Brown yeah you know poor Charlie Brown but anyway we are here to talk about something that you know eor-ish Charlie brownish related asbestos asbestos kind of the thing about asbestos is every year there’s less and less to talk about right asbestos has been identified as a problem since I guess the early 80s yep and uh for the most part it’s been eradicated in most homes certainly all new homes yeah uh but from time to time you have a home that dates back to the 80s no not even really it’s like 1974 earlier and maybe even I think 74 to 80 is you know because they were still using asbestos yeah some of the materials yeah yeah even though they said no more asbestos they grandfathered in existing materials so yeah so the the uh yeah so there’s no hard cut off like in lead-based pain correct our cutoff is 78 anything 70 and later you’re fine yeah that’s right and it’s a big No-No there’s no hard cut off in asbestos yeah but basically the most common uh things for asbestos sometimes they would do duct insulation uh we have yet to see that the one that is most common here and probably most common around right around the country is the dreaded popcorn ceilings yeah popcorn ceilings are notorious especially if they were put in in 1974 1975. although you were sitting in high cotton when you put up those popcorn ceilings everybody thought you were you know put the glitter in there I mean the glitter was even more that was an added step but you were pretty fancy if you were doing it along with your sunken living rooms the prince Acoustics but that’s right it does it is pretty cool but however is it fine if it just stays in place sure but boy if you try to remove that you’ve got to have that abated immediately super fine particles just floating you can’t even see it yeah if you if you are if you have a home you’re trying to sell and it has popcorn okay chances are it’s gotten asbestos nobody is going to want a popcorn ceiling nobody nobody you’re going to want to pull it down yeah even you know the people talk about oh Grandma’s gonna sell her home oh my God even grandma doesn’t want popcorn nobody wants popcorn anymore I really don’t think it’s all that bad I really don’t I mean it doesn’t really offend me but I’ve seen people accept really pretty gross stuff but popcorn ceilings for whatever reason the whole body wants popcorn so if they’re gonna buy your house they’re going to want to remove it if they’re going to remove it that’s a problem if there’s asbestos so you’re gonna have to Abate it you’re gonna have to Abate it and there are companies we can help you with every step of the way uh they will come out and take three core samples from three different locations in the home it is shipped down to Phoenix it is tested and then they give you the percentage um and they will then refer you to abatement companies of which we know you know several of them here I’m sure you ask for for popcorn sealants make sure you ask them to measure the square footage oh yes of the popcorn typically to Abate that to you know have it all scraped down if you do do have asbestos it’s about 450 a square foot a square foot yeah so keep that in mind it’s it’s not a cheap Endeavor to repair that and get it all cleared and then after it’s all scratched up that is good I should say that it is as of November 2022. that’s correct yeah that price written in stone remember Stone but yeah as a a and to make the math easy you might want to do five dollars a square sure the other thing is to once it’s uh abated you’re gonna have to do air tests that’s to demonstrate that there’s no asbestos in the air still uh still correct and that’s probably going to run you another 12 1200 1500 and there’s a separate company that yeah that will come out and test the air quality yeah generally all very important steps yeah generally they’re two two types of companies there is the inspection company inspection and they’re not the same because you don’t want one right you’re a baby we swear it’s all clear now no you need to have somebody that’s why they do it that way right so we have uh all of those people in place if you fall in love with something there’s some great great you know Brady Bunch houses here in Prescott yeah built in the 70s I love them they’re darling no we we’ve actually we’ve gone through an abatement uh you know we uh we were representing the buyer uh we had the popcorn inspected sure enough there was asbestos uh we asked for the repair the seller agreed to do that and the abatement company came in they wear their little booties and a little you know they take care of business and they you know they do all these plastic tunnels you know the the with the plastic that they put up yeah everything it’s hardcore and uh yeah but I mean they come in they do the job yeah they get out that’s done and it’s done well it’s done well and we tested everything was fine yep so it’s not a deal killer but in general I think for most people you’re probably looking at about 10 right uh to Abate that and so you are a seller uh we would advise you if you’ve got popcorn test it if it’s you know chances are it’s going to be bad well even if it’s all right so if you’re gonna if you’re gonna take down the popcorn test it first don’t just take down the pop never take down the popcorn ruin your health okay absolutely you first have to have it tested and uh and if it’s um if it there’s no asbestos you could think about leaving it up and you would have the documentation and demonstrate that there’s no asbestos right uh but for the most part you want to take down popcorn take down take down the pop before you before I love to eat popcorn I think it’s delicious do I want it in my ceiling not really not really but so that is our tip of the day for asbestos it doesn’t necessarily mean end of times end of the world I have to walk away from this house there’s some fantastic homes with beautiful bones they just need to you know get a little you know up with the time so don’t necessarily rule it out but you should be aware of the cost you should be aware that it can be fixed but always test test test test it’s very important very important so that is our tip of the tip of the day we’ve got lots of tips for you lots of tips yeah our free tips you can find at pickle411.com whether you are a buyer seller or somewhere in between there is information there waiting for you that will Delight astound and inform you that’s that’s a lot to deliver but we sure try I’m cocky and it’s good yeah you’re feeling strong today I’m feeling strong he still had a big bill of goods here yeah but reach out to us we’d love to see you we’d love to take you around give you a tour of our lovely town and see some awesome homes absolutely I hope to hear from you soon take care bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

The 60% Rule

Chances are the Covid real estate market spiked up the value of your current home quite a bit.  So cool, right?

What many of our buyers don't realize, though, is that the same thing happened in Prescott.  So what you're looking for may not be priced the way it was before masks.

In this episode, we give our thoughts on where we stand in the post-Covid market and what you can expect to find here now.

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Under Pressure?

Buying and selling real estate is stressful, even under the best of circumstances.  So the last thing you need is a real estate agent using high-pressure tactics to move you forward when you're not really comfortable.  It doesn't have to be that way.  In this episode, we discuss how best to handle these people and these situations.

Video Transcript

you stress me so much I lose my voice it’s what you do oh my gosh okay hello hello hello peeps it’s right in my ear yeah feeling good I see that I’m feeling good about the peeps that are here punch you in your throat don’t scream in my ear all right this is Diana Randall bro here coming to you live Arizona as live as it can get yeah they took the stakes out of our heart and brought us back to life that’s right we are live as you just heard we are quite live yeah here to talk about pressure selling oh yeah so real estate agents are notorious among you know used car sales people and you know and I hate to be like high pressure high pressure and a lot of people think because we are real estate agents that we we are high pressure people yeah we are not we are not and uh we come from the fashion School of uh what’s the word phrase school of thought school of living School of the philosophy of life I don’t know I don’t know having bought several homes ourselves don’t appreciate high pressure I feel like when you see a home you like when I’m representing the buyer it should hit on all cylinders if you have any doubt we the pickle team here will never pressure you yeah that’s not what it’s about well it’s it’s about counterproductive and here’s the thing I mean if we really came at you and did the high pressure thing and forced you into a transaction that wasn’t meant to be that’s right it doesn’t matter how fast you try to make it happen real estate transactions take weeks right so you’ll have second thoughts if you mean you’ll have second thoughts it’s honestly totally no point at it that’s right and it falls apart um at the end and so you end up you know buyer’s remorse you walk away no one’s happy the seller isn’t happy you’re unhappy um so the best thing you know that we believe is when you’re excited and you feel right we are there for you every step of the way we’re going to try to make it happen uh present the best offer we possibly can and keep our fingers crossed that the other agent will present the way we present you know and um absolutely and we do the same thing for our sellers absolutely uh you know sellers generally sell you know listing agreements listing contracts if you get a listing agent you’ve signed a contract and they really want to hold you to it which again we think is sort of silly uh but some will and they’ll force you to stay with them you know otherwise you can’t you can’t sell your house into your contracts up uh if someone is is pressuring you to sign a contract or buy something that you’re not sure about or just moving faster than you’re comfortable stop stop I did just don’t it shouldn’t be this high pressure there’s no huge rush we’ve been on many listing appointments and uh some of the fellow you know sellers are like I I just I felt so pressured yeah and I I didn’t like that I felt very uncomfortable but I had to sign that afternoon right after a 30 minute meeting yeah we don’t believe in that no we’re going to give it to you we’re going to give it to you straight we’re going to chat with you we’re going to be up front we’re going to be honest and we’re going to let you sit on that overnight a couple of days whatever it takes think about everything that’s been presented yeah this is the most important financial decision you will ever make yeah you shouldn’t be pressured to buy or list your home yeah under any circumstances it is not very comfortable you need to be a part of the process because the thing is right we are going to be in a little relationship whether we’re selling or whether we’re helping you buy and we will be working together closely hand in hand for up to six weeks if you don’t have a good vibe with your agent and you don’t feel comfortable or you don’t feel heard or you don’t feel um like you can chat with them about concerns they’re not responsive that’s a long time to be under contract with somebody um so you know we’re no pressure yeah we’re low pressure we just feel like you know what if we connect we connect we can assure you 100 if we decide to work with us you are going to get the best representation you can ever have we are available we answer the phone all weekend we answer the phones up to 10 o’clock at night if you’re worried you’re scared something hot happens you know catastrophic we’re here for you to walk you through it and that’s how we roll and I was what’s the point of Happiness yeah yeah that’s kind of the role that we play absolutely one thing I should point out too there’s a good reason why salespeople in general real estate agents specifically use eye pressure tactics they work sometimes at least sometimes they work the high pressure tactics high pressure tactics sure so here’s the thing it’s a little bullying to me it’s bullying don’t worry don’t reward the kind of behavior that you don’t want yes same thing with telemarketers you know if you don’t like any telemarketing calls don’t buy anything from a telemarketer right because as soon as you do the world will get out and more people will call you don’t reward the behavior that you’re looking to stop we want to work together as a team with you whether you’re listing or whether you’re buying we want to be a team we almost become a mini family uh many many of our dearest friends started out as clients yeah absolutely and we like to connect with you not just in a business level but you know let’s get to know each other let’s understand each other let’s understand how you operate under pressure and vice versa we try to keep everything calm cool and collected for you during a very stressful time there’s no doubt about it and we try to make it fun and we do so if you meet with us we are super uber Luber Luber low pressure low pressure low pressure low pressure we are never going to make a hard sell on you we’re never going to say oh my gosh you have to do this or it’s over never never if you make a con Justified decisions chances are you going to pick us absolutely we don’t you know we want you to be comfortable we want you to feel confident and you will get the 100 if not more from us so don’t put up with that stuff don’t don’t put up with that stuff high pressure down thumbs down throw them out throw them out we’re here to help you and yeah and maybe have a little fun along the way as well and get you to the finish line which is the most important part not only to the finish line but to the Finish Line in a happy relaxed confident that the job’s going to get done situation that’s right you you know lots of communication important real estate tip if you want more tips yes we have plenty of tips for you people all over the place all over the place real estate Prescott living in Prescott thanks for doing impressive good things to eat and press good the way to say Prescott I mean we’ve covered a lot of ground and it’s all waiting for you it is all absolutely free absolutely and it is outrageously entertaining and informative and all the wonderful things that I can say about ourselves low pressure low pressure uh but check us out you can find it at four pickle411.com that is our information site hope you have a nice relaxing evening and goodbye from Diana Randall here your Prescott pickle team bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Magic of Photography

In real estate, the definition of a good photographer is someone who can make something look better than it is.  Whether it's the agent's photo on a for-sale sign or the shag carpet in the bonus room, what you see may not be what you get.  

And as a seller, if you think your home can compete these days without decent photography, guess again!  

In this episode, we share our thoughts on the magic of real estate photography and the first impressions it makes in the marketplace.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello hello peeps how’s it going out there here with pickle lady Diane bro realtor yep I’m psychic skunk Pig Randall you’re supporting her in any way that I can sometimes it depends on the day it depends on what she needs help with correct yeah true uh we are here today to talk about the magic of Photography magic or real estate photography real estate Photography in general I think all of us are familiar with filters lighting Etc what you see folks is not always what you get uh as you you know not that I’ve been on those dating websites but if you are sometimes you meet up and you’re like really yeah or my favorite is just look at a real realtor’s uh business cards yeah the business card they’re the sales signs yeah yeah those photographers magic they work their magic fading and switching total baby switch and the same thing when you are selling your home selling your home if you do not have a great photographer or great pictures it’s doing a huge disservice yes it’s not representing your home in its best light no pun intended uh so you have to be really careful you have to make sure you’ve got great photos of your home represented in its best all of the best features yes sunlight sunsets backyards drone shots yes you know uh aerial shots yes you really need to have somebody the pictures selling your house is a process and one of the very first steps is enticing someone into being interested in your home and that’s what the photography does if you have bad photography they’re going to fly right through it just cancel the listing and you know what else it’s not going to happen fellow agents who are house hunting for you will be like ah this one hasn’t looked so good and they’ll pass on it yeah um that is your first first impression both to yourself as well as to fellow Realtors who were looking for their buyers and stuff so always make sure uh let’s review the photos with your listing agent make sure to say can I see them first before uh make sure it’s up to your standards make sure it shows all of the best features of your home only you know what’s the best feature you live in it that’s right you know a photographer may come in and not know at four o’clock the sunset or five is amazing yeah um so make sure you fully communicate with the photographer so we can get the best shots possible and review say may I see them before you go live yes you should you should take a look look at them just make sure that if you were a buyer these pictures would make you want to would this draw you in would you be like wow that kitchen’s beautiful I’ve got to see that house yeah just just a a point that’s important I think it’s the photography in your MLS listing is not there to give you a tour of the home it doesn’t necessarily have to be comprehensive the function of the photos is to make people interested in the house and want to see it draw you in to draw you in that looks interest you’re looking for that that’s it you don’t have to have a picture of the toilet they know you have a toilet I I can’t say hi to MLS how many pictures of toilets and especially a toilet with the seat up oh my God yeah please now I have never seen a buyer see a picture of a toilet I gotta go see that one that is I’ve never made one of those crazy Japanese boys absolutely you have a standard even if it’s a high toilet you know those toilets that powder your bottom and everything else hell yeah I’m all about it [Music] so you know try to get someone who will represent your home and and it’s in its best light and for the buyer’s side you need to understand that a lot of times pictures are not what the home doesn’t look the way the pictures do yeah and that can be a positive thing or negative thing sometimes you see uh pictures they look wonderful hey kudos to the photographer right uh but you need to get somebody in there to see it in person and give you feedback so a lot of times absolutely the homes don’t come out uh are not as good as that you would think there are a couple of photographers who are Michael very good yeah they are amazing magic they’re Wizards and and vice versa so we’ve seen a lot of MLS listings where obviously the real estate agent just pulled out a phone and snapped a few yeah a few pictures that are not well lit they haven’t been photoshopped and make them nice and bright uh they just don’t look good yep and uh we’ll go see those too yeah and if we find a home that is really beautiful and the photography is not good on it guess what we tell our buyers move fast move fast coming low and let’s get this under contract before everyone else figures out sometimes it’s just not represented and that’s a boon to you so we love to go preview first and uh like I said so always be opened and don’t sometimes you see a house here like this is it I love everything about it I love the look of this house I love this and then we go see it you need to trust that we’re going to tell you the truth yeah those were amazing photos but you don’t want to be you don’t want to do it and we’ll do a walk through video too really hard to figure a walk through video yeah you do a walk-through video and you like what you see that you’re you’re basically seeing what you say as you walked in the hallway yeah some people are like no but I really really like it I’m like that’s fine let’s go through it you need to see it in person to get a better understanding perhaps since on a busy road perhaps it’s uh backs up to something you may not want to live or look and you don’t see it in the photos so keep your mind open don’t get your heart set on but that is the perfect house based on the pictures yeah it looks like hell and the pickle lady says no this is a good one yeah watch the walk-through video watch it you’re gonna love it so that’s our little tip for you people out there who are thinking about listing uh hopefully if you list with us we will share all the photos and let you see but always ask whoever you’re working with may I see first what’s happening and if you’re not happy demand better pictures that’s right because that can be how quick or how long your house takes to sell that’s right very important and if you’re a buyer know that some of these pictures it’s a lot of magic involved and I don’t want to don’t don’t set your heart on one home just based on the photos that’s right right all right so that is our topic of the day tip of the day you want more tips and place to go is pickle411.com that is our free information site whether you are a buyer seller is somewhere in between there’s something there that’s free and waiting for you and it will astound and rock your world perhaps perhaps if you have a boring life maybe yeah it’ll be at least one thing there really something that that you’ll be like it was helpful that would be something yes all right so we look forward to hearing from you take care and have an amazing day bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Renting First

Moving to a new town for a new life is a big, bold move.  Lots of our clients consider renting first... kind of like putting a toe in the water before diving in.  In this episode, we explore this option and share lots of good tips and some pitfalls to avoid.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello beeps this is Diane bro your fellow pickle lady and this is my pickle peep Randall bro Mr sidekick Mr sidekick pickle ladies sidekick uh love to meet all kinds of new folks and make your dreams come true that’s right so what we get a lot of questions about is I’ve sold my house I’m not sure where I want to go maybe I’ll rent first and that is that can be a very sensible logical step to take uh but I must let you know if that’s what you have in your pocket you think I’m just going to rent first and then I’ll find uh you should know right now Rancho properties are pretty hard to find yes in Prescott um just to give you a heads up uh they are a lot of them are already taken up we’ve got a lot of new building going on so there are a lot of homes that are being rented out for up to two years now the speculating has inside scoop on some places uh but just as a general warning it’s hard to find good rentals it’s very hard to find a good rental yeah and the thing to remember is um there are very few that will allow you to go month to month yeah it’s gonna I know one person which I’m happy to share when you call me um but for the most part they want a minimum six month lease yeah if not most of them want a year yeah so keep that in mind if you think I’ll just rent a place for three months and then I’ll find my dream home and buy that may not work out for you that’s right because most of them are not month to month and most of the these may not be where you want to stay that’s right um although there are some great rental properties out there you should be aware it’s a little harder to find a great outstanding rental that you would want to live in that will only give you six months most of them uh one at least a year so keep that in mind it’s a little bit harder to find because we have had a lot of new construction so people have grabbed up those great rentals and they’re staying put while their homes are being finished you might have better luck with Airbnb yes and kind of the fault the ultimate fallback is just to run a sweep yes you can go like to a residency yeah like a Residence Inn something like that again if you can find availability uh you can get a better deal if you rent a month at a time yes uh in terms of finding a new home it’s not going to take you six months to find no if you are ready to buy uh you know a couple of months tops and you you’ll probably be ready to go uh yeah it’s it’s hard to find rentals a lot of people have the same idea yep if you haven’t really decided that Prescott is your city then uh yeah you don’t want to commit to six months you know you want it’s a lot plus it’s two moves yeah who wants to move and put everything in storage here and then pay for all the storage and then have another move and hire people to move you into your home so lots of things to think about when it comes to renting a little harder to find the logistics of it all the move of it all it can add a lot of extra expense yeah so things to all keep in mind I am very happy to share a number of rental companies that I can refer you to that perhaps they can help you find that place if that’s really what you want to do happy to do that and um so just keep that in mind though a little bit harder to find there is a lot of extra expense to moves yeah when we moved here we thought about renting and I thought oh dear God I can’t do another move yeah let me just find my place and move right in and jump in and just um you know start my life yeah so that’s what we did yeah I would recommend a one-two punch and that’s what we did your first bunch is come here and spend some time here yep uh I would say a week you know uh usually I mean we people come in for tours and by the end of the day like this place is amazing so it’s not going to take you that long to make yourself decision not at all um so that’s your first punch once you know that you want to move to press it the next time you come if you’re ready to buy a call the pickle lady we will get you an amazing property and we’ll we’ll be able to make that happen to you so you have a nice smooth and easy transaction use it easy yeah don’t absolutely don’t do too much yeah but if you really want to I’ll try to help you and provide some names and hopefully you can find a great job yeah absolutely depends on availability all right just wanted to let you know rentals are not a dime a dozen here no so keep that in mind um because I don’t want you to be caught like I thought I could just rent and then you find out otherwise it’s a little harder that’s right so I want to give you that want to set your expectations okay all right so if you need any help from us feel free to contact us at uh you can find us at pickle411.com that is our information center all free all wonderful information all things real estate all things Prescott whether it’s buying selling homes or just having fun in a good cocktail there you go that’s a place to go that’s what we’re all about okay hope to hear from you soon thank you for listening and take care have a fantastic day bye bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

New Cool HQ

We've just selected a new venue to serve as our new headquarters, and it could not be cooler.  Check out our latest digs and get the backstory on the coolest conference room in town.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello peeps bonjour hi hi hi what’s happening getting a little punchy you’re getting a little punchy diane bro randall bro we’re both career twisted realtors in uh prescott arizona correct coming at you our latest find them good morning good morning we are with exp realty which we’re really proud to be a part of yeah it’s a new and progressive fast-paced brokerage it is a national firm it’s not independently owned and as a result we do not have a brick and mortar building yeah yeah exp not yeah it does not invest in brick and mortar nope uh it’s all technology it’s all virtual it’s all very fast moving uh you know people are concerned the real estate market goes up and down guess what when you don’t own a whole lot of uh brick and mortar you don’t have mortgages you don’t have leases uh you can weather storms a lot better so it’s a great business model whether you’re doing well you’re not doing well but it does mean that we don’t have a conference room right which is okay because sometimes we couldn’t access conference rooms yeah we had access our old brokers we did have access to a conference when it was available and scheduling the conference room was always an ordeal so this is nice what we do now is either we meet you uh where you’re staying or our new favorite place and this is what we wanted to announce is we like to meet at the lobby of the hacienda inn yes which is a very historic older building built in the early 1900s very art deco very charming a lot of history it’s it’s it’s just a cool place it’s a really cool place right in the heart right in the heart of the city right by the square and they’ve got a great little coffee shop so we get a cup of coffee we sit down and we meet and we chat and it’s just lovely sometimes we even get our own little private room it just depends yeah yeah if we have to write up an offer with you or something like that that’s right we have private little nooks where you can close the door that’s right so if you call us to meet typically we’ll say hey we’ll meet you at the hussey and we’ll have a great time uh we love to go to dinner there as well they have a great crunch and a great bar too beautiful bar yeah they have uh live music it’s a great menu it’s a great venue it’s a great introduction you’ve never been a prescott before it’s a great introduction to the city so if you call us and we say hey we’re going to meet you at the hacienda inn that is why my friends that’s why that’s our new headquarters our new headquarters but we also had the time of our life there in fact we’re going to have a surprise birthday dinner there so i want to give a shout out to the hacienda because they’re just awesome yeah a beautiful place beautiful people who run it lovely lovely restaurant lovely bar great eating place and so if you hear from us this is why we go to the hacienda it’s our it’s our new little place our new spot we’d love to give you a little taste of the history there a little feel of being near the square and what that’s all about yeah and then we head out from there to go on our home tour so i shared a few uh shots of the lobby one of my favorite things is they have an old switchboard yeah and an old piano they get some great what was the deal somebody rode their horse all the way up the stairs yeah yeah there’s a there’s a legend there’s a lot of people ask about it riding a horse up the stairs correct and there’s some ghosts yeah some ghosts i haven’t seen any ghosts yet myself we as a matter of fact stayed at the hacienda inn the first time we came in when we were deciding to move here yeah great great place to stay as well a great courtyard too yeah so shout out to the hacienda inn and uh we can’t wait to meet you and have our own personal meeting at the hacienda bay inn that’s it else theater yeah yeah which is our second favorite place second favorite you go there for live music good stuff yeah lots of good stuff and you can find about all of it at our free information center that is pickle411.com whether you are a buyer seller somewhere between there’s information there for you and it’s all free and it’s all just really high quality just give us a call give us a call we’ll fill you in on even more all right hope to hear from you soon have a lovely evening take care bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

What to Offer?

One of the most important and perplexing questions to answer in real estate is what to offer on a home that interests you.  Wouldn't it be nice if there were a simple formula that works in every case?  In this episode, we offer our thoughts on what that might be.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello peeps i make a little dance move with yours preschool pickle lady here diane bro i am the sidekick scum pig randall why thank you i don’t know i like that it’s the happily skunk pizza anyway this is diana randall bro here in prescott arizona coming to you this afternoon to talk to you about with this changing market what to offer when you’re here and you’re ready to pull the trigger yeah you’re not you’re a buyer and you know there’s a house on the market how do you know what to offer how do you know what to offer so the i’m going to cut to the chase here and just tell you the bottom line is you need to have good real estate agents who know what to offer yes no we always always always run a cop first and then we really look at everything and decide hey you know this one was priced a little higher than it should be or this one’s priced just right uh you should have an agent that will always agree to write a copy instead of just diving into and writing an offer right off the bat that’s the first thing always do your homework and make sure your agent will do that due diligence for you and let you know so if you’re looking for some kind of formula oh you always offer five percent class you can’t go buy a formula in this market it’s not like in the 50s where mom and dad would say always go in 10 less sometimes that is the case sometimes that would be a dreadful dreadful mistake yeah so you need to look at uh first of all the home how long has it been on the market is this something that is your dream that you’ve connected to and it’s everything you ever wanted then you don’t want to low ball yeah if you lowball you probably won’t get it yeah if it’s something that makes your heart sing maybe go in a little less yeah um or go in and ask depending on market conditions the competitive situation if we’re anticipating the home may have a lot of um repairs inspection you don’t want to low ball because then they’re not going to be willing to negotiate with you on the repairs i mean they’ve got so many different factors absolutely and you really need to do we strategize with our buyers for every offer we look at all the different factors there are times when we tell people you’re going to have to go well over asked this is about where you know you need to go there are other times when we tell people this one’s been sitting a while they haven’t adjusted they’re asleep at the wheel we think you can not uh knock them for a bit and we come in lower their times i can think of at least a couple of transactions where you know this listing agent has underpriced this home and they don’t know it yet we need to get the offer do full and just go just move fast and everything in between it really depends on the situation and you really need to have some agents who can help you strategize that way it’s all about strategy it’s not formulaic you can’t say a plus b and we’ll get this no every house every property is different every house may be on market days on market maybe longer maybe shorter that all comes into play as well sometimes if it’s been on them for a while you might have some wiggle room and you can go in a little bit lower yeah you know it’s all just a strategy strategy strategy and the situation you got to know the situation you know oh there’s a building project right around the corner that may affect property values how does that play into what we offer you know you got to look at all that stuff and so you need to have agents who are educated they know what’s going on in your current market uh what’s going on uh with this particular neighborhood versus this neighborhood what can i expect so try to get an agent who’s willing to strategize with you let’s sit down over coffee let’s really look at this in depth and get you the offer that you will win that’s right especially if it’s the home of your dreams and why not just get the home to get the home at the best price right so we would like to think and we know that we are the team for you to help you strategize and get you the best deal and just a word of warning i wanted a warning we do a fair number of listings as well and if we have a buyer agent that comes in and we know that person’s not particularly savvy you’re gonna lose value i mean we’ll we we know how to adjust what we do for the seller for that so if whether we’re the selling agents and someone else is the selling agent if that selling agent knows what they’re doing and you have an agent that doesn’t that is a distinct disadvantage make no mistake yes so we hope that if you’re thinking about buying or selling give us a call we love to strategize sit down over a cup of coffee make it happen and lay out a really good plan of action that’s what it’s all about is getting you the best deal on either side and making it happen that’s right all right my friends if you need more information you can go to our website at pickle411.com whether you’re a buyer or seller or somewhere in between that is the place for you they have free information there that will rock you out it’s true i know why there are some times on my name yeah i go by and i watch videos of myself in a moment well i don’t do that i i don’t do that at all but the website is pretty healthy that’s pretty good it’s a lot there i’ve gone there sometimes i forget what it put on there yeah so anyway we hope to hear from you soon and we’d love to plan and strategize with you on your next steps take care and have a wonderful day bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Escalation Clauses

Want to avoid overpaying for real estate in a competitive market?  Want buyers to be aggressive in bidding for your home?

As controversial as it is effective for both buyers and sellers, this real estate power tool is the focus of what turned out to be an exceptionally vigorous lecture on just what you need.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello yahoo i’m very energetic i am i got a lot of energy today feeling good about myself feeling not so good about me well i feel good about i’m just saying feeling i’m randall i’m the skunk pig so uh i’m with my remember the skunk pig yeah they’re the javelinas oh yeah no i’m just here with the preschool feeling good today lots of energy yes this is my handsome husband randall bro best smelling skunk pig you’ll ever see in your life we are here today to talk about something kind of technical yeah uh kind of controversial but if you if you want to invest in real estate uh or get a good price when you’re home uh you need to know about it and that is a escalation escalation clause now uh in the heyday when everything was going crazy we saw a lot more use of this yeah we are still seeing use of it but it might be dying out a little bit but an escalation clause is a really good thing to employ if you’re up for it correct so we’ve been doing escalation clauses for a while and then when the market went crazy with cobit and everything that everyone kind of discovered them it was kind of the thing to do right so just to be clear an escalation clause is a clause it’s a phrase on your offer your the contract that you are submitting to the seller that says let’s just say you know i might i offer 500 000 but i am willing to beat any competitive offer by x dollars and you know that what that x is we you know that’s part of the strategy does that have to be how high do you really want to how high do you want to go so typically you know i offer 500 000 and but i’ll offer 2 000 more than any competitive offer up to and including say 520 yes yeah that would be an escalation clause to 520. and uh kind of weird uh here’s the thing it kind of makes the situation work more like an auction so it allows the buyer to raise their bid if they’re in a competitive situation and obviously from a buyer’s standpoint that’s a good thing you don’t have to pay more than you need to that’s right in order to beat us so maybe you could beat a competitive offer at 512 instead of just flat 520 yeah right so just yeah so as an example let’s say you offered you know the 500 000 escalating to 520 uh let’s say there was a competitive offer at 5 12 well you would get it at 5 14. you would beat the 512 at 5 14. let’s say someone else escalated to 5 15 when you would get it to 5 17. but it’s still you know you’re going to max out at your limit of 520. but instead of paying 520 you might get it like you said 512. yeah which you know yeah would you know you’d like that yeah so uh buyers like the idea of escalation clauses um sellers maybe not so much we do have sellers uh listing agents who will put in mls oh no escalation no escalation just bring best and final yeah best and finally technically speaking if we send in an escalation clause they have to present they still have to present it they might not but they should and uh it is in our opinion it is a mistake for a seller to say no escalation costs and that is the reason why is that buyers will get much more aggressive if they’re allowed to do an escalation clause what they don’t want to do is to go thirty thousand dollars over list price when all they had to do was five thousand right so if you tell them no escalation clause they’re not going to go to 550. they’re going to go to 505 you know because they don’t want to leave money on the table so our opinion in seeing the dynamics of the situation seeing buyers facing very competitive situations our buyers will go much higher as part of an escalation clause than they would ever do just putting a single best and fun and the best thing about it is because people will say yeah but how will i really know there was a competitive offer and i want to say yeah well the other side has to present yeah they got to give the other offers so that you can see for sure yeah they did get an offer for 5 15 but i will win it for 517. yeah you have to have proof of that so it’s not just taking word taking someone’s word um so you do kind of have a little check and balance there so don’t worry about that yeah if you if your listing agent is pushing you back as a seller against escalation clauses um number one not in your best interest that’s our opinion and number two i’ve actually come across a number of listing agents who just kind of have trouble with the arithmetic honestly if you’ve got it i understand because if you’ve got a lot of offers and you’re trying to you know break them out yeah it’s a little extra you know it can be i’ve actually been in a situation where it kind of had to work yeah and it’s a lot of work it’s a lot of good through the calculation but making a mistake buyer or seller escalation clauses are a good thing that’s why they do auctions yep you know and the way it works real estate is set up there it’s not well you can do an auction there are systems where you can actually do an aux auction for real estate they do that for distressed uh real estate um you know repossessions and that sort of thing but typical real estate transactions they don’t an escalation clause is is a way to introduce an auction-like mechanism and it benefits both buyers and sellers that was a lot of words that was a lot that was a lot of words other than that i have let me help you catch you bro my god thank you oh lord i feel very passionate i think anyway it’s a useful tool that we’d like to share with you guys especially our buyers and give you a little education about it yeah don’t be afraid of them um they can be great be your best friend they can be your best friend you’re my best friend i would never put an escalation clause ahead of you yes you would of course you depends on the deal depends on the there you go there you go that’s the truth folks that’s the truth so anyway that’s our little lecture and escalation on escalation clauses yes if you are looking to buy or sell a home do not hesitate to reach out to us yeah the pic prescott pickle lady hotline is 713-302-1964 yes it’s a it’s a houston number we haven’t changed it like most people relocating the press it is a houston number that’s where you find her if you’re looking for free information the place to go people is pickle411.com.com pickle41199 or somewhere in between there is free and vigorous information waiting for you cigarettes yeah i don’t know whether whether you’re looking for real estate information events restaurants well i think the escalation clause lecture you just gave was quite vigorous yeah it was very vigorous yeah but other vigorous things that people 411. you’ll enjoy it yeah you’ll learn something all free it’s cool all free we don’t charge people we should charge [Music]

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Buyers Are Back!

By now you've heard that real estate market is a crazy seller's market, with low inventory and houses flying off the shelves way above asking price.  

Well, guess what...  Buyers are back, baby!  

Things are changing quickly.  In this episode, we bring you the very latest from the front lines of Prescott-area real estate and what you can expect in the weeks and months ahead.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello my little fellow pickle peeps people pickle pickle peepers that’s right we’ve had some comments from some people and i you know so they said where’s the hello hello hello did she retire the hello i well i didn’t do it on purpose i didn’t even realize and they were like we kind of missed the hello hello bye popular demand so back by popular demand i’m here to say hello hello hello trademark hope everybody’s doing great out there today we are yeah we’re trying we’re doing our best we’re doing really good we’re excited cheers to you good day today um we kind of want to talk a little bit about our changing market changing market buyers are back my friends buyers are bad baby here you go so for that yeah for the for the longest time uh i guess kobet kind of kicked us off the middle of 2020 started a seller rampage show so a lot of people deciding they wanted to move you know change of change of life change of work time to retire i’m tired of this i’m checking out uh but a lot of sellers weren’t selling i guess they were afraid to put their home on the market for whatever reason we had very high demand but very low supply so now what we’re finding not so much anymore kind of like a stick of margarine starting to soften a little bit there you go when you start to yeah when you when you go to bake you bakers out there no you kind of want to soften them so anyway the market is softening up a little bit numbers indicate that we’re kind of close to a balanced market yeah uh in particular higher end homes uh we’re even seeing uh uh buyers markets even strong buyers markets at some of the higher end price points so buyers are back uh buyers are back baby yeah so instead of homes jumping off the market a little more time to consider uh if you’ve been waiting for the market to kind of soften a little bit before you’re really willing to jump in as a buyer now is a good time so you know what we’re finding it’s it’s actually a little refreshing because uh those of you who’ve been looking we’ve been in a frenzy like get your offer in and i don’t even know if you’re going to get it unless you’re at full ask or over and they’ll you’ll be up against 10 other offers very discouraging yeah uh very high pressure now it’s kind of nice uh prices are not dropping dramatically nothing like that prices are pretty stable pretty stable but yeah some some small adjustments uh the the market was the prices were appreciating so fast that when you first list a home we would uh appreciate we would price into the appreciation so if it’s going to be a month or two before you close you don’t want it to look like you understood the home correct so we were kind of pricing up and all the listing agents were starting to get that uh so when the market started uh kind of uh mellowing out a little bit uh we saw some price decreases but i think they were just basically taking off the the little extra added so folks don’t think we’re going to have to crash like that’s not going to happen first of all we still have a high demand people are looking for homes there’s high inventory back in the olden days when we had that terrible drop there was a glut of homes on the market plus a glut of people walking away from loans that they had no business having in the first place yeah so now you know that was the story of 2008 yeah correct so now the lenders are very strict so not so many people walking away yeah no go out of here no blood of homes new construction is still far out all those homes have been paid for there’s not going to be a huge bunch of homes are gonna be thrown on the market with no buyers right so we just kind of want to let you know instead of having this high pressure like we must get the offer in we’ll be one of 15. now you know give us a couple of days you can write the offer up it might be one of two or three offers so it’s a little bit more breathing room yeah uh which i like um and higher price points even even less so yeah yeah you will probably be the only mark particularly for existing homes have been around a little while uh yeah so we’re kind of excited and the main thing that we’re excited about is um our favorite favorite favorite thing to do is when we have a listing is to try to find one of our buyers that we can connect and uh you know introduce our buyer to our sellers listing it’s our favorite thing to do and um it just happened today so we’re super excited um nothing makes me happier than to see both sides of my clients uh reach a good decision reach a good um yeah you know the deal works so well for both of them yeah and you feel really good so today we had one of those just serendipitous days and everything fell into place yeah and uh so kudos to our listeners and kudos to our buyers uh lovely both sides great great people great people nothing makes our heart happier than to see two people come to uh you know a you know meeting of the minds the media of the body yeah yeah and everybody’s happy and that is my favorite thing we can really bring two parties together yeah we we were doing some of that i mean we always do uh but we were able to do less of it just because we tell our sellers look i mean you can wait for us to find you a buyer but the market is so crazy right now we really can’t recommend that you do that you really should go on mls you know and open up you’re going to have multiple offers and everything now buyers are a little more scarce yeah and uh you know we will always have buyers and so we’re able to make some more connections this is the i think the second we call this our secret agent deal by the way you will see that on our website um this is the second one in like a couple of months two weeks yeah two weeks yeah that’s right that’s right two weeks so yeah it just tickles us when we can connect two parties and make the deal happen and everybody’s thrilled and it’s easy peasy for our sellers and our buyers are just delighted um it’s kind of nice when you have the inside skinny and we’re like honestly i know the perfect house for you yeah and it’s just a beautiful thing yeah time to make those matches yeah time to take your buyer around and let them settle in on what they’re really looking for and uh this this transaction in particular really good pairing yes so you know we did our shopping we took them around and they kept circling back to uh our listing and so anyway it’s just a happy time when that happens and we thoroughly really that it’s a good fit so anyway we advertise a lot and so we bring a lot of buyers in from out of state and uh if i have a listing that i think might work for them we try to connect those two and it’s a beautiful thing beautiful thing a beautiful beautiful thing when it does happen so anyway uh we just wanted to share that i’m going to let you know if you’re feeling high pressure start to take a chill pill people it’s kind of getting things are getting back closer to more yeah more peace out more so yeah yeah so it’s uh it’s been nice yeah uh if you’re interested in market information i’ll put a link down below this video where you can check out our market analysis we do that every month and we update it for what’s going on so if you’re not uh up to speed on what’s going on in the prescott market that is a really good place to start it is so if you are looking uh to list your home or you’re looking to buy a home uh look up the pickle lady look up the pickle randall and diane bro here of prescott arizona we are your local husband and wife team we’d love to connect you with the perfect home for whatever you may need that’s right that’s right so give us a call 713-302-1964 or or you can go to pickle411.com there is our information site whether you are a buyer a seller or somewhere in between you can find what you’re looking for there always free always dynamic and personable and all the good things i can say about that uh but good stuff good stuff like that completely free lots of good information there whether you’re interested in real estate or the social scene or whatever market conditions we got a whole lot going on pick all four one put it out there to all the masses so those of you who said where’s hello hello hello i’m back baby hello hello hello now i’m going to say goodbye goodbye until our next one until our next one have a great day bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

New Paperwork Requirements

Real estate runs on paperwork, and if you've bought or sold any recently, you may have been struck by just how much there is.  Well, the Prescott real estate association (PAAR), keepers of the local MLS, have just come down with new rules that could lead to fines if some of that paperwork isn't completed quickly enough.  Find out about these latest gotchas and what we think about them in this episode.

Video Transcript

hello top of the morning to you good morning folks this is diana randall bro here prescott lady and sidekick respectively that’s right we are your husband and wife duo here in prescott arizona happy to bring you here show you around hopefully you’ll stay we’ve made so many great friends from clients it’s just been um that’s part of the happy part of our time it’s a great time guys yeah and there’s a reason why people come here it’s a great time so today we wanted to talk about some new things that are coming up in real estate yeah lots of rule changes lots of little changes yeah this is actually this is something that should have been done a while ago so i was glad to see this come down uh so the new rule from the local association is that you cannot go live so you’re selling a home your home cannot go live on mls until you have uh if you need disclosures for an hoa or lead-based pain so lead-based pain is anything before 1978. that’s right home was built before 1978 you’re going to need a lead-based pain disclosure so you’ll know that right away uh if you’re in an hoa you will need an hoa disclosure this is paperwork uh in particular the hoa it could be a pain yeah someone more complicated yes some can be complicated uh it has to be done and posted as part of the mls record before your home goes live in mls let me tell you why that makes sense from a buyer perspective so we have buyers that that come in they like a home we know there’s an hoa and we want to make an offer part of that offer is who pays the hoa the transfer fees basically um if we don’t have a disclosure then we can’t really make the offer yeah yeah so what that does is yeah so essentially that’s the listing agent making the buyer agent call the hoa to find out what’s going on and that’s not the buyer agent’s job that’s the listing agent’s job yeah so uh buyer agents have gotten smart and what they do is they send an offer that anything that’s undisclosed you have to pay and sellers didn’t like that sellers aren’t happy with that they’re like wait a minute i so we’ve been why am i paying that things have been getting sort of better we’ve been seeing more compliance there well now if you go live and you do not have an hoa disclosure or a lead based disclosure if you need that uh the listing agent will be fined like just straight up so uh that’s good because listing it that’s part of the listing agent’s job it’s a little bit of homework it’s a little bit of homework part of the negotiation uh in particular in hoa areas where those fees can be substantial um so it’s something that needs to be done and now now you have to do it yeah it’s fair and you should not expect a buyer or the buyer’s agent to have to figure that out and sometimes the seller you know maybe they’ve lived there 20 years like jeez i don’t even remember do i have to pay a transfer fee yeah i think there is a transfer fee like if you live in prescott lakes there is a transfer stream um all sellers have to pay a disclosure fee regardless period end of sentence yeah we all know that but there’s some transfer fees if you’re in an hoa some don’t have it some do and you should also disclose what your ho your quarterly hoa is is it monthly is it annual is it quarterly and there’s always something to know that yeah that’s an important part of their yeah decision they’re like you know i have so much of a budget for my house note how much is my uh hoa going to be because if it’s too much i might have to reconsider and go to a different area all important stuff if you were out there and you’re the buyer and so anyway we’re kind of excited that our local listing service is putting that into effect yes um because sometimes my buyers are here for a short time they want to write that offer up and the hoa is not open until monday yeah if they’re here in a weekend so we can’t give them the answer yes some of the the transfer fees involved are negotiated how are you going to negotiate if you don’t know what they are exactly so uh it this is the was the right thing to do we supported 100 yes and we’re excited yeah we’re excited in our listings we’ve always done this because it’s the it’s the way to do it right if you’re working with buyers you know that uh and and we work with both so uh we’ve kind of always done that we’re glad to see it one thing i will point out if you are a seller this is yet one more thing that has to be done before your home can go live uh generally it’s it from the time you sell a listing agreement until your home is hitting on all cylinders it’s on mls and agents out there are seeing it one or two weeks uh you know the more that the listing agent has to do the longer that takes yep so uh that’s true understand now that uh this is yet one more thing that has to happen and it’s important so we wanted to explain why it’s important and and why uh the rule makes sense so uh yeah good job we’ll be a little more a little more patient as a seller because there are a bunch of things that have to happen absolutely so that is our little tidbit of the day we hope that this helps explain some of the process yeah right absolutely right thank you for listening and give us a call at 713-302-1964 if you need any kind of help or have questions we’re happy to try to answer and help you out we also have uh information site you can find that at pickle411.com whether you are a buyer seller somewhere in between lots of information about prescott the prescott real estate market local restaurants things to do uh things to do with your dog i mean [Music] we just have a lot of fun sharing our wealth of information every time we come across a nugget we put it on that’s right we actually make a list people let’s lose and uh over a month we might have eight topics and we will sit down and film all eight topics one nugget at a time yeah pop in our little brains like that’s something to talk about let’s do it our website is where you need to pan for gold it’s where all the nuggets are all those maybe most of them are gold maybe you might find some other nuggets there that’s right

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Non-Buying Trips

If you have never been to Prescott or haven't made up your mind yet where you want to end up, then scheduling a non-buying trip to tour the city and see representative homes in the area is a great idea - and we'd be glad to help you with that.  Just make sure we know what kind of trip you're on, because buying and non-buying trips are very different animals - which we discuss in this episode.

Video Transcript

i’m going to change this up and say good midday good midday good midday good news good okay [Laughter] it’s crazy i tell you but anyway it’s been a long day sometimes when i film with him um but i am diane bro this is my better half cheese pickle eddie that’s right randall brown sidekick we are a husband and wife team here in the heart of prescott arizona we love to help people come here find their dream home just like we did several years ago we love it here and we embrace all people who come you guys will love it it’s just a really unique tale this is our way of telling you kind of what life is like that’s right you can find here what people do here that’s right all the good stuff so sometimes when people will call and they’re like hey i want to come in and let’s set a date great please first step always call me first or enter your appointment on our calendar um don’t just show up in an hour before say hey we’re here could you meet with us a lot of times i’m booked yeah and so i hate nothing more that i hate than saying i can’t meet with you because i’m booked up for the next couple of days so call me first we’ll put you on the calendar and then i may call you back or email you and ask a number of questions it’s not to be intrusive or nosey or anything else but it really helps me hone down on the home search the most important question is is this a buying or a non-buying trip and some people like well i don’t want that kind of pressure it’s not really meant to pressure you it’s just to help me if it’s a non-buying trip i will maybe just include a few homes a few neighborhoods and maybe try to select those homes that are vacant or you know no one’s there so that you know we don’t interrupt the owner too much yeah it’s also a matter of focus so if you know we understand that this is a pro a process and we have no problem with non-buying trips absolutely we’re just trying to figure out what you’re trying to achieve if you’re trying to buy a house we need to show you specific houses because you’re going to buy one that’s right if you’re not going to buy one you’re kind of thinking prescott might be the place to go but you’re not sure it’s not just about homes it’s about the city and what goes on in the city and the different areas we’re going to focus more on trying to find the areas that make the most sense for you rather than the specific homes that won’t be available when you’re ready to buy exactly i mean so for my non-buying buyers i say hey you know what i want to give you a sampling of all that the city has to offer so if you’re a golfer if you want social amenities let me focus on those neighborhoods and show you a couple of homes in there and then i’d like to give you a i call it a potpourri sampling we’re going to kind of go around and mix it all up and see all areas all different neighborhoods so you can kind of decide you know what i really love i really love stone ridge or i really love prescott lakes or i really love talking rock and that’s fine so the next time when you come back and it is a buying trip that’s all we’re going to focus on yeah if it’s a buying trip and you know hey this is exactly what i want i’ve already been there i want this then guess what i’m going to exclusively concentrate on those areas and try to find the best home that exactly fits your requirements it’s a lot of fun for me i enjoy it especially when i have bigger inventory yeah yeah um but we try super hard to find one that you will connect with yeah yeah we give you a sale if it’s a non-buying trip we’ll get you in a few homes just to kind of give you a sense of what different price points will buy you correct what kind of features are available whether they’re views or not what kind of architecture you know what style of home you know that sort of thing we’ve given you more of a feel rather than trying to fit you into a specific home right and we also tour you as well as we go along so whether it’s in prescott valley or prescott we point out all the major places stores etc so you really get a good education on what prescott has to offer and then when you’re ready and you come in to buy we’re ready to do it let’s let’s let’s hone in on that and let’s find that perfect place and let’s do it yeah so uh uh you know sometimes people are a little taken aback when i ask that question i’m really not here to make you feel pressured i am the worst i am not a hard sell i am the softest cell i think probably on earth um first of all i don’t think i have to do a hard sell i think prescott sells itself it’s a it’s a lovely town it’s gorgeous i think a lot of the homes here sell themselves i don’t have to force you to do anything and i would never do that anyway right that’s not who i am and it you know i just don’t believe in that everybody has to be here 100 and then it works out beautifully so when i ask you is this a non-buying or a buying trip don’t be like i’m feeling pressure it’s truly not meant that i’m trying to serve you better by figuring out exactly that’s exactly it so anyway if you hear from me and start asking you some questions don’t get nervous don’t get don’t get uh wigged out it’s just for me to kind of either make it a an intense day of finding you the perfect home or just a nice tour sampling the areas and so when you do make that final decision you’re ready to to to go in the air you want to go to yep absolutely so that is all so i don’t want you to ever feel pressured i’m not all about that i’m all about the soft sell and um just finding what’s you know touches your heart because that’s what it’s all about for me it’s an emotional decision as well as an investment but the most thing is what attaches what connects to you i should say what connects to you absolutely that’s more important because that’s the only way you know you have to be some place you want to be and then you’re super happy with your decision absolutely okay so if you need to reach us to buy or sell or anything else any other questions believe me i get questions all day long and i’m so happy to answer and help and where’s this and where’s that what about this and what about that give us a call at or you can go to our information site you can start at pickle411.com whether you’re a buyer seller somewhere in between lots of free information about real estate about prescott about prescott valley and yep uh restaurants and things to do and all kinds of stuff all of it all of it yeah very informative there’s a search bar so you can look for whatever that’s right you can just type in where to get your nails done yeah that’s true on and on and on exactly so anyway we hope to hear from you and thank you for listening have a fantastic day bye bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs

Corvettes vs. Driveways

If you have a Corvette or other type of car that rides low to the ground, then you'll want to tune in for our latest Wine Down episode.  Here's the rub: Prescott is a town with terrain, so low-riding vehicles can bottom out easily here - especially in driveways that are steep or have not been properly graded.  

In this episode we reveal our very own Cajun-style invention you can use to check to make sure you can get the Corvette in the garage without scraping.  And like all good DIY tools, it's cheap to make and easy to use. 

You can find our episode on Bridjits here...
https://prescottpicklelady.com/vehicles/

More info on the Bridjit device...
https://www.bridjit.com/

Video Transcript

good morning good morning peeps randall and diane bro here he’s breast piccolating i am i am the gherkin sidekick he is the gherkin sidekick yes i just jarred another five gallons another five gallons doing our part in production yeah so if you give me a call or we see you i’m happy to bring you a jar of my famous cajun that’s right logistics problems do not hold back never the pickle production that is correct always in production and always excited to share yes um my pickles with everybody but anyway uh we are i digress we are here to talk today about something called driveways and corvettes driveways and corvettes well what i’ve noticed yeah how about you lately everywhere in prescott i see people driving corvette after corvette yeah lots of corvettes here it’s a big cars of all types are big here vintage cars and they have uh uh we’ll have shows with mg and but it seems the corvettes are kind of uh taking center stage yeah vintage corvettes brand new corvettes um the new ones have beautiful colors yeah beautiful so shout out to mr goodman and to the lucex who are also fellow uh friends and clients yep who corvettes yeah corvettes here’s the thing about corvettes they ride low to the ground super super low to the ground not the only cars that ride low to the ground no they’re producers also ride low to the ground priuses uh any number of so the hot rod cars you know testosterone and all that stuff that they ride low to the ground which helps you i guess with the air flow when you are i get it i mean i get the design yeah um the design doesn’t always work for us as realtors that’s right yeah the problem is we are a mountain town so we do have terrain they have any number of areas around town you’re driving your corvette you’re going to bottom out yep and sometimes when you don’t expect it and i hate the sound of that we have a sedan uh we also have the pickle van the pickle band rides low the scene does not ride very high yeah uh from time to time you know we get a bit of a scrape if you have a car that’s really low you’re gonna be scraping a lot so be careful with that and in particular be careful about your right way yes so but the pickle lady team yeah we’ve come up with a solution yeah we did yeah so a lot of times kind of thing right people will come in and they’re like oh my gosh i love this house i love everything about it the driveway is not going to work for my corvette we just had this with a really super nice climb so i was out i came home and like where are you because we were getting ready to go meet them and randall says well i’m i’m over here at lowe’s i’m like what are you doing we need to be gone and he came back and he actually devised this tool that helps us measure yes um the the the how low the car is the clearance on the driveway so just it’s very science you think it would be easy you know it’s not about the front of the car it’s really not about the back of the car it’s really about the middle of the car so what happens is you have you have like a little hump in your driveway you know because it’s it’s you’re going up terrain or whatever and you have like a little hump if the front tires go down faster than the back tires are going up uh you may scrape in the middle so i made a little device where it uses yardsticks and uh it’s pretty much it you know it’s orange and engaging contraption it’s our own invention nobody tried to patent this that’s right i think i’m gonna make one instead of instead of rope i might do one with uh with some kind of wood to get but the idea is you uh you measure the clearance of the tires and how far apart the tires are and the yardsticks kind of show you they represent the tires and if the rope is touching your driveway then you’re probably going to scrape and it’s not an exact thing but barring you know actually bringing the car in and trying it out it’ll give you a good idea um i don’t know why they don’t use a device like that to actually pave what else did your driveways what else did you bring oh we also did uh the other issue was the the slope of the driveway may be of concern for the the pods the storage units the storage containers so we had to we had to measure the pitch to see if they were going to allow the client to put the storage unit in the driveway or it was going to be too angling that’s right so here’s the thing people you think we’re just here writing up a contract and chit chatting as we do with this on these little videos we actually are full service yeah uh we’re out there measuring we’re coming up with new measurements uh measurement uh equipment we’re inventing a group correct we we are we’re double time here we’re like you know what we’re going to figure out about this corvette for sure before you make a decision the other thing we love to talk about and we have it in our own house is something called a bridget oh yeah the bridge shout out to the bridgette the bridgette company yeah i think we did it we did a video i think on bridget’s so in our particular little babies subdivision or neighborhood of uh prescott lakes called creekside they did a really horrible job on the curbs the curbs are too high yeah so in effect it you have a speed bump going into your home driveway okay so most of the neighbors here have this device called a bridge which is made out of the same kind of rubber that make tires it’s amazing so shout out to the bridge the bridging company so that’s a tip for you guys yeah definitely if you are having a hard uh you know jump up over a curve into your garage look at the bridge of the company yeah i’ll put it if i find that our old wine down on the bridgette i’ll put to think on it it’s it’s supersize so between the bridget and our measurement tools and uh knowledge and know-how yeah we will make sure that car is gonna work it’s gonna fit yeah yeah because a lot of times homes here are built into terrain we don’t have super flat necessarily driveways and uh it’s important to understand that when you’re coming here um either get rid of those cars or we’re gonna try to figure it out and make it we’re trying to make it work don’t be disappointed if not listen buy a new car and get a higher higher clearance because you’re going to you’re going to want that we’re going to run into it time and time again here unfortunately just because of the nature of the terrain if you’re you’re a collector or you know you have a a really beautiful car and that’s kind of what you’re in you may want to consider some sort of alternative storage you know a garage or something where you can store it might you might do better than keeping it in your own garage but the main point of this particular video though was just to talk about how we’re full service um we have a measurement uh equipment now in place to help you really determine with pretty much 95 accuracy i would say well i mean you’re going to really tell you you just you know if it says you’re you’re not going to scrape you probably want to try the car you know i mean the ultimate test is the car itself um but if it tells you you’re gonna scrape and you’re probably gonna scroll i mean it’s it in the end it’s yardsticks and it’s rogue it’s yardstick you know and i’m not an engineer now you know but i mean we will try to help you do your due diligence for it and show you what’s going on but the good thing is is that uh you know if you’re coming in from out of state you may not have that car with you right we try to in the interim give you some idea of whether or not it’s going to work yeah so that is our tip of the day yeah it is important here so cheers to you for coming up with that little system we love it we love it and we love it so give us a call if you have any questions or if you’d like to see a home or list a home we’re at 713-302-1964 yeah if you’re just looking for information place for that is pickle411.com that is our information site whether you are buy or sellers somewhere in between all kinds of information about prescott and uh real estate and life and restaurants and all kinds of things that are going on you never know what will pop in our little in our little p brains and out of cons trying to make it informative and entertaining try we try that’s what we do okay well good luck to you if you’re out there looking call us we’re happy to help you and have a great rest of your day absolutely bye

--->Join Our Weekly Wind Downs