Cost of Living – The "Prescott Pickle Lady"

Utilties & Our Free Concierge Service

People are always asking us about utilities, so we thought we would do an update on the cost (and availability!) of water, power, gas... and all the rest.

Also, we are delighted to announce a new, full-service, human-powered concierge service we offer to our clients for getting utilities disconnected where you're coming from and reconnected where you're going to... all completely free.

Previous Episode: Typical Utility Costs - Month by Month

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello peeps excuse me I got a little tickled excuse me welcome welcome this is Diane and Randall we’re in Prescott Arizona coming to you live recording recording live we’re recording everyone records live yeah that’s pretty much because that’s redundant to say because yeah yeah it’s always live it’s a recording it’s not a recording we are here we get a lot of questions about this to our new folks who are buying and moving in yeah all about utilities here utilities so a couple things I want to say before we get into some of the the meat of this utilities here because a lot of people question especially coming out from California water is very reasonable electricity is very reasonable gas is very reasonable so you’re not going to be paying the high high utilities some of the bills that you see maybe in other areas of the country so we get a lot of concerned about that will there be enough water is there water rationing I just want to say real quick before we get into the other stuff no no we don’t have any water restrictions there are no water issues here they’re not predicting any water issues here any major development that goes in has to prove it has a 100 Year water plan and if they can’t they’re not building yeah they have to find another area so also not a big agricultural place here uh you know everything is zeriescape so as they say so people aren’t watering their lawns and all that so never think I had more water restrictions in Texas oh yeah we had water restrictions pretty pretty regular all the time I don’t run your water from this to this doesn’t have never happened so anyway and I just want to let you know utilities are not Uber expensive here never happen and don’t predict that they will be in the future a while ago I put together a schedule of our utilities month by month which is on our relocation Center if you go to our website prescottpicklelady.com you look for the relocation Center or you can go to Prescott relocationcenter.com and look up utilities um you’ll find our schedule there so don’t worry about that and of course ours is a little higher because I run it cold in the summer yeah yeah um but if you’re a person yeah and our house is a little over 3 000 square feet yeah so it’s a lot to AC it’s smaller so yeah so but I mean if you’re like most normal people who run their air on 75 you’ll be just fine don’t so don’t look at us as the best example the worst case I mean we’ll give you the worst case but something we were excited about and this will tie in now to utilities when you’re moving here and signing up we have a program through our brokerage that allows you just to go online and enter in your home that you’re in now and the new home that you’re going in and it will hook you up and disconnect so you don’t have to get on the phone like I did for 30 minutes and give all the information and this that and the other it makes it a lot easier yeah so the the program is called utility connect uh and it’s it’s driven by a very sophisticated technology called a human being something you contact them and they will assign you a human being who will do all that stuff for you uh the service is free yes uh they will help you schedule the disconnect of where you’re coming from and they will help you schedule the the connection on where you’re going to uh now some utility companies do not play with the utility connect people yeah uh well you know whether it’s in Prescott or you know maybe your utility company may not do that either if that’s the case then the concierge person uh will give you the contact information and tell you what you need to do so they’ll say hey whatever they won’t play with us but I’m going to give you the information and then you’ll have to do it the old-fashioned way but um it sure is nice to have them help you with the disconnection yeah on the other end as well it’s a great great product and we’re really excited and we’ve had a couple of clients use it and say wow it was so much easier yeah and faster now we have all the utility numbers to call here in Prescott obviously we won’t have the numbers where you’re coming from uh those numbers can do it all we can’t do it all uh the but the utility connected will yeah um the numbers change we try to keep them up to date but that information changes and it’s different depending on what area you’re moving into the utility connect people will help you negotiate all that stuff make it as easy as they possibly can absolutely they’ll also do um your your phone your mail uh they’ll do uh I like the mail that’s good too yeah your internet connections and stuff like that that can do all that stuff for you so it’s a pretty cool product cool product yeah so anyway if you call us and we find you the home of your dreams we’re going to connect you to utility connect that’s right and uh just make one more piece of this move easy for you that’s right and that’s what we are all about as your real estate team of Prescott yeah that’s us that’s us the pickle lady oh so that’s our tip of the day tip of the tips good place to go is pickle411.com whether you are a buyer seller somewhere in between there is something there waiting for you that will amaze and Astound you yes whether it’s real to stay places to eat things to do uh it’s all there it’s all fun and it’s all amen hallelujah brother amen good job yeah okay okay hope to see you soon give us a call bye bye

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Thoughts for 2023

Another difficult year is past, and all eyes turn forward to the new year before us.  In this episode, we make our predictions for what 2023 will hold and share some thoughts about what it could mean for you.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello I am Diane this is my better half Randall yes we are correct uh we are fellow Realtors together and fighting in the trenches for you and all of our fellow buyers fellow sellers um we are with exp Realty and we are delighted to be here to help you guys and uh as you’re thinking about next chapters new chapters new chapters which brings us to 2023 New Year they’re getting better every year so probably the one of the worst was 20 20 was tough yeah yeah true this past year was not as bad not as bad it’s getting back crazy a lot of the uncertainty it’s things are starting to settle down I know people are concerned about interest rates and you know end of times and this that and the other and honestly the end of times thing is kind of people are past the end of times they understand the elections are behind us I think we’re going to start getting more on a smoother path now um we just can’t dwell on all of that we just have to keep moving forward and being happy and the wherever we are in whatever chapter you are don’t think about all this stuff we don’t honestly this is my opinion don’t have a lot of control over it yeah I can’t change uh politics I can’t change interest rates I can’t change uh what’s going to come this year I can’t change covet yeah um all I can do is the best every single day and put one foot in front of the other that’s right that’s how you that’s all any of us can do my friends right cheers I really that’s great cinnamon I I really believe that this is my prediction for 2023 I think wait who was it uh so I believe it was Calvin Kelvin Coolidge who termed the uh the word normalcy oh yeah right actually the actual word is normality but uh people say normalcy now he’s the one who that’s like strategy thanks George W injury so uh yeah and that was his strategy so normalcy so you know he’s after World War one and it’s like our return to normalcy yes and I think that is what 2023 is going to be for us I sure am hoping I think things are gonna chill out things are gonna get more and more normal and people interest rates are already starting to change again they had gotten so high but now as you can see they’re starting to drop again that’s of course could change again but I think what everyone the great fears that people had yeah I think it’s going to be okay folks yeah the whole Logistics and Supply thing is starting to iron itself out uh you know supply chain is getting normal again just things are just getting normal every day that goes by people seem to relax just a little bit more and so I I think that’s what 2023 is going to mean for us it’s it’s going to be a normal year and in the in the uh since the the couple of years that we just had that’s going to be a wonderful thing I I think I look forward to it and it’s a long waited we all deserve yeah absolutely some nice back to normalcy back to not worrying about everything and just having uh but it’s back to normal again but I think the most important thing I’d like to share with a lot of people is um there’s a lot of fear people are like well uh I I really hate where I live I hear I can’t tell you kind of makes me sad it kind of pulls up my heartstrings I’m really miserable where I live I hate everything about it I hate the taxes I hate the traffic I hate the increasing cost of living this is my point if you’re not happy where you are it’s not going to change it’s not going to get better it’s not like you reach a certain age you know the world was you were young and the world was struggling and you were part of the fight and you were going to help and you had time time was on your side that ship is salesman I mean most of our clients time is no longer on your side now is the time you need to read the reward that you’ve worked so hard your whole life 100 and if you sit around and you wait for the world or the the people out there to make the world better for you it’s not going to happen so don’t be afraid to make the move if you’re in your 60s 70s we’ve even had people in their 80s absolutely I’ve had enough of this and I want to go somewhere where I am happy yeah and I it’s scary is it scary to walk away and start over a hundred percent we did it all of our friends have done it have any of them had regrets not one person not one person has regretted making that big step and making a change so keep that in mind for new for 2023. yeah absolutely come over here for a new beginning let all that go if you’re busy the best time to make it happen is yesterday yep right it would have been easier 10 years ago when you’re that absolutely younger it will be that much harder 10 years from now oh yeah and and then the other thing to point out is we are a cheaper alternative you know we’re telling you you can have a great life here it would be different if we were trying to talk you into moving someplace that’s more expensive than where you are right this is not a lateral move this is not a lateral it’s gonna be cheaper here your property taxes will be cheaper your cost of living gasoline cost of housing is still cheaper than other places I mean all of the groceries utilities you name it you’re going to be like living a new life when is a good time to reduce your cost of living the answer is there is no best time it’s always good if the if you think the economy is going to the toilet oh okay well maybe it is maybe it isn’t but uh if it does would you be better off where you are now or someplace cheaper I mean I just that’s the million dollar question you know so my goal for you for 2023 is think positive think I’m going to make a change make a change I’m not going to live in fear of what may or may not happen yes if you’re really not happy where you are it’s time to change yeah it’s hard it’s scary but so worth it and we love it we’re so happy we did it so anyway 2023 of the year make it your your your time to shine your time to make pie be brave be brave all right so that’s our little New Year’s wishing for 2023. make it happen Captain you’ll be delighted with all your extra savings if you move here that’s it and we would love to help you and show you around our beautiful town and everything that living in Prescott has to offer you so we hope to hear from you soon you can reach us at pickle411.com that’s our free information site whether you’re a buyer seller or somewhere in between yep there’s something there waiting for you that you will adore oh that’s a pretty big promise but we hope we hope we can deliver on that absolutely all right so everyone have a beautiful day and thank you for listening and happy 2023. bye

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Property Taxes

Are property taxes ever good news?  Well, they come pretty close in Prescott.  

If you tired of paying through the nose for services that never materialize, then this episode is for you.  We talk turkey about taxes here in Prescott and how they compare to those in other, less fortunate places.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello and happy good afternoon how’s that that’s good Happy good afternoon happy good afternoon yeah you’re good and happy this is Diane and Randall bro you’re a fellow thank you for identifying yourself she’s pickling I am the pickle lady as well uh thank you for listening to our current little Vlog that we’re about to do it look at you we’re happy to have you here isn’t that a Russian name I don’t know but anyways we’re just delighted we’re with exp Realty we’re local Realtors here in Prescott here to talk to you about a lot of questions we get about property tax property taxes it weighs heavily on a lot of our out of town people who come in heavily heavily and I swear I swear on on the Holy Bible I swear whatever you need me to swear on uh we do not have a stepped up tax appreciation as you will find in other states such as California yeah uh maybe at Oregon and Washington when you buy here there might be a slight adjustment on the current property taxes on the home you’re purchasing but it will not be a dramatic increase like oh they bought this house for 200 000 and now we’re selling it for six hundred thousand so I guess the taxes are going to shoot Sky High does not happen does not happen that way so I swear yeah we had uh two back-to-back years in Prescott uh 30 appreciation during the Covenant market and during that time I think property taxes actually went down yeah they actually went down so so we have a zero-based budget approach to government here in Prescott the uh I guess it’s the county I don’t know the city the whoever mayor who the mayor he gets down he must have a meeting yeah they they figure out what their budget is and they plan to have no money left over at the end so they they put together this is how much money we need to run the place at this point this is all the property that we have and they kind of back into what they need to charge so that they break even right what’s the most important things that we need to address this year yeah and uh they take care of it it’s a very Progressive little town yeah um we don’t have potholes we don’t have roads that need work on we don’t have confidence yeah it’s pretty confident I don’t know what they’re doing they kind of know what they’re doing um things are handled here so they’re not always looking to gouge you for more money taxes they just don’t do that so I mean your taxes might go up fifty dollars yeah might go up 100 might go down 50 it just really depends on what the city is looking at and what their needs are to accomplish for the upcoming year so I know it’s hard to believe yeah we’ve been here six and a half years I think my taxes might have gone up total at the maximum two hundred dollars that’s it all right so now as we are recording this this is November of 2022. yep and let’s talk a little turkey so oh let’s say I have a home it is in Prescott Lakes uh cost of the home is 750 000 okay what’s the property tax probably going to be probably anywhere from 2100 maybe to 2500 yeah that’s per year per year that’s the other question we always get so do you mean every six months no that’s quarterly right no no it’s not quarterly it’s not semi-annually it’s once a year once a year that’s it and it won’t sell out when your property values go up that’s right some homes in here it might even be 1800 1900. uh taxes are extremely reasonable here so when you’re looking to move here think about all of that your cost of living is going to go way down think about just the savings alone on your property taxes we have some people in our car they’re paying 11 to 15 000 a year yeah I mean that’s like a fancy vacation you could take yeah yeah that’s like oh now we can that money’s freed up now I can go out and really enjoy life without sweating these huge property taxes yeah in other states and so we swear they don’t go up they don’t go up you’re not going to have a crazy stepped up tax appreciation it’s uh pretty chill here yeah we need to do another wind down on property tax but I would just give you the short version because I know that’s what you’re thinking yeah but they’re going to get me with income tax right oh yeah um I knew what you said so okay here’s the thing most of the people who are coming in they are going into retirement when you retire your income goes down so uh even though you have lots of assets you’re supposed to pay on your you know your annual income and for most people retiring that number goes down yep uh even if that’s not the case the income tax here is reasonable yes it’s really really small yeah our property taxes are lower we aren’t going to get you in the income tax yeah it is it’s still pretty reasonable that’s not like the state of Texas we used to live in Texas oh no no uh income tax no income tax yeah but we’re paying 12 000 in property tax from a home they get you in other ways for 350 000 yeah guys something like that they’ll get you another one we’ll get you yeah so um yeah add those two together yep uh and uh the both of them are very low here so taxes are a good thing so it’s a it’s a happy day and you you will be happy too when you’re going on a cruise are you taking a little John to Hawaii instead of sending it to whatever state you’re living in that’s right for your you know 30 year old home yeah yeah that’s just my opinion yeah so a little good news for you a little good news that’s a a little another tip so we got plenty of tips for you a tip from the Bro Team from the pickle lady here in Prescott Arizona we hope to hear from you soon you can check us out at pickle411.com that’s our free information site whether you are a buyer seller somewhere in between just looking for a good time I just want to know about taxes that is the place to go pick a 4-1-1 be careful on the good times I mean we’re not making all kinds of here yeah yeah you know what I’m saying within reason within reason people all the fun that the law will allow are described for you within reason yes there you go all right hope to see from see from you soon oh my God it’s a Friday and I’m tired I don’t know I didn’t even say speak it that’s right the English you speak it I speak it as well anyway hope you have a lovely day and thank you for listening to this public service announcement over and out

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Fretting a Crash?

People worry that what goes up must come down, and nothing has gone up more than real estate in recent years.  Are we overdue a crash?

In this episode, we share our thoughts on the crash potential for Prescott-area real estate.

Video Transcript

hello hello hello hello peeps good afternoon and this is randall and diane bro here in the lovely town of prescott arizona prescott arizona with vic lady yes here’s my little pickle somebody uh suggested this to us of course i immediately went on and bought it i love it and also yodles i won’t hit that yodel this time yeah yeah i’ll just let you see my pickle yeah um but anyway uh we are here where we uh wanted to chat with you about fretting a crash yeah so we’ve been having a lot of people asking us about the ever increasing home prices not just here and prescript across the country and whether we are due some catastrophic crash as we had back in the late 2000s and the answer to that at least as far as prescott is concerned is we don’t see where that would come from so the the crash in 2008 depending on where you were maybe it was a different time a lot of that was driven by people who had financing that no one should have ever given them that’s right no money down for an eight hundred thousand dollars probably not a good idea yeah so people were buying extra homes on credit and flipping them there’s a lot of stuff that was going on the the short answer on that score is that is not happening it really you know a lot of our clients are retired yep and when you retire this market in particular yeah you know they have a lot of money but not necessarily a lot of income sometimes they struggle to qualify because of things like debt ratios or income ratios right you know the the the ratios and the finances are are not and you know what they don’t weigh that uh they gotta jump those hurdles uh clearly it’s a good loan but they follow the regulations getting financing even when the interest rates are really low you think they’re begging for business guess what if you can’t make the ratio you will not get a loan it ain’t gonna happen it ain’t gonna happen it ain’t gonna happen yeah so yeah we’re not worried about a crash per se and particularly in the press kit market yeah because most of our buyers are cash buyers yes they’re retired um they’re either paying cash or they’re putting substantial amounts down for a down payment and so you know the creeping interest rates it doesn’t bother them so much because they pretty much have a pretty low mortgage yes um so if we’re kind of a unique market here yeah you may have seen there was an article i believe it was in fortune one of those magazines they listed a number of cities around the country we were one of them prescott arizona makes it makes it into this magazine as as one of the towns that is destined uh destined for a price adjustment and the reason they give is that the i’m sorry sorry are you okay um can i help you out yeah give me a hundred real quick real quick let me get that given that uh the reason they give for that is the if you look at the price of homes and divide that by the average income in the town that number is extremely high which would indicate that people are not making enough money to afford the homes there and so that that affects a lot of towns here’s the thing in prescott a lot of people are retired correct they don’t show a lot of income they have a lot of money yes so when you look at that ratio it’s going to be yeah oh you know your your uh uh property value to income is off the chart yeah he’s got four million dollars in the bank right it’s not going anywhere so we say nay to that yeah because just because we are a very unique market yeah they they ran the numbers they picked the top 10 15 cities in the country that popped at the top and they wrote an article about it um obviously they’ve never been to prescott i can’t see why that’s an issue here i don’t know of anyone i can’t think of anyone offhand who’s even close to you know oh it’s going to be difficult for them to maintain the payment on their homes these guys came here to retire and they’re having a great time and they’re going to be here for a while they’re not worried about making their house note yeah because number one either they pay cash yeah or number two they’ve had such a huge down payment their house note is negligible yeah so for us i always keep in mind the prescott market is quite unique yeah um our median age here is 55 and older so these are people who are not moving here for the industry for the jobs to start a new career this is a career test yeah and all of our friends god bless you we hope we can join you one day everybody’s having the time of their lives that’s right uh they’re golfing they’re jeeping they’re you know uh hiking they’re having a fabulous time they’re not really worried about income so when you hear these stories um don’t fret so much about prescott in itself uh this is a huge retirement town i have people who call me and say i’m looking for a 55 plus neighborhood and i’m like can i be honest all of prescott is basically 55 plus yeah it’s it’s it’s essentially a retirement community yeah i mean you don’t need to be in a particular neighborhood um most of our neighbors are retired um we’re kind of one of the few that are not but um don’t fret the crash crash here in prescott yeah i feel like it’s gonna be okay yeah i you know i i struggled to see what would what would do it yeah uh what drives a lot of our home sales here and the home value prices are people coming from other states mostly along the west coast uh that relocate here because it’s more affordable uh it’s a nice place you don’t have to go someplace where it’s a skabillion degrees uh and in 157 humidity or you know mesquite we don’t have any of that right you know it’s a very nice place so people can come here um the cost of living is low we talk in some of our other videos we talk about the arbitrage where you can sell your home where you are now typically some place like california and you can buy a home equivalent and bank a fair amount of money if the prices in california go down they may go down here too as long as we have a a as long as we’re less than california it would still make sense uh to make that move and i i i just i don’t see how um i don’t see how we end up with a bubble i really don’t i i don’t think price prices can’t keep going up the way they have i understand that we all do i think things are going to flatten out i think things are going to moderate i just don’t see a bubble that there’s something artificial that’s been holding this up all along and it’s just gonna crash i think maybe we undervalued real estate after the crash in 2008 for too long and uh and we had a big you know upward correction and and kobe pushed to store that i don’t know i i was surprised to see the prices go up as fast as they did but uh i don’t see them i i don’t see what would is their bubble to pop i don’t know i don’t know at least you know prescott is a very unique market and um we’re kind of a special little bubble here so you can’t really compare us to the other national markets yeah you know that’s my opinion yeah um and we’re small too we’re not a big player it’s not like we need millions of people moving here to get this right i mean do we have a crystal ball no no but i do have a crystal ball but i but i can’t use it to predict the future i’ve tried i just can’t okay so anyway we just thought we’d share this little two-bit uh two cents of information and uh just our personal opinion of course it is an opinion it’s not fact that’s right it’s not scientific but we just thought we’d give our little two cents of info on how we think things are going we are a very special market here so anyway if you’re thinking about buying or selling give us a call or you can go to our information site that’s pickle411.com whether you’re a buyer seller somewhere in between there’s information that’s waiting for you absolutely we’re here toll free it’s all free it’s all free all free people you don’t have to pay anything it’s free no subscription yeah all right just a final note if you are on the verge of retirement and thinking of retirement don’t put off retirement too long don’t do that don’t do that don’t wait don’t wait until you’re too old we have met so many people here who were like wow i should have done this years ago i’m loving my life here and we love it through extension we’re not quite retired but we are having fun anyway so give us a call diane and randall bro with our famous pickle whatever it is [Music] oh [Music] a lot of people anyway

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Prescott by the Numbers – March 2022

From the front lines of Prescott-area real estate. See our video summary of the latest market results.

Click Here –> Get Latest Pickle Reports

To get the Full Home Value Report,
the Latest Home Comps, and
Top 100 Subdivision Snapshots,
Click Here –> Get Latest Pickle Reports

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Stupid Tax

A stupid tax is a tax you don’t have to pay if you’re smart enough to avoid it. Right now in real estate, across the country, people buying homes are pulling out their wallets to pay up – bidding up the price of homes well beyond what anyone thinks they’re really worth.

In this episode, we cover what we’re doing in the trenches to help our clients avoid paying the stupid tax.

Video Transcript

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Utilities – Typical Costs

Here is a record of the recent utility expenses we’ve had in Prescott. Keep in mind that we live in a house that is about 3100 square feet, and we like to keep it COLD in the summer… Utility Expenses

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