Cost of Living – The "Prescott Pickle Lady"

Social Security & Military Benefit Taxes

We checked with the accountant on this one: Both are NOT taxed in AZ. The military pension must be from uniformed services to be exempt.

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Why California Comes to Prescott

It's no secret that Californians are bailing out of the state in droves, and a lot of them end up here in Prescott. In this episode, we explore what makes why Prescott so popular with these emigres.

Video Transcript

hello hello and hello and hello hello again this is Diana Randall bro here coming to you from Prescott Arizona we are excited today to talk to you a little bit about why do most Californians come here yeah yeah we get a fair number of California probably the Lion’s Share of people coming in are from California because it’s close a lot of people are starting to find out about Prescott and people ask why are The Californians coming here but it’s attracting them what is attractive and they’re not from California but you’re thinking yeah you you might uh you you’ll hear some things that will sound similar to you so we thought we would take the time and document exactly what we’re hearing so what we hear a lot about and it’s kind of sad sometimes people are in the car lifelong Californians born and bred um kind of have a little catch in their throat a couple little tears maybe and they talk about you know why they feel like they have to leave they don’t want to but the cost of living there has just been become so prohibitive for them they are very concerned that they have a huge Nest Egg but predicting out and projecting out they might run out of money yeah and what we’re hearing too is it’s getting worse not better in particular taxes uh the they can never get enough taxes right uh the government is taking on things that will cost more money they’re not looking to save money so it’s you know they’re saying that’s going to get a lot worse before it gets any better and every time they think okay that’s it I mean I think this is it now I think I think they’ve taxed where they could they come up with something else new overnight and so people are really struggling to keep abreast of these cost increases especially as a retired person and it would be different if you’re getting a lot for the taxes that you’re paying but based on what they’re saying what they’re saying you know the the highways have fallen apart you know you hit potholes in the middle of the interstate uh the fire safety fire safety cup with prescribed Burns Law Enforcement has been cut way back so there are places now that uh you know don’t feel safe anymore uh so sort of the tax value proposition and and again you know particularly if you’re retiring uh you know you’ve got a short window and most people think that it’s going to get worse before it gets better and it won’t get better on our watch so to speak you reach a certain age it’s it’s it needs to be fixed and I I don’t know about you but I think if I’m spending so much on taxes I want to be living in Nirvana it should be like an amazing town and City and and no potholes and this is just the pressure Crusher Humanity yeah too so you know traffic air pollution air pollution and all these things our daughter travels a month an hour to work and an hour back and it’s it’s hard yeah it’s tough so that’s why they’re leaving okay so uh since some of them are coming here that would imply that we don’t have those things and we don’t uh but uh there are other places around that you can go to that won’t have those things and so you could improve your life um so we’re not going to bother going through saying you know our taxes are low we’ve said that elsewhere yeah I think what we should focus on is why do they pick specifically Prescott to go to as opposed to some of the other places that they’ve considered and the biggest thing is it is so close to California so if you’ve still got family and grandkids but you’re trying to protect your nest egg and you come here it’s a six hour drive to Los Angeles six hour drive to San Diego we now have daily flights from our local Regional Airport here in Prescott right into LAX 50-minute flight so as well as Denver yeah um so that is very helpful it’s it’s great to be close enough frankly that’s why we came here to be closer to our daughters um we weren’t ready to go into a big city like L.A we just we couldn’t do it um the other thing people love the close proximity I mean it’s just great for holidays easy for kids to come see you get out and get back home and vice versa the other thing is weather here yeah other places that are close uh but most of them are like a desert right it’s uh you know you feel like a camel or Idaho is a big one severe Winters yeah so we don’t have severe Summers or severe Winters here the weather here is beautiful we have four seasons arguably five seasons including the monsoon season but they’re all beautiful they’re all wonderful uh there’s no time in the year where you you will feel you absolutely have to get out uh and you’re stuck in your home every day that doesn’t happen 120 does not happen here a hundred rarely happens yes uh in the winter we don’t have piles and piles of snow that don’t melt off it’s just enough to be beautiful and enjoy and then it’s gone so weather’s huge here especially if you’re a fan of four true Seasons yeah our town has it yeah it’s beautiful here second thing yeah beautiful it’s beautiful surrounded by mountains and and different sections of Prescott you either have the rocks or there you have beautiful trees then you might have um the the Dells yeah it goes on and on yeah it’s absolutely you go into the grocery store and you’re seeing the Dills at your view as you’re driving to the grocery store yeah because that’s hard you know California we get California’s beautiful you can see it you know but there are sections of of California that are just gorgeous yeah I get that so you don’t want to go someplace ugly um we’re not ugly but it’s beautiful yeah the other thing is we’re just plain fun it’s fun everybody here is is just uh just a lot of fun uh Whiskey Row we have a lot of culture here we have a lot of theater we have a lot of music huge music scene yeah huge dancing scene and um art galleries it goes on and on and on there’s always something going on here and it’s fun stuff for people of a certain age so like we visit our kids in Los Angeles there are lots of really fun things for young people to do that we wouldn’t be interested in doing when we describe fun we’re describing the kinds of things that people our age would like to teach for the old folks a lot of retiring yeah yeah if you want to golf you want to enjoy a good life you want to go have a good meal you want to go see some good music yeah uh this is the town for you yeah you might not find a rave you know I don’t know what two young people do now I don’t know yeah it’s not that kind of thing it is fun it’s the kind of thing that retired people really enjoy it’s a good time lots of things to do don’t think oh it’s a little town there won’t be much to do there’s a lot to do here it’s a very besides all the the physical riding bikes hiking uh you know as I said golfing I mean we even have indoor pickleball courts now at the shopping center so you can play year round yeah yeah and it goes on and on and on yeah so if you look in our our Channel we’ve got you know just tons of videos about living here and you’ll see all kinds of fun things that we do and we’re working yeah my friends are retired they they they’re really hard they ride their Jeeps they go up in the Rocks yeah yeah they had the time of their lives maybe one day we will too but we’ll see but in the meantime we live vicariously our retired friends that’s right and we just love the town and and we do a lot of the music scenes so yeah anyway so that’s our little tip of why what is driving people out of you know maybe California and it’s what is attracting them to come here and obviously cost of living gasoline everything everything Insurance remarkably taxes remarkably less I mean stunningly less than some of these places you’re looking to get out of California particularly if you retiring looking to get out of California you need to come check out Prescott it’s so close and so easy to get here if you’re thinking about Idaho or Texas or Florida Halfway Around the Globe you know just drive a few hours or hop on a plane come here first come here and at least check it out because you’ll be pleasantly pleasantly surprised as we were the weekend so that’s our little tip for the day so we hope you’re having a wonderful day out there and and hope to hear from you soon bye

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Sky High Body Wash

Every time we visit California, we find another reason why people are wanting to leave.  On this trip, we found what may be the last straw for quite a few folks.  Find out how our most recent visit taught us the value of body wash...and living in a place where both crime and prices are low.

Video Transcript

hello hello peeps hello hello and hello hello hello and hello Diane and Randall bro here yes we are uh coming to you live from the beautiful town of Prescott Arizona pick a lady live a mile high of the mountains just getting back from Los Angeles went had a nice little time with our with our kiddos that’s right uh celebrating our daughter’s engagement yes yes good time to Addie and Jake yes cheers we can’t wait for the big day but every time we we go to La we feel compelled to tell our story there’s always something interesting that happens um and this time there’s nothing like driving almost seven hours and you’re tired and you jump in a nice hot tub and you just want to relax and soak and there’s no body wash Airbnb so I’m like well there must be a dreadful mistake surely they it’s got to be under the cabinet It’s gotta be nobody wash anywhere in any of the bathrooms so I reach out to our Airbnb fellow and I say hey any idea where the body wash is oh we don’t have any you can go to the store and buy it yeah you gotta buy your own body wash and then you know will reimburse you okay well not going to help me at midnight don’t want to hop out the tub and go get the body wash anyway I use hand soap that was an interesting experience as well it worked but anyway the point is so when I yeah when I get to the store the next morning I go down the aisle while the the body washes and it’s all behind glass and locked locked case yeah now I’ve seen this in other areas for you know medication allergy medication not body wash so I’m standing there like a fish out of water I’m like how do I obtain this elusive body wash surely there’s a way for me to get this and a fellow Los Angeles Los Angelo and how do you say it I don’t know anyway he says oh you have to press the button and get help for that and I said get help to get body wash yeah I mean what crazy it’s not the bath crystals that I understand is a thing but body wash apparently in Los Angeles it’s a heavily stolen item yeah so uh I did not wait for that I noticed that on the side of it there wasn’t a protection so I just slid my my arm behind it and grabbed where I wanted and left but the point is is that if you come here to Prescott we’re not going to have stuff like that yeah it’s you’re yeah I’ve never seen anything like it everything in this entire grocery store was behind the glass it’s uh kind of a sad way to live your life uh personally is what I think but hey to each his own yeah uh I took matters into my own hands and grabbed my own body wash yeah I hope they don’t apprecially yeah correct although from what I understand if I had left with it I would have been okay with that yeah yeah yeah so that yeah so that yeah our understanding is the reason why they had to do this is if you go into a drugstore wherever and you steal something that’s less than like 950 that’s right uh as long as you’re not orange they’re not gonna prosecute yeah people do it so they put everything behind glass I don’t know if you can go into a restaurant and have a meal for less than 950 and just walk out yeah I don’t know if you can do that but it’s it’s funny because these things kind of build on one another uh last year we were in LA and they had all the blackouts so the blackouts hit right when they were announcing that it was going to be mandatory by I don’t know 2035 or whatever it is that all cars on the road are going to have to be electric cars and I’m thinking okay so you can’t provide electricity for what you have already if we had a bunch of electric cars because they have a lot of electric cars I’m thinking you know what this party needs right now is about 50 000 cars that have run out of juice and random durations during the blackout and people everybody stuck in the roads yeah and what I’ve heard too is uh some people who they are saying you know they they say during blackout time uh please don’t charge your cars up overnight yeah so how do you get to work I don’t know I don’t understand it’s a whole nother conundrum to me I just was fascinated by lockdown body wash yeah so I couldn’t get over that yeah so so first you know with covid you can’t get toilet paper so that means body wash is at a premium yeah the body wash by the way was very exorbitant it was 11.99 yes or a little box little little tiny bottle yeah wow so you got a City full of people who are broiling in the summer they have no electricity can’t put on there uh their AC and then they can’t use body wash so everyone’s gonna stink I mean just you can use body wash you just have to be patient and wait and wait I guess you can’t run in and buy some yeah yeah it’s a process well anyway you you reached the point where if you’re somewhere maybe you’re in La maybe or someplace else maybe you’ve been thinking about maybe moving on there’s a phenomenon called The Boiled frog and I don’t know if this is true but they say if you put a frog in a pan of water and you and you heat him up he won’t jump out if you heat him slowly you’ll be able to boil the Frog will stand because it gets hot slowly and he gets used to it and that’s kind of how you know you’re living in La you’re used to the you know the the black step by step you get used to things and you become accepting and not into everything that continues to happen that nothing shocks you anymore yeah until you have a body wash moment and then it’s kind of like I I can’t believe all right that’s it I kind of that’s the last straw you kind of hit your limit so I think at the Airbnb they don’t provide uh body wash because people take it people take it and it’s costly for them and I get all that you know but not helpful when I wanted to so if you’ve had a body wash moment you know where you’ve kind of where everything’s enough and it’s been getting worse and it’s getting worse when you hit that body wash moment let us know what your body wash moment was what was the last straw it’s like no I really do have to get out I Gotta Get out no matter where you go yeah whether it’s California Washington or again anywhere New Jersey uh yeah the typical States yeah so you got Khalid the exit Estates now I guess are uh California Oregon Washington New Jersey Massachusetts Massachusetts uh Colorado I think is now kind of becoming Exodus so if you come from one of those places what was your last straw we’d like to hear yeah yeah I’m gonna hear we’re here Live Strong and I can assure you here none of the none of these years go at any time anytime any day uh at night or day and grab myself a nice thing of body wash for maybe 5.99 and walk out the store and pay for it and and not have to be waited on people smell better here I think they do they cost so much to have body wash it’s helpful it’s helpful body wash is a good thing yeah so you know people’s thinking that’s uh you gotta get them you got to get people clean that’s the first step towards civilization that’s right absolutely so um you know it’s our way we’re just so fun and having some fun I personally think it’s a little outrageous that I have to get assistance to get body wash off a shelf maybe other people are perfectly fine with that I’m entitled to my opinion that’s right so please don’t shoot the messenger I’m just kind of expressing my little opinion take with it what you want yeah I’ll plug upstairs it sounds like she’s not too happy about this topic too let’s finish up all right that’s it if you want tips the place to go is pickle411.com there’s our free information site with your buy or seller somewhere in between there’s information there that will inform Astound delight and entertainment and maybe irritate you okay it might irritate you but you know take a bath with some body wash first that’s right maybe with somebody else too someone else might make it better well you know you share the cost you sure you can share the cost on that 11 small bottle all right my friends that’s all that’s a great rest of your day I hope to hear from you soon bye bye

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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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Vehicles

Motor Vehicle Registration – Registration $8.00; Air Quality $1.50; Title Fee $4.00; Total Registration: $13.50
Vehicle License Tax – In addition to title and registration fees, Arizona assesses a vehicle license tax in lieu of a personal property tax on all vehicles registered in the State. This is based on the manufacturer’s based retail price for the vehicle, when new, less depreciation. The value of the vehicle is decreased 40% the first year and 15% each year thereafter. You will be charged a rate of $4.00 per $100.00 of the vehicle’s taxable value in any year. This will decrease to a minimum annual charge of $10.00. Required to have an Arizona Standardized Insurance Card.

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Taxes

State Income Taxes – Tax rate is 10% to 32% of your Federal Income Tax; For more info, click here.
Income Exemptions – Social Security benefits and up to $2,500 on federal, Arizona state and local government pensions are exempt.

Property Tax – Real property is accessed at the range of 1% – 1.5% of market value of owner occupied property. This includes State, County, Community Colleges, City and Schools. Property Tax Calculator – Here is a link to an online tax calculator you can use to estimate your property tax in Prescott…
Property Tax Calculator Click Here

Corporate Income Tax – Flat tax of 6.968%. The minimum amount collected by Arizona Corporate Income Tax is $50.00
Sales Tax – Arizona has a general sales tax of 5.6%. Yavapai County has a .75% sales tax, and the City of Prescott has a 2% sales tax, for a total sales tax of 8.35%
Homestead Exemption – Those who are disabled or whose spouse died while residing in Arizona can receive an exemption of $3,000 off assessed value. TO qualify, the full cash value of one’s home must be less that $203,860.
Estate Tax – None

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Home Bargains

You can’t retire in a place you can’t afford to live in. One of the many things that brings retirees to Prescott is the very low cost of living…

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