Another story about how someone found Prescott.

This is also a recording for a podcast that no longer exists. It’s got some good info it, so I published it as a blog post here.

Episode 002 – Diane Clark, from the East Coast

Diane Clark is a real estate agent who lives and works in Prescott. She moved here from the East Coast, via Wyoming, Michigan, and the world.

Her phone number is 928-237-6285. Web site is yourprescotthome.com

Places that she mentions in this interview include:

Lynx Lake Cafe – lynxlakestore.com/restaurant

Lindo Mexico – yelp.com/biz/lindo-mexico-restaurante-mexicano-prescott-3

Yavapai Regional Medical – yrmc.org

Yavapai Regional Medical – East Campus – yrmc.org/yrmc-locations/maps/yrmc-east

Yavapai College – yc.edu/

Yavapai College Performing Arts Center – ycpac.com/

Episode 002 Transcript

Diane 0:00
Well, we were we were just desperate. We were tired. We were frustrated, I’m sure.

And we pulled up to this house, my husband took off to the left, the real estate agent took off to the right. And I’m standing there with nobody.

I found out later that the only reason that my husband in the agent wanted to go in was because they had to use the bathroom .

Conrad 0:19
I’m Conrad Walton, and this is Finding Prescott, moving stories from people who decided to make Prescott Arizona their hometown.

This is my first real interview. It’s going to be with Diane Clark.

She’s a real estate agent here in Prescott at Realty One Group Mountain Desert. She’s works in the same office that I do.

She was actually the person who hired me into this brokerage when I came here years ago from another brokerage in town and she’s been very friendly and supportive ever since. I really appreciate her help and doing this.

She’s volunteered to be my guinea pig to see how this technology works and see if we actually do an interview and put it out as a podcast.

This is not a face to face interview, like I was hoping and planning, because we’re recording this during the Great Hunkering of 2020. We’re doing this over the internet using Zoom.

There’s a few audio anomalies along the way. I want to assure you, she was not drunk. It’s just a bad internet connection. And with that, let’s go to our interview with Diane Clark. Here she is…

Diane 1:28
Conrad. Thanks for doing this. This is Diane Clark with Realty One Group mountain desert. Anyone can reach me at 928-237-6285. And I’ve been in the real estate business since ’05.

Conrad 1:41
Let’s start out with, Tell me about the first time you were ever aware of Prescott or knew it existed and how did you find out about it?

Diane 1:49
Well, I actually moved to Scottsdale way, way, long time ago, many years when I was, you know, just a young thing and we used to come up here from Scottsdale and spend the weekends, just like everybody loves to do.

Prescott was a cute little town then. It’s a little bigger now, but it’s still cute.

So we knew Prescott existed but then got transferred. So we left Scottsdale and Arizona and lived around the globe.

When we retired, we kept hearing so much about Prescott and we just kept looking at each other saying Prescott? Prescott? Really? Prescott?

So we finally decided it was time to go take a look at Prescott again. It had been quite a few years since we’ve been here and we actually found that it had everything we wanted as a retired couple.

Fell in love with Prescott all over again.

It was about the perfect size. We didn’t want a big town. We wanted a town that had enough to do.

We needed the medical care. That’s always a big one for retirees moving in here. So what kind of medical care do you have?

Conrad 2:48
What, What did you find it was good for a retired couple?

Diane 2:52
You know, we’ve got you Yavapai Regional Medical. There’s now the East Campus out in Prescott Valley.

So we’re growing there but the downtown It was just so quaint. There’s all the hiking trails, biking trails, there’s lakes. Believe it or not, we have five lakes here.

We managed to find our favorite, which was out at Granite Mountain, and the trails around Granite Mountain were fabulous. So we spent a lot of time out there.

You’re within an hour and 15 minutes of the Grand Canyon. You can go to Phoenix whenever you want to another hour and 15 minutes down there.

Everything is just so close yet so far away.

Conrad 3:27
So did you come up for like day trips or weekend did you spend time here?

Diane 3:31
We’d come up a few times on the weekend, but mostly it was a day trip up and back.

Conrad 3:36
And so when you decided to move here, so Granite Mountain is the neighborhood you chose?

Diane 3:41
We did. We like the Granite Mountain area. We wanted to be on that side of town close to the trails that are over there. So we ended up on just off Williamson Valley Road.

We actually wanted to be in a few more trees, but we found that when you go out into the trees, you had views of the tree right in front of you, but not any distant views. So we had to get out a little bit further to find some distant news.

We also at that time had a one slab, dining room table that was, that sat eight. It was huge. And we just weren’t ready to part with it. So we had to find a house that would fit that dining room table.

So that was always the criteria is, when we went in what does a dining room look like?

Conrad 4:26
So what are houses like out there? How would you describe your neighborhood?

Diane 4:30
We were on Willow Creek, the creek,

On the creek?

The creek ran through the bottom section of our property. We could see down the valley all the way across to Mingus mountain, you know, we had a few Ponderosa trees, we’re on an acre and a half the neighbors weren’t real close.

We felt like we were just in our own little, our own little Canyon. There were only a few houses in there and it was quiet and peaceful, and it was a bird sanctuary you know, with a water waterway drew all kinds of animals.

Conrad 4:57
So there are a lot of large lots and large houses. up in that area?

Diane 5:00
They were larger houses and larger lots. Yes, we were just to the south of South View.

Conrad 5:06
Tell me about your house buying process. Were you a real estate agent at that point?

Diane 5:12
No, I hadn’t been a real estate agent since the late 70s, early 80s. I was a real estate agent in Scottsdale. My husband was too. That’s how we met.

We left the real estate to an agent who’s actually still working.

Because of the dining room table, and an art collection that we had, we were very particular, difficult, I would say, clients, now that I look back on it, but it taught me a lot about how I treat my clients.

Now if they have something particular in mind, and they need to find it. I’ll take as long as it takes to find it so that they have that perfect house. If we look at one, that’s great. If it works, fine. If we have to look at 100, we’ll look at 100.

Conrad 5:13
Did you drag your agent around town?

Diane 5:21
We came into Prescott on a Sunday night, promptly was greeted by 14 inches of snow the next morning. I wasn’t sure I wanted to live here without much snow.

And so Monday was a little bit of a crazy day. Tuesday we looked at, we thought maybe we’d try condos or townhouses or something to see, because we wanted, we thought we were downsizing. Ha. Ha.

And then we ended up looking at houses every day, that week. Sunday afternoon, we had to fly out of Phoenix to get back to where we were.

We were living on the East Coast at the time. She said no, I’ve got another one for you. There’s more. Let’s go look. She never ever, ever gave up.

And so I’ve learned that from her. You just never ever, ever give up when a client’s looking for that right house.

And strangely enough, ironically enough, the house we ended up buying was a house we saw that morning. So if she hadn’t taken us out to see three more houses, we wouldn’t we wouldn’t have bought a house in Prescott.

That’s another funny story if you want to hear it.

Conrad 7:02
Tell me.

Diane 7:03
Here how that all went.

Conrad 7:04
Tell me.

Diane 7:05
Well, we were we were just desperate. We were tired. We were frustrated, I’m sure.

And we pulled up to this house. We all kind of looked at it and I said, this is a garage with a house attached. There was no curb appeal because of the slope. The angle that you had to come in at.

My husband said “Oh, let’s go in.”

The real estate agent said, “Let’s go in.”

So I said “Okay, I’ll, I’ll go.”

So we go in the front door, and we’re greeted by this fabulous, great room with vaulted ceilings of huge fireplace at the end, windows.

My husband took off to the left. The real estate agent took off to the right and I’m standing there with nobody, going “Don’t they want to see the view out these windows?”

So I walked straight to the windows and saw absolutely the most beautiful cottonwood.

Conrad 7:53
Okay, so you walk in and…

Diane 7:54
We looked at the house and we said this will work!

The dining rooms the right size. The walls are great. We We can make this work.

And I found out later that the only reason that my husband and the agent wanted to go in was because they had to use the bathroom.

And if they hadn’t needed to do that, we never would have seen the house that that we eventually bought.

So I have this extreme level of patience.

Conrad 8:21
So the hot tip is to always have to use the bathroom.

Diane 8:26
Yeah, let’s check out the bathrooms. Okay.

Conrad 8:29
Give people, give your clients water.

Diane 8:31
Yeah, keep them hydrated. So they have to.

Conrad 8:34
Okay, so after, so how did the deal go? Did the deal go okay in buying it?

Diane 8:39
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh.

Conrad 8:41
It was all easy.

Diane 8:42
It was. Yeah. went off without a hitch.

We actually had to do everything from the east coast. So everything was done by mail. There wasn’t a lot back then that you could do by internet.

And the the most wonderful part of that whole move which I will gloat over and have gloated over forever was that when we actually moved our furniture out here, my husband came with the furniture and I got to stay back east with the grandson and he had to unpack everything.

Conrad 9:13
Sounds like another hot tip.

Diane 9:14
That’s, that’s right. Yes.

Always have a, always have a grandchild that you have to take care of, so the husband has to unpack everything and he did a great job. That’s the best part.

Conrad 9:26
So, So how was the moving process? The actual packing everything up, shipping it out here unpacking it. How did that go?

Diane 9:33
That was fine. We had actually, prior to moving to Prescott, we’d lived aboard a boat for three years. Three years prior, we had packed everything and put it in a shipping container. We had it. Everything was stored in a 40 foot container for three years while we were on the boat.

Conrad 9:50
Well, that’s cheating. Nobody does that.

Diane 9:54
Well, we had to pack it three years prior, but we did it. So it was all there. So all they had to do is pick up the shipping container and and move it out to Prescott.

Conrad 10:02
My moving experience was really emotional. Did you have any emotional issues leaving one place moving to another? Is that exciting or scary?

Diane 10:10
Yeah, always. Obviously, leaving a house that I loved and moving aboard a boat was was absolutely petrifying, but it turned out that it was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.

And then when we left these coasts, I, we had just had our first grandson and that was hard to move and not have him right there under under foot. So it was it was kind of rough leaving him but we needed a place to settle down and the east coast wasn’t that for us.

Conrad 10:39
What was the best part about moving to Prescott?

Diane 10:43
Oh my gosh, the best? That’s hard to say. I think I think for me, it was the area.

It’s the four seasons, or I actually have come to realize we have five seasons; winter, spring, summer, fall, and monsoon.

I grew up in Montana, so I’m kind of a mountain, foresty, woodsey kind of girl, Prescott offered all of that without the cold and winter of Montana. We have a we have three months of winter, we can have snow.

Conrad 11:12
We just had a foot a week and a half ago.

Diane 11:14
I feel like I get just enough snow here to make you feel like you’ve been through a winter, but not enough to be inconvenient or bothersome to the point that it creates a problem in your life. Okay, so you get snowed in one or two days. No big deal.

Conrad 11:30
So what’s the worst part? What are the bad parts about living in Prescott? What’s hard about it?

Diane 11:35
The lack of seafood!

Having lived on a boat on the coast for three years and able to get seafood at unbelievably cheap prices and fabulous restaurants and I’m that’s what I miss the most.

I really do, but I do have a restaurant to share with you. Lynx Lake Cafe has absolutely the best fish taco on Fridays you would ever want, that I’ve ever tasted.

And Lindo Mexico has a seafood soup that is fabulous. So I finally found two really, really good spots to go to get my seafood fix.

Conrad 12:18
Anything else that’s difficult about living here?

Diane 12:21
I think we have maybe just a meager selection when it comes to shopping. We don’t have the grand malls and the stores that you will find in the Scottsdale and Phoenix areas.

But I think once you’re here, you kind of find that the need for that goes away.

We’re a very laid back community. So some of that isn’t necessary.

And if you’re okay with online shopping, you can get anything you want online. So really, when it comes right down to it, is there really anything we don’t have here?

No.

Conrad 12:57
Well, that, that “being laid back” brings up the issue, what kind of people live here? How would you describe people who live in Prescott? It’s sort of a mix. How would you describe?

Unknown Speaker 13:05
It’s a huge mix.

But I think because we’re such a huge retirement community, we get retirees who can afford the kind of housing that we have in Prescott and you know, I was looking at some pricing the other day that came in and the median priced home in Prescott is right around $500,000.

So when you’re looking at clients who need to have a retirement fund that will support a $500,000 home, you’re looking at some fairly well educated people.

So I think we’re we’re attracting a lot of people who are good for the community, in that they’re bringing great ideas, lots of knowledge is coming in.

And so that’s always good to see and our city fathers and I guess, can I say fathers and mothers? I don’t, or city, or city council people…

Conrad 13:55
I’m not gender neutral, go ahead.

Unknown Speaker 13:58
realized years ago, that we were going to have a shortage of low income housing in any community.

I don’t care where it is, if you don’t have a good mix of income levels, you’re not going to be able to sustain and support any lifestyle in town.

So we finally have a lot of low income apartments, medium income apartments that have been built in Prescott, which is going to support our services industry. It’s ready. They’re, they’re leasing and I’m happy to see that somebody was finally able to come in and do that for us.

Conrad 14:32
You spent a lot of time coming up here from Scottsdale in the early days and then you moved here. What surprised you after living here and buying a house and moving here?

What didn’t you expect that you found?

Diane 14:44
Oh, wow. Um…

Conrad 14:45
Or did you pretty well have a wired?

Diane 14:47
I probably found more artsy things to do.

And I say that in a very kind way because I used to manage an art gift shop and I was very active in a museum and symphony back in small town in Michigan where we used to live.

And so when I came to what I call my mountain town, I was kind of surprised that we had as much art and culture here that there really was and is, and it’s growing. It’s growing very quickly.

We were thrilled in the beginning to hit all the museums and the art galleries and fairs on the square and everything that Prescott had to offer. We were overwhelmed with all of that.

So I think that was my biggest surprise was to find the culture, the the theater, the movies, the activities at Yavapai College, the arts, the performing arts center that they had there. I mean, that’s amazing. For such a small town.

Conrad 15:38
What advice would you give to people that are thinking about coming here? Because I know not everybody is going to be comfortable in this town.

This town is what it is and not everybody fits.

Diane 15:48
Exactly. Exactly.

Conrad 15:49
What What advice would you give to people?

Diane 15:51
Well, I think it kind of depends on where they’re coming from, you know?

Are they coming from a large metropolitan area and they’ll have to learn how to downsize and ,like myself, kind of get used to not having certain things?

Or are they coming up from a small town somewhere? And they need, let’s say they’re they’re moving here because they want a better education for their kids or something.

So I don’t think the adjustments will be quite as hard if you’re moving up as if you’re moving down. So it kind of depends on, on which direction you’re coming from.

But I really think that because we have a Western culture overlaid with our colleges and the, you know, we have five colleges in Prescott with a lot of young people living here, so you get a nice blend of maybe the old culture in the new culture. So you just have to seek out what you want. It’s here.

You just have to go find it.

Conrad 16:44
Okay, good advice. So do you have any final thoughts that you’d want to tell somebody that was thinking about moving here?

Diane 16:50
Well, I think I’m a real good example of why not why Prescott is so great, but why I’m still here in Prescott.

I have no family and Prescott.

I have no family in Arizona.

My husband I moved here and he passed away eight years ago and I’m still here.

I haven’t packed everything and move to where my kids are or where my family is. I could go move to where ever any of them are if I felt like I wasn’t still comfortable here.

I don’t feel like Prescott is not offering me anything I don’t have.

I have friends. I have places to go. There’s always something to do. So I don’t ever feel like I’m I’m a fish out of water here.

It’s the kind of community that I think just kind of hugs you.

You just you just have to know where to find the hug.

Conrad 17:37
Thank you Diane Clark for doing that interview giving us some advice and some tips and for telling your story. I appreciate that.

I really want to thank you, my listeners for choosing this podcast to spend your time and attention on.

If you’d like to help me out please review this podcast where you subscribe.

If you want help or have questions about moving to Prescott, give me a call or text me at 928-925-4428.

Or you can send me an email at Conrad at findingprescott.com. That’s C O N R A D, or you can contact me through the website. There’s a Contact Us form there at findingprescott.com.

All the show notes are going to be there and you’ll have all the information about this episode.

If you do contact us, one of my team members there I will reach out and try to answer all your questions give you any help you might need.

And remember, the key to life is gratitude.

So stay thankful!

This is the story of how I found Prescott, AZ, before I finally moved here from the beach in LA.

I sell Prescott Real Estate and this is the story of how that all started.

This recording was done for a podcast that no longer exists, but the information is worth a listen.

Conrad 0:00
As I start rolling into Flagstaff, expecting what everybody knows Arizona is all about, which is flat, sand, 150 degrees, cactus everywhere, buzzards and vultures in the cactus waiting for you to die in the heat. I roll into Flagstaff, and there’s a foot of snow on the ground.

Conrad 0:20
I’m Conrad Walton. And this is FindingPrescott moving stories from people who decided to make Prescott Arizona, their hometown.

Conrad 0:26
Hi, I’m Conrad Walton. And this is the very first episode of Finding Prescott. You know, when you find something in life that you think is really, really awesome, and you just want to share it with everybody in the whole world? Well, I think that Prescott is really, really awesome. So I developed this podcast, to give advice, information and encouragement to people who live out of state, but you want a better way of life. We’re going to take a realistic look at what it’s like to live in Prescott. What are the pros and the cons? What does it take to move from there to here? Hopefully, this isn’t going to be a real estate brochure or a PR thing. But you’re going to find out what it really is like to live here. Because everybody’s unique, and maybe Prescott is not going to be a good fit for you, but it might be perfect.

Conrad 0:40
The format of the podcast is going to be an interview every episode with somebody who’s moved from some other state to Prescott. I’m going to ask them about their experiences and ask them for their advice, and their tips on what it takes to move here and live in Prescott. All of the show notes and the information about the podcast, and each episode. That’s all going to be on the website at FindingPrescott.com. If you have questions or if you need help with anything, you can contact me on that website FindingPrescott.com.

Conrad 1:57
Of course, at the end of every episode, I’m going to give you a pitch to use me as your real estate agent, if you actually do decide to move here. And because this is the very first episode, I figured I should tell you my story and kind of interview myself and that might be kind of awkward, but I’m gonna give it a try. So here we go.

Conrad 2:17
Just to introduce myself. I’m a real estate agent here in Prescott. My wife and I moved here about six years ago full time, from the beach area in LA. We both grew up at the beach, and we both love living there. We both grew up within like a mile of the beach, very much part of that culture. So moving to Arizona was was quite different from that.

Conrad 2:40
I want to take you back to the first time I was ever in Arizona. It was after college at a Volkswagen van and taking a road trip from LA through Seattle and Idaho, Moab, Utah and Arizona Grand Canyon and and back to LA. And as I start rolling into Flagstaff, Expecting what everybody knows Arizona is all about, which is flat sand, 150 degrees. Cactus everywhere. Buzzards and vultures in the cactus waiting for you to die in the heat. I roll into Flagstaff and there’s a foot of snow on the ground.

Conrad 3:17
Found out there Flagstaff’s actually at like 7000 feet or above and and actually is cold and snows there and there’s Ponderosa pines and it’s actually pretty beautiful there. So I learned the North half of the state is different than the South half of the state.

Conrad 3:34
First time I ever found out about Prescott was on a family vacation. We were driving from LA to Moab, Utah, I do love Moab. We came into KOA campground. In those days, it was early in our in our marriage and we were kind of broke at that point. So we were camping. We had a tent, doing that whole camping thing. And we were going to camp in Ash Fork because there was KOA there. We came into that, and it looked like it was a parking lot, little patches of grass surrounded by gravel, right next to the freeway. And we were both like, yeah, that’s not gonna happen. We’re out of here. We’re finding someplace else.

Conrad 4:14
There was a sign for a city south of there and thought “What the heck”, Prescott, and we drove south. We came through the Dells. We ended up in the downtown Courthouse Square, thought, Oh my gosh, this is like driving into a movie. It was amazing. And we found a campground out White Spar and spent the night. Next day, we walked all around downtown Courthouse Square, Whiskey Row. I mean, what kind of a city has a block named Whiskey Row? and I’m sure there’s some out there but darn it, Prescott has Whiskey Row, has The Palace Saloon. Wyatt Earp drank in The Palace Saloon. How cool is that! Doc Holliday was in there.

Conrad 4:59
So at that point, we kind of fell in love with it. We would come back on anniversaries, family vacations, Valentine’s Day, romantic weekends away. Decided, you know, Someday Someday we’re gonna move to Prescott if we can, you know, afford it and if the logistics work. So we had a lot of family, a lot of obligations, jobs, things like that in LA. It took a long time. I think it was probably 25 years of coming here, just about every year for that 25 years. Finally the family situation changed and we inherited some money and logistically it worked.

Conrad 5:38
So we bought some property here, remodeled that and year and a half later, we moved here full time. My wife had always wanted to live downtown with the Victorian homes. We lived in a Craftsman bungalow in LA. And we like historic homes and you know we got here and the Victorians down there on Mount Vernon street are beautiful. It’s just amazing homes, but they’re kind of suburban. They’re kind of like right next to each other. We’re thinking, you know, if we’re going to move out of LA, where your neighbors are six feet apart from your building, why don’t we move out of LA and get out into the mountains.

Conrad 6:15
So we started driving around on the forest, we found a little community called Walker. It’s an old mining community. It’s where they discovered gold back in 1863. Walker’s this great community south of town about 9 or 10 miles. So I love living in Walker. We live in a cabin at the end of a dirt road on two acres in in the forest surrounded by ponderosa pine. And that’s kind of as awesome as you might think it would be. We’re far enough from town that we’ve got some privacy and seclusion, and yet, Costco is 12 minutes away.

Conrad 6:52
The process of moving here was kind of interesting. We lived in that house for 24 years, which meant a lot of boxes full of memories. We had a lot of stuff to go through. It was really difficult to sort through things. Before that my parents retired and moved away. We had to go through and sort out my parents house. So we ended up a lot of, we’ll call them memories. And then my wife’s mother passed away, we ended up inheriting her house, and inheriting another whole house full of memories. We ended up having to rent a storage unit out here for all the memories. And it was really difficult. It took us years to go through, sort things out, decide what to throw away what to keep. I think that was probably the hardest part about moving out here.

Conrad 7:44
I think inertia is a really hard thing. It’s it’s so much easier to just stay where you are and not take the initiative to actually make a decision and move somewhere. So. But we finally got there. It took us a couple years but we finally live here full time and we’ll never go back to California. People ask, you know, would I ever go back and I’m thinking, if I could go back to the 70s that would be awesome. I could go back to the 80s. That would even be awesome. But LA has gotten too crowded. Too much traffic, too much crime. I just I just can’t deal with that anymore. Prescott’s way more peaceful. There’s no earthquakes here. There’s no riots here. We just love Prescott too much.

Conrad 8:27
If you ever do want to move here, one hot tip I’ll tell you is it is not pronounced Prescott. If you say Prescott, everybody’s gonna know you’re not from around here. It’s pronounced press kit, press kit. It’s kind of like if you press and you have a kit. It’s Prescott. People will tell you it’s like biscuit but it’s not pris-kit. It’s Prescott. So there you go.

Conrad 8:59
So our home buying process. We had bought and sold a couple homes in LA and I had some familiarity with it. A friend of mine was a real estate agent, so I kind of understood that process. So we basically drove around, picked up fliers out of flyer boxes on realtor signs, and found one, drove up to where we thought it was. When their neighbor came out. She had a .45 stuck in her belt. And she was as nice as could be. Hi, can I help you? So yeah, we’re looking for this house. And they’re like, Oh, yeah, that’s that’s those guys. And it’s right over there down that road. You know, so we drove down there. The owner showed it to us. The only reason we really needed a realtor was to do all the paperwork. So it was fairly straightforward cash deal.

Conrad 9:47
The hard part came after that because we spent a year and a half remodeling it, renovated it, rebuilt it put a bunch of money into it. We were living in LA on a Friday night. I was never forget this part. Went down to El Sombrero on Artesia in Manhattan Beach to get Friday night Mexican food takeout and made my usual order carnitas, well done, fajitas with extra vegetables for my wife, and I’m sitting on their little bench and I’m waiting. So I took my phone out and I looked at what our house was worth on Zillow, it was worth over a million bucks. And at that moment, I’m like, we’re moving to Prescott.

Conrad 10:26
We put our house on the market. We sold it within two weeks for more than we’re asking. Long story there. That worked out really well. We had to rent it back from him for a couple months because we had so much stuff we had to move and sort through. I’ll never forget the day we drove away, had a U Haul trailer with the last bits and pieces. And it was really hard.

Conrad 10:48
It was it was way more emotional than I thought, moving out of that house. You know, we had memories and I was really emotionally attached to that house. I think real estate is way more emotional and people realize. My part of it as a real estate agent, it’s contracts and numbers and dollars and, you know, liabilities and disclosures and all that. But fact is when you raise a family, or people live and die and things happen, there’s just so many memories. It’s, it’s hard to move out of a house. So I understand that.

Conrad 11:21
By the time we got here, I, that was the best decision we ever made. It was difficult. It was difficult process, but I would never go back. Have no regrets about that.

Conrad 11:32
I think the best part about moving here is I feel like there’s freedom. It’s like, this is America. In LA, it seemed like there was a lot of little regulations and laws and being hassled by people and getting along with people and it was it was just difficult to live it took a lot of energy. But in Arizona, generally, the laws seem to be a much looser, it’s easier to just do whatever you want. Here, there’s a lot of freedom.

Conrad 12:02
I like the people here. I like how friendly everybody is. In LA there seemed to be a lot of arrogance. And I think I fell into that. I think I was arrogant because Hey, dude, I was from the beach and I was cooler than you. And it took me a while to realize that and step back and people in Arizona are pretty cool. Everybody’s friendly and helpful. There’s always going to be your crusty bits out there. Your, you know, your, people are people, but generally people are very nice here very helpful, very friendly. And that’s just refreshing. That’s like the way life should be and, and I really enjoy that part of it.

Conrad 12:38
The thing I don’t like about Prescott is I really do miss the beach and there’s no beach here. I think that lifestyle and thing, that that was the biggest sacrifice in the balance of life. I would rather move here to Prescott, but I do miss the beach. I think there was better food in LA I gotta say sushi, Chinese Food, Mexican food, it was all better in LA than it is in Prescott. And we do have good food here. We have good Italian food and we have some other good places to eat. We found some things that make us happy but Mexican food in LA? Can’t beat it. Tito’s Tacos on the west side. I do miss Tito’s. Randy’s donuts. Look them up. I missed them too. So I think the food is one issue.

Conrad 13:24
I think shopping. You know, this isn’t a big city. It’s not a small city. It’s not like there’s only a few hundred people living here. I mean, we got like 40,000 or whatever. And we do have stores and most most things are available. But we don’t have the big shopping malls. We don’t have the vast array of shops where you can get anything you want. We don’t have an Apple store. I’m a Mac fanboi, so that one hurts. But an hour and a half away, we’ve got Phoenix down there. There’s an Apple store in Scottsdale I go to a lot, and if you can’t find it in Phoenix, you know, you can find it online. So we survive, maybe not quite as conveniently but we have enough shopping to get by.

Conrad 14:09
I think the thing that surprised me most about Prescott is the mix of people that live here. I used to work with guys used to call me “cowboy”, because I thought, you know, I’m a cowboy. Well in Prescott, they have real cowboys. They actually raised cows and they have bales of hay in their pickup and, you know, people wear guns on their hip here. And, you know, they’re real cowboys. We also have a bunch of old hippies. We have a vibrant art community. There’s a bunch of artistic people around. It’s just a weird mix of old hippies and cowboys and, and a bunch of middle class people and it’s just a nice place to live.

Conrad 14:53
My advice to you if you’re going to move here or if you’re thinking about moving here, you need to come here and explore. The neighborhoods are very different. To the south. And to the west, you’re going to be up in the mountains in the Bradshaw mountains, a lot of ponderosa pine, a lot of forest living, a lot of dirt roads. You can get down downtown and there’s very suburban kind of locations, sidewalks and streets and all that normal stuff. If you go out north, it gets flat, you can get two acres out there and have kind of a spread, but not the, not the trees. And there’s just a lot of different kinds of neighborhoods. So you really should travel around, get a map and start poking around at different places. See, see what kind of a neighborhood feels good to you.

Conrad 15:40
I think the other thing about moving, and I’m looking at this from both sides, because I’m a real estate agent now, is you really need to have a good real estate agent. Tell them everything you’re thinking and want to do. They’re gonna know more than you are about what’s available and what you might like out here. They can think of things that you’re not aware of. I’ve got tell you. Growing up, I’ve never really like real estate agents, I’ve always thought they were just you know, how to make a buck and hustlers and all that. But now that I am a real estate agent, I have found out that most of them are really, really nice people, and they’re really, really helpful. And they got into real estate because they like helping people they’re very social and, you know, really have a lot of empathy and compassion on people and, you know, they’re not in it for the money they’re in it to, to make you happy. And I’m pleasantly surprised by that.

Conrad 16:32
And that’s why I’m in it. I’ve found myself being you know, it’s like, I want to change the image a bit. Well, now there are actually good people out there and and I’d like to think I’m a good person. I’m in this to help people too. So… I don’t think that’s a sales pitch. I think that’s just an observation of reality. There’s still a few people out there I would I would watch for but then again, like, you know, people are people and you’ve got to judge for yourself. Find somebody you like. Find someone you trust. If you don’t like somebody, find somebody else. Don’t feel bad about that. We deal with a lot of people. We can we can handle it.

Conrad 17:08
The home buying process and the whole moving process. We did the U haul thing and, you know, friends packing up boxes and putting in a U Haul. I was long and hard. It was cheaper, took longer. It was easier because we had a lot of stuff to move. And it was easier to take bite sized chunks. But I know other people, it’s like you just hire a mover. They load it up. It shows up next Tuesday, boom, you’re done. And everything’s in the house. And that might be the way to go too. I don’t know, but get a good real estate agent.

Conrad 17:41
Don’t just find a house on Zillow that you want to buy and go to that listing agent and ask them about representing you. Go get your own realtor. You need somebody to represent you and let the listing agent represents the seller. Although I have done both sides of transactions the buyer and the seller to And, and I do my very best to treat people fairly and make sure everything’s done correctly.

Conrad 18:05
I think my final thoughts about moving to Prescott, looking back, I mean, I was born and raised in LA. And I was shocked when other people I knew in high school or college would move away. And I think how could you do that? This is the best place in the world! Looking back now I realized that LA has slowly become more and more toxic to me. I feel like it was like being in a bad relationship. You don’t really know it while you’re in it. And then you get out of it. You look back and you go, man, how did I put up with all that stuff?

Conrad 18:37
I think a little reality check of what his life like where you’re at. And if you’ve got family or job or, or whatever, and you want to, you know, you have reasons for being there., you know, that’s cool, stay there. You know, be who you are, live where you live. That’s, that’s fine. But if you look around and you think, man, this is not, this is not good. I don’t like living here anymore. I’m tired of, you know, traffic. Crime crowdedness whatever, look around and give Prescott a chance. Prescott’s a pretty good alternative to big city living. So not too big, not too small, gives you a little a little space to breathe out here. It’s a comfortable place to be. I think when you when you first drive into downtown, and you go to the Courthouse Square, if you’ve had that experience or if you’re going to have that experience, that is the moment where it’s like, you know, they call this “everybody’s hometown”, and it really feels like hometown. It feels like like it’s warm, it’s comfortable. It’s like, oh, I’ve been here before it’s, it’s what I’ve always wanted to do, and I don’t know, I think it’s just the coolest place to live in the world. I don’t ever see living anywhere else. I’ve told people it’s like you’re gonna have to drag me out of here and put me in a home. I’m not leaving here.

Conrad 19:55
I love Prescott and I think if you are interested in In a better way of life, if you’re interested in a little more freedom, a little more breathing room, to get along with some people who are nice and supportive and friendly, I think that Prescott should be on your list of places to check out. And of course, I’m a real estate agent, give me a call. I appreciate you listening. I hope this podcast turns into something that’s useful to people and that people enjoy it. I hope you enjoy it. I hope it’s useful to you. And I really do appreciate you taking the time to check this out. So with that, I think we’re done. So thank you very much, and hopefully we’ll talk soon. Bye.

Conrad 20:40
I want to thank you, my listeners for choosing this podcast to spend your time and attention on. If you’d like to help me out. Please review this podcast where you get your podcasts. If you want help or have questions about moving to Prescott, give me a call or text me at 928-925-4428 You can send me an email at Conrad at FindingPrescott.com. That’d CONRAD at findingPrescott.com, You can contact me through that website. There’s a contact form there for you. All of the show notes are going to be there and you’ll find all the information about this episode there. If you do contact me, one of my team members or I will reach out and we’ll try to answer all your questions and give you any kind of help you might need.

Conrad 21:26
And remember, the key to life is gratitude. So stay thankful

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Exceptional Customer Service

Conrad is an exceptional realtor. Knowledgeable in the market, great communication and extremely professional. I highly recommend Conrad for all of your real estate needs. He cares about you and your satisfaction is his number priority.

Read more

Reviewed by Jodi Stark (Buyer) 18 Sep 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Responsive and dependable

Conrad was always very accommodating and reliable. He was pleasant with which to work. His diligence made for a fast close and smooth transition. Thank you, Conrad!

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Reviewed by Shelly Kocher (Buyer) 30 Jul 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

A True Partner!

Conrad was more than just a realtor, he was a true partner in this transaction.

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Reviewed by (Vendor) 25 Jul 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Very professional and responsive.

Very pleased with his customer service. We would definitely use him again!!

Read more

Reviewed by Keith Kocher (Buyer) 25 Jul 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Conrad is a great realtor!

Conrad was very knowledgeable about the entire experience! Putting our home for sell he even brought in his drone to show prospective buyer the land around our home. He kept us aware of people that looked at it. In looking for a new home for us Conrad was always willing to show us houses that we thought might be "the one". He was very aware of the things we were looking for in a new home.(Wood floors, island in the kitchen, fireplace, etc). I would recommend Conrad to anyone looking for a quaified realtor!

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Reviewed by (Buyer) 18 May 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Conrad was the best!

I enjoyed his competitive attitude and easy personal style. Both were helpful. It's very nice to have a Walker expert, there is nothing about Walker Conrad doesn't know.

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Reviewed by (Vendor) 4 May 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Snowdrift Mine Sale

We unfortunately decided against building on top of Walker Mountain on Snowdrift Mine Road. We researched which realtor to use for the listing and were happy we chose Conrad. His knowledge and expertise of Walker Mountain came in handy and we used his advise to get our 2 acre lot sold during off-peak months for a price we were happy with. Highly suggest Conrad for all your real estate needs.

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Reviewed by Jared Fink (Vendor) 25 Mar 2024

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Conrad was fabulous

I really enjoyed working with Conrad! It was a tough property to sell and he was super helpful. A genuine pro with a gentle personality.

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Reviewed by Herb Knochel (Vendor) 17 Dec 2023

Conrad Walton

23  reviews

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

This was a hard sale

Conrad, Wow we got this one sold all the black paint and all. As we close another chapter in our son life. We are blessed with so many new memories with his new home. Wow we are definitely lucky we found you. On to our next one what will it be.

Thank you Steve and Jackie Todd

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Reviewed by Jacqueline Todd (Vendor) 6 Dec 2023

Read more of my reviews on

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Back in real estate school, when I was getting my license, I learned about “tax lien sales”. They sounded like an easy and fun way to make money.

They happen in Yavapai County every February, so we are now officially in tax lien season.

Here’s the website where they happen. yavapai.arizonataxsale.com

The basic idea is that some property owners don’t always pay their property tax on time.

If they don’t pay it for 3 years in a row, the county sells a lien on that property to the public.

The county gets their cash now, and you can make money on the interest on the lien, when the owner does pay.

You can win the chance to buy the tax lien in an online auction.

If you win, and pay for the taxes owed, then you have to wait for 3 years before you can foreclose on that property.

They can pay off their taxes at any time before the 3 years is up, which pays you back your money, plus up to 16% interest on your money.

Not a bad investment.

If they don’t pay it back, and you foreclose, you become the new owner of the property, so you can sell it, and make your millions.

Sounds easy, right?

I wanted to learn how they worked, so the first year I wanted to try to buy some, I waited until the day before the auction was open, because I wanted to get there before it started.

I found out that you have to register a week before the auction even starts.

Find out what the schedule is and make sure you meet all the deadlines. Go to the website and actually read all that stuff you blew past and agreed to. It’s important that you know what it says.

Read This: Yavapai County Tax Lien FAQ

That was discouraging, so it took a couple years before I tried again. This time, I got there early and registered.

Before you can bid on anything, you have to make a deposit of 10% of your total amount you want to buy. If you want to invest $10,000, then you need to deposit $1,000.

The minimum you have to deposit is $25.

If you don’t bid on, or win, anything, you’ll get your deposit back in a couple weeks after the auction closes.

You’ll have access to all of the parcels that will be available to bid on.

Decide what your strategy will be. Do you want to make money or do you want to own land?

I like to only bid on parcels that I’m somewhat familiar with, or at least know where they are.

Use the county GIS map to do your research.

https://gis.yavapaiaz.gov

Put the parcel number in the “Search” field and look at the results.

Look in the right hand column and find the “Taxes” tab. Click on the “Tax Bill Link”

You can get an idea about the property.

If the house is worth $850,000 and they owe $2,000 in taxes, I’m pretty sure that they’ll pay off that tax and give you your interest.

If the parcel is vacant, in a bad area, with no access, and too small to do anything with, someone just gave up paying taxes and will let it go.

You’ll probably be the proud new owner of a vacant parcel in a bad area, with no access, that’s too small to do anything with.

You should make a list of the parcels you want to bid on, and decide how much you really want each parcel.

I did a color coded spreadsheet the first time I did this.

Just make a quick list.

Now you have a list of parcels and how much you want them, along with how much you’re willing to spend to buy the tax liens.

Keep your total budget in mind while you bid.

Take a deep breath.

Knowledge is power and you have your list in your hand.

The auction consists of “Batches”. They bundle a bunch of parcels together in batches to process.

They process one batch each hour. If you don’t get a property you wanted in one batch, you can bid more on parcels in a later batch.

To make a bid, you define the amount of interest you want to receive if they pay off the tax lien, up to a maximum of %16.

They limit the amount of interest that a property owner has to pay if they do pay off the lien.

Of course you want the most money you can get, but the “bidding” part of the auction is that the LOWEST amount of interest WINS the tax lien.

If you bid 16%, but I bid 12%, then I win the bid.

If that other guy bids 5%, then he beats both of us. I hate that guy.

Bidders are only known by their bidder number, but you can see when one person is bidding on multiple parcels.

You can get an idea of what they are trying to do so you might bid against them successfully.

Personally, I’ve targeted specific properties I’ve wanted to own and bid a lower rate so I can get the property.

Investors will bid 16% on every parcel they want, knowing they’ll only win a few, but the ones they do win will pay them a great interest rate on their investment.

You won’t be able to see how many bids on a parcel, or how much they are. That’s why it’s an auction.

As a batch closes, you’ll be able to see what you’ve won or lost, then you can run and adjust bids in later batches.

I must say that one year, I only targeted a few parcels, but I lost them all to lower bids.

You never know what will happen. Bid accordingly.

After the auction is over, you have to pay for all of the tax liens you’ve won.

After the county runs through their process, they’ll mail you receipts and all the paperwork that says you own that tax lien.

Then there’s a parade to celebrate your winning.

Ah. Wait. No… That’s the Super Bowl.

Nothing happens after you win.

You sit and wait.

You forget about that paperwork sitting in your drawer.

The parcel owner has 3 years to pay off the lien and the interest, before you can foreclose.

They can pay it at any time.

Maybe they realize it 2 weeks after the auction and pay off then.

Maybe they wait the full 3 years, then pay it off just before foreclosure.

You have no control over what the parcel owner does.

Then, one day, when you least expect it, you get a letter from the county.

The parcel owner has paid off the tax lien, including the interest rate that you asked for.

You get a check for the total.

Now you get to celebrate.

You have successfully invested in, and profited from, a tax lien sale. Congratulations.

If that magical day never comes when you get a check in the mail, you just keep waiting.

After 3 years of waiting, you can foreclose.

Now, everything that I’ve read makes the foreclosure process sound easy.

It’s not.

I thought I could do it myself. I’m a smart guy. I know things.

Nope. Get a lawyer. They cost money.

The foreclosure process can be easy or complicated.

Try to get a lawyer that charges by the hour and hope your case is easy.

I ended up with 2 parcels once. One parcel had other liens or possible ownership issues with 4 other parties.

Each party had to be notified and negotiated with.

The entire process took a year and a half, and cost me thousands of dollars in lawyer’s fees.

In the end, I did sell the parcel and make money on the deal, but learned to only bid on parcels that look simple, as far as ownership and other liens.

Look at the history on the county GIS page for ownership issues.

If you’re going to battle for them, they should at least be worth something if you want to sell them.

It was a long, hard fought battle, but I did make money in the end, and I’d do it all over again.

Tax liens can make you some money. They can teach you some lessons.

They can drag you down, and beat you, then take your money.

You might end up with a worthless piece of property.

You might end up on a beach, sipping a cold adult beverage.

Do your research.

Don’t bid any more than you can afford to lose.

Above all, let’s be careful out there.

See you at the auction.

I’m a control freak,

because I can do everything better than everyone else.

If you want something done right, do it yourself.

You know what I mean?

Then, earlier this year, I got really busy.

I was running as fast as I could.

I was burnt. I needed help.

I asked Sam, who the best TC in the office was.

And I hired Tania Nauroth.

I just threw all my paperwork at her.

She organized it. She reviewed it.

She uploaded it.

She reminded me when things were due.

She managed all my paperwork.

She worked with my clients to get all the paperwork signed.

Now that I have a TC, it’s like a huge weight’s been lifted.

She’s generally made me a better agent.

Now I can focus on what I do best.

I can focus on my clients instead of catching up on paperwork.

I also more time to spend with my lovely wife.

Well, I’m good at some things.

Turns out I’m not actually better at everything.

I’m even “not good” at some things.

I hate paperwork.

I learned that giving up control,

asking for help,

and working with other people

makes me a better real estate agent.

Not to be too dramatic, but hiring a TC changed my life.

If you’re an agent, get a TC.

If you’re buying or selling a house,

get an agent who has a TC.

Somebody like me