Prescott’s Real Estate Market 2025

March 1, 2025 By

The #1 question a seasoned agent will be asked is: “What’s the market like?” So here’s an answer:

2025 saw a major political shift at the federal level which could mean a boom in real estate if we take into consideration the last cycle of lower interest rates (housing) during Trump’s first term. Of course we were also dealing with the COVID market crash and the aftermath. Prescott’s market was heavily affected by huge markets like California moving inland, which drove prices through the roof. During 2022 it was not unusual to see houses selling for $100K over asking price. Today this is not the case.

In recent months the immensely inflated market around Prescott has taken a beating with price reductions to match 2022’s gold-rush. It’s not unusual to see a home reduce $100K or more in the past six months. The real question is “why is this happening?”

Homes are always only ever worth what someone is willing to pay. The housing market has almost doubled since 2019 and of course the interest rates are still hovering around 6.84% as of today; which puts many people out of the market. The average sales price from August 2024 through February 2025 is $750,000 for a site-built, single family residence in Prescott proper at a whopping $332 per square foot. (The average during the same timeline 2018-19 was $202sq.ft. ) This simply puts Prescott out of reach for most people and even those who live here are finding it difficult to maintain their residence.

It’s my prediction the housing bubble will burst in the coming months. The signs are all pointing toward a crash. The Fed will try to curb this by lowering interest rates and flooding the market with new buyers, which will not solve the issue unless the costs come down for basics like food and supplies. However, the great migrations from California, Washington, Oregon, and Colorado have already been in process since 2020 and there’s likely millions more who can stomach the huge increase in prices who will be looking to our quaint little town as a possibility.

Filed Under: Market, Prescott, Real Estate

IDXpro, IDXbroker and cURL problems. How to solve for Real Estate Agents – WordPress 4.6 update

September 4, 2016 By

As a realtor, I rely on my systems to do their job each day, silently in the background, working as they should. One of the ways technology keeps itself in business is to consistently make things “safer”, keep things “up to date”, and mostly be “innovative”; always on the cutting edge. Making things harder for the end user is what maintains tech company jobs. It seems that any professional business has to have their own in-house I.T. person or “tech guy/gal” as we like to call them.

Being a programmer myself for many years now, I understand the struggles Realtors face every day with browser updates, JAVA updates, and Flash updates. Not to mention plug-in updates, OpenSSL, server-side scripts, Apache configurations, Perl, and now cURL.

The most obvious part of explaining cURL is to focus on the URL part of the script language. We automatically know this has to do with URL syntax. The “c” in cURL stands for “command” or “command line”. It basically allows a connection to another source to be verified before allowing a transfer of data (or information) back to the original requester. For Realtors running IDX platforms inside their websites this may mean using “wrappers” or “curling” a specific protocol for an end user to view.

Example: The IDX your using may require you to completely use their system with your information simply “plugged in” to the headers, etc. Others allow you to completely use your system and “plug-in” their lines of code into your HTML. When doing this, it’s generally referred to as a “wrap” or “wrapper”. Your effectively “wrapping” their content in your website’s look & feel. No problem, as long as all the programs talk to each other properly.

Every once in a while, some wise-guy decides to interject something into an update that completely throws everyone for a spin. Introducing WordPress 4.6 update.

The latest WP update many realtors using the IDXCO solution (known as IDXbroker, IDXpro, and IDXlite) running to their servers to complain about the latest error that has shown up on their page: “There was a problem curling the page, please make sure your server allows page curling“. When Google-ing this phrase with quotes around it (meaning I’m looking for that exact phrase) Google delivered over 46,000 page results…all from Real Estate companies. The real bummer, my website was on the first page of that result… several times.

The steps you’re likely to take:
1. A non-programmer would immediately contact the IDX provider. It’s obvious that the problem is coming from their end…right? However, the word “server” in the message sends people also to the host server.
2. Contact your host server: I.E. godaddy, networksolutions, mediatemple, WhoIs, etc.

Although both of these steps seem incontrovertible, they are both actually not this issue in this instance. The problem is the wordpress 4.6 update.

As to not anger the cyberspace gods, I’ll caveat the above statement with this: Your server should be updated with the latest scripting languages available including PHP, cURL and OpenSSL (among many others.) To find out what versions your server may be running, you’ll need to locate the info.php file or php.ini. To do this all you need is a simple text editor such as Notepad. (Don’t use word processors like MS Word) Then type in this line of code:
<? phpinfo(); ?>
That’s it. Save this file as something like myinfo.php and FTP (save it) it to your website’s public directory, root directory, or wherever you can easily find it on your server. Then pull it up in a web browser by typing in the URL.

If you’ve done it correctly, you’ll have your PHP settings from your server displayed nicely with title breakdowns. You can check the versions of programming languages against the latest releases just by Google-ing the language. (I.E. “Latest version of cURL”) You’ll find that many servers have not updated their languages to the latest updates. This could cause the error above. Put in a request ticket with your host server to make sure they’re updated to the latest versions. Now… don’t you feel smart? You should.

The other adjustments that need to be made temporarily to fix this issue are within IDXpro/broker/lite. In your “Global HTML wrapper” tab under Customize>Designs, you’ll find the settings to either use a static or dynamic wrapper. Many Realtors use the dynamic wrapper and inject the code into their HTML. If this is your situation, you’ll need to temporarily disable this and use a static wrapper. The static wrapper can easily be split into the two sections called the “Header” and “Footer” of the page. Simply put, the top & bottom sections of your webpages with the IDX code running in the middle. The static wrapper is now using your HTML code, hosted on your server VS the IDXpro system using their dynamic wrapper, which is what’s causing the problem. SO, what is the problem exactly???

The problem is that WordPress’ 4.6 update added a new folder under wp-includes/requests/transport that didn’t exist in version 4.4 (the version that still works with IDXpro) Inside this folder is a file called cURL.php. This cURL file has lines of code which have been known to cause issues. The WP support forum has a ticket on this item which was supposedly solved. FOUND HERE. However, the issue is not solved for IDXpro users. I won’t take time to write up everything said in the support ticket, as you can go read it for yourself.

The solution for agents is to:
1. Temporarily switch to the static wrapper
2. Contact your server to make sure they’ve updated to the latest cURL
3. Make sure your version of PHP is running at least 5.6 or higher
4. Possibly make the changes mentioned in the support ticket above (although they didn’t work for me)
5. Wait for your server to announce their latest updates.

WordPress may also issue a new update that may correct this problem. However, just because WP releases a new version still does not mean your server is handling the page requests properly IF using outdated versions of cURL and PHP.

Now, aren’t you glad you became a Realtor so you could learn to program websites?

Filed Under: cURL, Programming, Real Estate

Real Estate and Drones – FAA puts a halt on Realtors marketing efforts

June 6, 2015 By

Drones and Real Estate

In a recent letter from the National Association of Realtors, it appears the FAA has temporarily banned the use of drones for real estate marketing.

I’ll address some concerns in this article from both home-owners, and as techie nerd myself who is a drone owner.

The main issue is over privacy. The secondary issue is safety. Not only can drones cause serious issues with airplanes, they can do tremendous amounts of damage to property and persons. If you’ve never seen a drone in person, in flight, it’s hard to understand how powerful these little machines are. Some drones weigh in at 7lbs while other average 3-4lbs and can fly at 50mph or more. Imagine standing on the side of a road and having someone lob a 7lb dumb-bell at your head out of car driving 55mph… that’s about 1/2 as dangerous as a drone is while in flight.

Is drone technology really useful for marketing real estate? In my opinion, not really. At least not the way most realtors are using them. I’m not THE authority on any of it, but believe that location and topography play an important role. I’ve personally photographed over 5,000 houses in the region I live in Prescott, AZ. For many years I was the single most sought after professional photographer for real estate in the area. Hundreds of agents came to me for not only photos, but marketing assistance as well. I was also the VP of Marketing for the last company I worked for…so, I have some idea of what I’m talking about.

There were many instances over the years where I really wanted/needed to get a better angle of a home; mostly due to its topography. Homes that sit high up on lots are troublesome to photograph due to the camera being mostly at ground level. Although not impossible if you’re creative, the drones could certainly come into use in these situations. Most of the time, the drones are used to photograph the roof, which in my opinion is a practice producing less than desirable results.
badroofimage

Because some/most Realtors are not photographers, and they likely are not videographers, they may lack experience and simply fly up and around. For them, the drone is a gimmick they use to lure a potential seller into listing with them. The claim is, “More people will see your house!” This claim is largely unfounded. Videos of homes have been around for years and for the money, I find the “lifestyle” tour a much better investment. A lifestyle tour is one where the Realtor hires actors and actually scripts live-action scenes around the property. This not only shows the home more accurately, but allows interaction in the home by people; lending to a much better representation of the property. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t dislike drones by any means. In fact, I’m a huge fan and owner myself. However, the public needs to get its perception correct on exactly what the benefit is?  If you live in a huge estate, the drone can certainly add advantage. If you live in a 2,000 sq.ft house in a subdivision, the technology is virtually useless. The very reason you likely hired your agent will be the reason no one wants to buy the house. Everyone will have an accurate visual of just how crowded your neighborhood really is. In the end, your agent could be driving potential buyers away from your property. Those same buyers viewing a lifestyle tour would be 75% more likely to go see the house in person than viewing a drone tour.

The Verdict
For the next two years NAR will be disseminating the ins and outs of drone use with the FAA. Until then, all Realtors are supposed to put the practice on hold. If your agent is currently using a drone to market your house, you may want to find a new agent. Currently, there is no one in Yavapai County with COE clearance from the FAA to operate in UAS.

Filed Under: aerial photography, drone, Prescott, Real Estate Tagged With: , , , ,

Capital Canyon Club, Prescott, AZ Updates

February 16, 2015 By

Hassayampa Prescott Arizona's best real estate

The Hassayampa Golf Club is now the Capital Canyon Club!
Memberships to the club is offered in seven tiers. For more information, call the Capital Canyon Club or contact them by email. Prices are subject to change.

As of March 2017, the prices below reflect the membership fees. Since opening, some tiers of membership have been exchanged or added including the “Maverick”.
Other added memberships include the Pioneer and Prospector. The Prospector plan resides just under the Founders plan, and the Pioneer plan is for young, business executives under the age of 45. For a full brochure stating fees at the Capital Canyon Club, click here.

FOUNDERS

$55,000 initial fee
$0 Monthly for 10 years
$1,200 Annual Food & Beverage minimum.

  • No dues for 10 years
  • Unlimited use of the Club Golf Course
  • Unlimited use of Club Practice Facilities
  • Unlimited Cart Usage
  • 14 Day advance starting time reservations
  • Complimentary Club Rental for your Accompanied Guests
  • 20% Discount off of the member guest rate for your accompanied guests
  • Complimentary Bag Storage and Complimentary Locker
  • Access to the Club Fitness Center and Swimming Pool
  • Exclusive access to our Clubhouse Restaurant & Social Events
  • Invitations to join Men’s & Women’s Golf Association Events
  • Access to Troon Reciprocal Golf Program

FRONTIER

$5,000 Initial Fee
Monthly Dues $625
$1,200 Annual F&B minimum.

  • Unlimited use of the Club Golf Course
  • Unlimited use of Club Practice Facilities
  • Unlimited Cart Usage
  • 7 Day advance starting time reservations
  • Complimentary Bag Storage and Complimentary Locker
  • Access to our clubhouse, fitness center, and swimming pool
  • Exclusive access to our Clubhouse Restaurant & Social Events
  • Invitations to our Men’s & Women’s Golf Association Events
  • Access to Troon Reciprocal Golf Program

MAVERICK

$5,000 Initial Fee
Monthly Dues $475
$1,200 Annual Food & Beverage minimum

  • Unlimited use of the Club Golf Course
  • Unlimited use of Club Practice Facilities
  • Optional Annual Cart Program
  • 7 Day advance starting time reservations
  • Access to the Club’s Fitness Center and Swimming Pool
  • Invitations to Men’s & Women’s Golf Association Events
  • Exclusive access to our Clubhouse Restaurant  & Social Events
  • Access to Troon Reciprocal Golf Program and Golf Concierge

1864

$1,500 Initial Fee
Monthly Dues $100
$1,200 Annual F&B minimum.

  • Exclusive access to our clubhouse, restaurant & social events
  • Access to the club fitness center
  • Enjoy limited golf benefits
Filed Under: Golf, Hassayampa, Prescott, Real Estate Tagged With: , ,

Prescott and Prescott Valley roofing shingle requirements

February 12, 2015 By

I’ve had some questions lately about roofing shingles and the requirements for felt under the shingles when re-roofing a house.

I’m not currently a roofer, however I did work in the business as a roofer for two years. What I can tell everyone is that any roofer will say that 30# felt is better than 15# felt, although not required in most cases.
If you’re considering re-roofing your home or manufactured home, make sure the pitch does not call for 30# felt under the shingles. The felt is a water barrier and accomplishes two things. 1) It helps while putting the shingles on in the event of rain or heavy condensation. 2) It helps as a water barrier and protectant for the plywood underneath. In the future, I’m sure better materials will evolve.

When considering the pitch of your roof, make sure you think about both steep and shallow pitches. Roofs which are almost flat, and those that are of a heavy pitch (as in A-Frame style) will require 30# felt.

Filed Under: Prescott, Prescott Valley, Real Estate

Hate Zillow? Reasons to never use Zillow.com

August 13, 2014 By

Do you believe your home is worth more than Zillow’s Zestimate says it is?

Years before I was a Realtor®, I was in the technology field, working for brokerages and Realtors. I did a lot of data management and information technology. I was also a graphic designer. As such, I knew how the internet was going to change the game. As both a creative person (musical and artistic) while also being a programmer (methodical and focused) I was able to coalesce my skill-set into a career. Lots of players have come and gone over the last 15 years. I have many friends in the offices of Realtor.com, Trulia, and in one of the new players, Zillow.

What is Zillow?
Zillow is a website that presents information syndicated by local Realtor® Associations, like the one I belong to in Prescott, Arizona. They present the data to consumers using data-crunching behavioral technology. They don’t do anything we don’t do as local agents with half a brain.

Why do people use Zillow?
Because they’re good at marketing. They’ve somehow convinced Realtors® to sell their souls for leads. This is somewhat ridiculous considering it’s our information they’re using. From a marketing standpoint, Zillow has never deleted a syndication. This in turn results in a massive amount of data; data which when used online, attracts attention from Google and other search engines. Follow that up with some good commercials, and you have the American public’s attention.

What Zillow is doing wrong.
They provide horrible data. Did you happen to know that in Prescott, Arizona, Zillow’s accuracy on the Zestimate is only 70%-80-% correct? Sounds pretty good to be 80% correct though, right? Okay, then we agree your house is worth $200,000 in real life, but because the Zestimate is only 80% accurate, the price is now $160,000! There is no way to possibly gain an accurate understanding of your home’s value using Zillow. Yet people still surf Zillow’s website looking for data.

I completed a Zestimate for a recent client in Prescott. The Zestimate estimated the property at $360,000. I sold the property for $393,000. The appraisal came in at $425,000. Because I knew the appraiser was new to the area, in my report to the appraiser I personally blasted Zillow’s Zestimate with my CMattA, (my version of a CMA) It was this version of a proper CMA that may have allowed the property to appraise properly, and the loan to fund. What would have happened to my client should they have elected to sell FSBO, and rely on Zillow’s Zestimate to properly price their Prescott property? They would have sold for $360,000 or less. This would have resulted in the prices around the entire neighborhood dropping. Did I do anything unusual?  Not in my mind, I was simply doing the work necessary to get my client the most money. Something Zillow does not do.

No contract, no responsibility
Because there is no contract with Zillow, they have no obligation or responsibility to you, the client. If they think your home is worth $80,000 less than it is, so be it. Try convincing the rest of the world it isn’t so. As a licensed agent with the Arizona Department of Real Estate, The Prescott Association of Realtors, and the National Association of Realtors, I can tell you, having a local professional fight for you is worth its weight in gold. Do you seriously want to allow a website to dictate what your investment is worth? How about when it’s to your detriment? You did a bunch of upgrades? So what, Zillow doesn’t care. They don’t care because the only thing they do care about is traffic. Traffic equals dollars. Now, try and hold them accountable. Nice try. They’ll tell you that they just collect information. If you have a problem, talk to your local Real Estate Professional. Zillow places the responsibility back on the local agent. With this sort of neglect toward your concerns as a seller or buyer, you have to take back your power.

Reason to delete Zillow off your bookmarks
Use a local agent’s website. I don’t get my data from Listhub like Zillow & Trulia. I get my data from my local association that I’m a member of. The same association that supports our locals, our local shops, our local firemen and police departments, businesses, and you. Zillow is not working for, nor do they care about Prescottonians (residents of Prescott, AZ)

Trust a local
We all subscribe to the idea of supporting each other in Prescott. We pulled together after the Yarnell fire tragedy, we collectively mourn the loss of our downtown 4th of July water fights, we feel the pain when a local is lost to a tragedy or rejoice when a Prescottonian experiences a victory. There are those Realtors® we all wish to avoid, but for the most part, we’re hear to help you.

We shoulder the burden with you, and want you to achieve your goals of financial freedom. One of those responsibilities is to help put your home in the best position when you’re ready to sell it. Does Zillow have that kind of concern? Sure, about as much as the banks do when you miss a payment. The truth is, they don’t care at all. The distance creates an interesting scenario in regards to data, but it does nothing for your ability to sell your home properly.

Tired of Zillow, call me and get a real estimate of your home value.

Filed Under: AZ, Prescott, Real Estate, Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow Tagged With: , , ,