1. One of the Top 5 Places to Retire - Money Magazine

2. 3rd in the country (all metro areas) for job growth and economic vitality - INC. Magazine

3. 3rd Best Metro in the Country for Job Creation – Milken Institute

4. An Emerging Art Town - American Southwest Magazine

5. One of 100 Best Communities for Young People - American Promise

6. Top “Green” Arizona City - Sperling’s Best Places

7. One of Top 10 Most Popular Retirement Towns - www.topretirements.com

8. One of a dozen “Distinctive Destinations” - National Trust for Historic Preservation

9. Top 10 True Western Towns - True West Magazine

10. Top 20 Medium County Hospitals - Solucient

11. 1 of 7 Greatest Places to Live - Bottom Line

12. Among Top 100 Cities to Live and Launch a Business – Fortune SmallBusiness

13. 3rd Skinniest City by AARP (lowest average body mass index)

14. In Top 10 “Dream Cities” - Sunset Magazine

15. #47 among Best Small Places for Business and Careers - Forbes.com

16. #5 among Fastest-Growing Small Metro Areas - Forbes.com

17. One of 50 Best Places to Live: The Next Great Adventure Towns - National Geographic Adventure Magazine (2008)

18. Top Ten Public Spaces: #3 Courthouse Plaza - American Planning Association

19. A Top Adventure Town - National Geographic Adventure Magazine (2009)

20. One of 7 Top Trail Towns - Trail Runner Magazine (2009)

21.  4th Best City for Retirement - Money Magazine (2010)

22.  76th of Best 100 Small Places for Business and Careers - Forbes (2010)

23.  2nd Best Place to Retire in U. S. - Smart Money/Wall St. Journal (2010)

If you are looking to buy Prescott or Prescott Valley Real Estate in the future, now may be the time as foreclosed and bank-owned homes are selling at 25% off retail.

CNNMoney.com 25 Best Places to Retire

Your post-work years are a time to improve your golf game, take up a new hobby, or just enjoy a well-deserved break. In these great college towns, you can expand your intellectual horizons too.

Prescott, Arizona #4

Population: 42,265

Prescott, a popular retiree destination 100 miles north of Phoenix, is dotted with Victorian homes, 19th-century Whisky Row saloons, and a leafy Courthouse Plaza. With the world's oldest rodeo and more than 800 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, the town's cowboy heritage is hard to miss.

The weather here is hard to beat: plentiful sunny days, but also four distinct seasons, thanks to the town's elevation at 5,400 feet. That lures residents out to 650 miles of trails in the adjacent 1.25-million-acre Prescott National Forest. Plus they enjoy half a dozen golf courses, and a revolving door of art shows, film festivals, craft fairs, and outdoor concerts.

Of course, until recently, high home prices were a drawback to settling here. But with the market down 35% since 2007, Prescott has become a decidedly more affordable retirement haven.

And for those comers who are education minded, Yavapai College's 17-year-old lifelong learning program offers roughly 200 classes a year.  

See complete data and interactive map for Prescott

Here's the original post:

While teaching a class on purchase contract negotiations, I used an example of a home seller who rejected an offer.  The buyer's agent called, upset that they didn't counter.

It was an appropriately priced home, that showed well.  The buyer sent in an offer for $100,000 less than the asking price.  There was no cover letter, no pre-approval letter and the contract looked like it was written by a 3^rd grader.  No indication they were serious or would be able to close.  So the seller rejected the offer.

The buyer's agent responded immediately and demanded and explanation as to why they didn't counter.

Here is where the buyer and their agent went wrong:

1. The price was so far from anything the seller would accept, they had no common ground.  They were not going to meet them in the middle or anything close to it.
2. The contract was not executable.  In the rare case that the seller considered accepting the price, they could not sign the contract.  They would be forced to counter to clean up the mistakes.  The counter would require a re-write of the entire contract to clean up mistakes.  If they have to counter to clean up the contract, the price is on the table too.  This mistake weakens the buyers hand in a negotiation.
3. The buyer did not persuade the seller they were serious.
4. The buyer's agent showed a lack of professionalism and convinced the other side this would be a painful at best escrow if it ever got there.
5. The buyer did not make the case that they could close if they got to escrow.
6. Bottom line - The buyer did not give the seller any real basis for a negotiation.

When you make an offer on a home you need to do a few things.

1. Present a clean, executable contract.  If they sign it you are going to escrow.  Be sure they are not forced to counter to clean up your contract.  If they do, everything is on the table.
2. Demonstrate that if they accept your offer, they will be dealing with a professional and not an idiot.
3. If you offer less than the seller wants to accept, make your offer strong and attractive in every other way.  Make them think twice before taking the risk of losing your buyer by countering.
4. Here's the bottom line.  You need to make the case that if they take their home off the market, you will bring it to closing.

When presenting an offer, make the other side feel comfortable dealing with you.  If they feel confident you can close, they may be a little more negotiable.  Solid buyers do not grow on trees.  Flaky buyers and flaky agents do not get the same level of respect.

That's the highest share of first-time-buyer purchases in the history of the survey, which dates back to 1981. First-time buyers responding to the survey made up 47 percent of sales in 2009.

The 2010 NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, based on 8,449 responses to a survey sent to homebuyers and sellers nationwide whose transactions took place between July 2009 and June 2010, according to county records.

The vast majority of first-timers (93 percent) participating in the survey, and almost three-quarters of all buyers (71 percent) responding to the survey participated in a federal homebuyer tax credit program.

I expect this trend to continue as rents are often above comparable mortgage payments, especially in Prescott Valley, but deals can be found in Prescott as well.

Most sellers hope to get the transaction finalized at their asking price, but depending on the market, this is often not possible.  The reason for this is the glut of available properties for buyers to choose from, commonly called a "buyer's market".

Sellers who understand the market know that they cannot ask for a high price given the current conditions.  Those who do not understand and insist on trying for a top price end up having their house on the market for a very long time.

We  are experienced and have the tools to determine market conditions in your neighborhood. Therefore, although the decision is ultimately in the your hands, it would benefit you to listen to the advice of several real estate agents when setting a selling price for your property.

Please contact Patrick Schutte at 928-710-1717 for more information about selling your home in today's buyers market in Prescott or Prescott Valley.