Wouldn't you love this in your backyard?

Good news, you can make it yourself.

DIY network has provided the step by step instructions on how to make this backyard bike rack.  What a great way to say goodbye to kids' clutter and hello to organization.  When the lid is closed, it makes a great bench as well!

Read Full Instructions Here

If you are trying to spruce up your landscaping to sell your home, this would be a great addition to your backyard.  The Prescott area has miles of trails and perfect climate for bike riding, having a place to store your bikes is an added bonus.  For maps and more information on the hiking and biking trails in Prescott, visit the City of Prescott website.

Tim Anderson with BloomTree Realty is available to help you navigate the Prescott area and educate you on the housing market in the Prescott area.  Give Tim a call at 928-308-9595. Tim has been involved in the real estate industry since 1976. His passion for the people he works with has established Tim as one of the top agents in the business. He takes the time to discover his client’s wants and needs and also educating them with all the details. With strong market awareness, and knowledge of numerous home financing options, he guides his clients through the home buying process with ease.

Tim Anderson

(928) 308-9595

By Lance Lambert

What are you hankering for when you buy a home? Good space and great bones? You bet. Nice neighborhoods and highly rated schools? Check. Maybe even some awesome shiplap design notes? No prob, “Fixer Upper” obsessives! But when you put all of those different factors into a grinder, there’s one thing that comes out the other side: price appreciation.

After all, your home is your biggest investment and most significant asset. Is it increasing in value—and if so, by how much?

We’re not simply talking about whether you live in one of America’s Hottest Markets, the designation we bestow each month based on high demand and low time-on-market. That’s a list owned by tighter-than-tight cities like San Francisco, where prices are already nosebleed-high and teardown shacks get snapped up in days. No, we’re talking about the ones where the prices just keep going up and up—metros delivering some dizzying returns on investment in recent years.

The data team at realtor.com® crunched the numbers to find these appreciation sensations. And they aren’t the usual suspects.

Residents of “flyover country,” your time has come! For years, you’ve listened to your East or West Coast pals complain/brag/babble about soaring home values and bidding wars. It turns out that the cities increasing most in value are actually more often found smack-dab in the middle of the affordable American heartland. (Make that affordable for now.)

“Price growth continues to spread into the last remaining affordable pockets in the country,” says Javier Vivas, director of economic research for realtor.com. “Strong double-digit appreciation is more common in less expensive markets, so it’s not surprising that half of these markets are in the Midwest.”

Many of the places that made our list are former manufacturing towns that initially lagged behind the national recovery. Once their job markets hit their stride, home demand and values there have jumped as well. Cue bidding wars and escalating price appreciation!

We analyzed the increase in the median listing prices in the nation’s top 300 metros between September 2014 and September 2017, using realtor.com data. We looked at percentage change, not total dollar increase, over one, three, and five years. Because a $50,000 increase in Boston, where median prices are $489,500, isn’t as big a deal as a $50,000 jump in Cincinnati, where median prices are $227,400. Now that’s a big deal.

1. Omaha, NE

Median home list price: $259,400
1-year percentage change: 20.7%
3-year percentage change: 62.1%
5-year percentage change: 73.5%

When you think of the Midwest, a few characteristics might come to mind—like maybe a slower pace of life. But you’re crazy if you think this applies to the Omaha housing market. It’s running at warp speed right now.

“I thought it was great last year, but it’s on fire this year,” says Judy Dooley, a real estate agent at Nebraska Realty in Omaha.

If you’re hoping to get a home here for under $250,000, you’d best be quick. That might surprise home buyers who might have balked at the median home listing price of $160,000 back in 2014. Ah, memories. These days, there are more buyers than sellers.

And that’s because the Omaha economy has come roaring back, thanks to job growth in both the health care and financial sectors. It helps that the region is home to Fortune 500s like Berkshire Hathaway, Union Pacific Railroad, and Kiewit Corporation. In September, the region’s unemployment rate stood at just 2.6%. Heck, even Yahoo has an office here.

2. Santa Maria, CA

Median home list price: $1,363,000
1-year percentage change: 20.9%
3-year percentage change: 59.6%
5-year percentage change: 95%

Located along the lush California coast, Santa Maria is by far the most expensive housing market that made our list. This region, which includes Santa Barbara, just keeps moving upward in home in home values, no easy feat. Three years back, homes here were already in the $800,000 ballpark. Now the price of the median home exceeds $1.3 million. Wow.

This isn’t your run-of-the-mill American housing market. The metro, just north of Los Angeles, is where Ellen DeGeneres just snagged a $18.6 million beach home, joining neighbors like Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher, who purchased in the area this year. But there’s much more to this place than celebrity watching. As indicated by its co-starring role in “Sideways,” the pinot noir is quite nice, too.

3. Charlotte, NC

Median home list price: $327,600
1-year percentage change: 10.7%
3-year percentage change: 59.4%
5-year percentage change: 82.9%

It gets real old when a buddy retells the same story again and again. But that’s not the case when it comes to the tale of Charlotte’s growth—a story that just keeps adding new chapters. This place has been on a steady growth track for years now, helped in no small part by Charlotte’s thriving financial center, anchored by Bank of America’s headquarters. In fact, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, Charlotte is the third-largest financial hub in the country—and without the high living costs of New York and San Francisco. No wonder millennials are flocking here in droves.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise that home values are skyrocketing—and that the relentless valuation growth of recent years has slowed. Finding an affordable home now can be a challenge.

Lexie Longstreet, a real estate broker with Savvy + Co. Real Estate, has watched the market really heat up recently.

“A few years back, a brick ranch with hardwood floors and one and a half bathrooms that is near downtown in a cute, nice, and safe neighborhood, would go for around $200,000,” Longstreet says. “That same house is [now] $300,000.”

The only properties left in the $200,000 price range often need quite a bit of work—or will receive multiple offers that drive the price ever higher, she says.

That’s pushing folks a little farther out into the suburbs. And as home prices in Charlotte tick upward, so do the lengths that buyers go to afford down payments.

“They are either tapping into 401(k)s to get a down payment or borrowing down payments from parents or aunts, or settling and buying less [home],” Longstreet says. “And multiple offers are causing buyers’ fatigue.”

4. Grand Rapids, MI

Median home list price: $249,900
1-year percentage change: 8.7%
3-year percentage change: 56.4%
5-year percentage change: 72.5%

Sure, this old industrial town’s recovery got rolling later than many other cities’. But spurred by a growing health care sector, Grand Rapids is going strong. In fact, Headlight Data, an Austin-based workforce development firm, calculated job data and determined that Grand Rapids had the fastest job growth in the United States last year.

And young professionals have taken notice. Who can blame them, with all the high-rise apartments, condos, and lofts being built downtown? Did we mention the Grand Rapids craft beer scene? The city even calls itself “Beer City USA.”

The city isn’t afraid to go big. Just last month, it submitted a 108-page pitch to Amazon recommending why it should move its $5 billion second headquarters to the region.

5. College Station, TX

Median home list price: $314,900
1-year percentage change: 2.4%
3-year percentage change: 55.5%
5-year percentage change: 85.3%

Back in 2014, home shoppers in the College Station region could easily stumble upon an affordable home that checked all the boxes and quickly make it theirs, says Nathan Cook, a broker associate at BCR Realtors.

“At that time, 90 days on the market was par for the course,” Cook says.

Oh, the blissful bygone days of a buyer’s market! Now, the script has flipped, and sellers hold the power. It isn’t rare to see a well-priced home be sold in five to 10 days, and bidding wars are not uncommon, Cook says.

College Station is located between two of America’s strongest housing markets, Austin and Houston. It also benefits from the region’s overall booming economy and the growing presence of Texas A&M University. Heck, the research university has nearly 70,000 students—the size of some small cities—making its student body the largest in the country.

6. Lexington, KY

Median home list price: $269,900
1-year percentage change: 14.9%
3-year percentage change: 53.1%
5-year percentage change: 61.7%

These days, it’s not just the University of Kentucky Wildcats basketball team scoring points in Lexington. Its housing market—everything within reach of Lexington, all the way to the nearby state capital, Frankfort—is on a tear.

So what’s the formula for the region’s success? Jobs and a steady stream of Wildcats being released into its urban jungle.

“Lexington really benefits from the University—a major research center—bringing in a constant flow of students. A lot of those students choose to stay and contribute to the local economy,” says George Ratiu, managing director of housing and commercial research for the National Association of Realtors®.

7. New Orleans, LA

Median home list price: $274,500
1-year percentage change: 9.8%
3-year percentage change: 52.5%
5-year percentage change: 62.4%

The New Orleans housing market endured an epically rough stretch. First, it was hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, which left 800,000 homes damaged or destroyed. Later that year came Hurricane Rita. And then, by 2008, the housing bubble had popped. Few places were harder hit by the crash.

But that was then. Following Katrina, the federal government, the state of Louisiana and nonprofits combined to pour billions into rebuilding homes. The city’s historic neighborhoods have been prime beneficiaries: Among the areas experiencing the largest price increases are the Marigny district and the French Quarter. And construction is booming again in downtown. Right now, developers are starting to plan a $360 million renovation of the city’s own World Trade Center building into a Four Seasons hotel and 76 luxury condos.

All of that is pushing huge price surges. In 2015, the median home on our site was listed at $199,900 in New Orleans. That figure now stands at $274,500.

8. Fort Wayne, IN

Median home list price: $176,100
1-year percentage change: 22.5%
3-year percentage change: 52.5%
5-year percentage change: 67.9%

Fort Wayne ranked No. 4 on realtor.com’s September ranking of the country’s hottest housing markets, after San Francisco, San Jose, and Vallejo. In fact, it was the only non-California metro to crack the top 9.

And that’s just further proof that this housing market has gotten Spanx-tight in just a few years. “It’s getting harder for buyers to purchase their perfect home or one that matches all their criteria,” says Ryan Dollens, an associate broker at Imagine Real Estate. “I’ve seen quite a few [home listings get] multiple offers.” This wasn’t the norm just a few years back.

The hottest parts of Fort Wayne are in its northwest and southwest regions. Dollens says there’s been a particular focus on building condos near Parkview Field, where Fort Wayne’s minor league baseball team plays.

9. Columbus, OH

Median home list price: $241,300
1-year percentage change: 27.1%
3-year percentage change: 51.3%
5-year percentage change: 66.4%

If you look at a map, you’ll notice that Columbus appears to be in the geographical center of the Rust Belt. But don’t tell these Ohioans that. They’d prefer to think of themselves as the center of everything. And who can blame ’em? The housing market here is anything but rusty.

What’s driving the demand? Well, good old paychecks. The region’s economy is bustling, anchored by the likes of Fortune 500s like Cardinal Health, Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co., and L Brands—owner of Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. Those jobs are making Columbus a destination for professionals across the Buckeye State and the Midwest.

Columbus has attracted the hipster crowd (we hear the Victorian Village neighborhood near downtown is one of their favorites) and empty nesters alike.

10. Nashville, TN

Median home list price: $359,900
1-year percentage change: 10.8%
3-year percentage change: 49.1%
5-year percentage change: 89.4%

Music City, U.S.A., is hitting all the high notes. Millennials are flocking here for bachelorette parties and staying for the jobs. It has one of the nation’s highest entrepreneurship rates. And it has solidified its stature as a cultural hub—and not just for country music.

“All of the stars have aligned for Nashville,” says Brian Copeland, a real estate agent at Village Real Estate Services. “It’s not just housing.”

But real estate is certainly a big part of the surge. The city has made it onto realtor.com’s ranking of the hottest markets for the past three months. Earlier this year, Ten-X Research, a real estate research firm, named Nashville the hottest single-family housing market in the country. But as everyone knows, when a housing market starts humming, those looking to make a buck start moving in too.

“In Nashville, we’re seeing a lot of builders, a lot of commercial properties going up everywhere—and a lot of flippers,” Copeland says.

Prescott Valley, Arizona, continues to grow!  The Fain Signature group just broke ground on a 214 Unit Apartment complex, Homestead at Talking Glass, in Prescott Valley.  The project is expected to last 18 months.

The family’s newest residential project, Homestead at Talking Glass, a 214 unit urban development in downtown Prescott Valley. Homestead is a five phase apartment project located between Florentine and Lake Valley Blvd, on Main Street, across from the Prescott Valley Event Center. The apartments will include one, two and three bedroom dwellings. The complex will feature a club house, pool, gym, movie theatre, conference center, outdoor fire pits, dog park, garages, and covered parking.  Leasing is handled through www.HomeSteadTG.com.

Read More About New Apartments in Prescott Valley

Prescott Valley, Arizona, has grown to a population of approximately 42,000. The growing town sits at an elevation of 5,000 feet and is located 85 miles north of Phoenix and 10 minutes from the area lakes, fishing, hiking and camping in the Prescott National Forest. Prescott Valley has a large retail center, an indoor Event Center, and Yavapai Regional Medical Center Hospital. Many retirees live in Prescott Valley due to relatively inexpensive housing and the mild climate.

For information on real estate in Prescott or Prescott Valley, give Tim Anderson with BloomTree Realty a call at 928-308-9595. Tim has been involved in the real estate industry since 1976. His passion for the people he works with has established Tim as one of the top agents in the business. He takes the time to discover his client’s wants and needs and also educating them with all the details. With strong market awareness, and knowledge of numerous home financing options, he guides his clients through the home buying process with ease.

Tim Anderson

(928) 308-9595

What is Prescott Lakes?

We are owned and operated by Arnold Palmer Golf Management and Century Golf. As such we strive to always uphold the standards of Mr. Arnold Palmer. Our Members enjoy all of our amenities and have the option to also access all of our other Clubs and courses throughout the Nation via our Palmer Advantage program. The Palmer Advantage program, simply put, expands your Membership beyond the walls of your home Club in offering options for accessing over 400 Clubs worldwide.

Our Private Club is located within the community of Prescott Lakes. We feature a full Athletic Center, our Clubhouse, and our signature Golf Course. Our Athletic amenities include but aren’t limited to; a state of the art fitness area, over 30 aerobic classes weekly, an indoor and outdoor pool, tennis and pickle ball courts, spa, and more. We also have a full service Clubhouse offering a vast array of Social activities from cooking classes, to wine pairings/tastings, themed nights, live music at our monthly mixers, a full dining room…..too much to list here! Our signature Halle Irwin designed Golf Course features 18 holes of golf on a course that will thrill you with its both its uniqueness and breathtaking views!

Meet Prescott Lakes Membership Director

I have lived in Prescott for 18 years. I love this town overall! I very much call it home and look forward to many years here. I love the small town mentality, the slower pace, the caring and giving individuals, the climate, and the beauty. I have found no other area like it.

Homes For Sale in Prescott Lakes

Tim Anderson, with BloomTree Realty in downtown Prescott, Arizona, is an expert on real estate in Prescott Lakes.

The most popular subdivisions are in Prescott Lakes, AZ, a collection of neighborhoods offering the very best in master planned residential and recreational communities. Prescott Lakes sits completely within the city limits of Prescott, Arizona with something for everyone. As such, each and every lot—and, of course, home—has all city services such as sewer, water, trash service and police and fire protection. There is natural gas, electricity, telephone and cable TV (all underground) to all properties as well, with no special assessments for any of the above.

Click Here to see a link to the various neighborhoods inside of Prescott Lakes

We love getting to know other businesses in Prescott!

Tim Anderson, with BloomTree Realty, is not only a specialist in Prescott area Real Estate, he is also gifted at networking and getting to know other Prescott area business owners.  Tim recently sat down with the owner, Shawn Powers, of Allegra Marketing-Print-Mail in Prescott to get to know what his business has to offer.

Allegra Marketing-Print-Mail in Prescott

We’re Allegra, your single, full-service marketing and printing resource. We’re locally-owned and operated, proudly serving Prescott-area businesses. Our small business marketing pros can help you develop cost-effective print communications and marketing programs that take full advantage of our in-house graphic design, advanced printing services and mailing capabilities. We'll guide you to determine the right role for marketing your business. And, develop creative strategies that meet your goals in the most targeted and practical ways. We’re committed to helping small and medium-sized businesses grow.

See Full Interview with Allegra Marketing-Print-Mail in Prescott

Homes For Sale in Prescott

For information on homes for sale in Prescott, give Tim Anderson a call at 928-308-9595.  Tim has been involved in the real estate industry since 1976. His passion for the people he works with has established Tim as one of the top agents in the business.

See Homes For Sale in Prescott

People who already have a home usually need the funds from the closing to secure their next purchase. If a “move-up” buyer wants to buy a home during a depressed market, that means they usually have one to sell themselves. Timing becomes very important and negotiations become more involved so neither party is forced into short-term housing or find themselves in rent-back situation because closing dates couldn’t match up. It’s important to work closely with your Realtor, your lender and be made aware with frequent updates from the other side of the table that things are headed in the right direction, and for a smooth closing. The ideal here is for all the stars to align, for everyone involved.

Interestingly, if a Seller wants to sell his home to take advantage of a “hot” market (when prices are fairly high) they generally are faced with the reality of securing that purchase within the same “hot” market, and can expect to pay a premium on the other side as well. In a very real way, things even out. Having said that, the way some areas are rebounding quicker than others it is possible for a Seller to sell for a higher price in an area that currently has much more demand than the area they are moving into next. This could be an inter-state move or it could even happen in the same county.

Obviously, economic patterns will change over time. They always have. Since The Great Depression of 1929, we have had quite a few periods of declining markets not only here in the USA, but globally as well. No matter the length of time between depressed markets and/or higher interest rates, you wouldn’t want to wait over a period of years to buy a home, would you? You would still potentially miss out on a substantial amount of equity and appreciation by waiting over long periods of time. Not to mention the losses you would have incurred in paying rent that you’ll never see again.

Among all of these economic shifts, according to the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research (the official arbiter of U.S. recessions) the sub-prime mortgage crisis was a disaster. In terms of overall impact, it was concluded that it was the worst global recession since World War II. It began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, and thus extended over 19 months. Of course this is common knowledge today and the country is still rebounding from the tremors felt along the way. According to Wikipedia, there are several "narratives" attempting to place the causes of the recession into context, with overlapping elements. Four such narratives include:

1. There was the equivalent of a bank run on the shadow banking system, which includes investment banks and other non-depository financial entities. This system had grown to rival the depository system in scale yet was not subject to the same regulatory safeguards. Its failure disrupted the flow of credit to consumers and corporations.
2. The U.S. economy was being driven by a housing bubble. When it burst, private residential investment (i.e., housing construction) fell by nearly 4% GDP and consumption enabled by bubble-generated housing wealth also slowed. This created a gap in annual demand (GDP) of nearly $1 trillion. The U.S. government was unwilling to make up for this private sector shortfall.
3. Record levels of household debt accumulated in the decades preceding the crisis resulted in a balance sheet recession (similar to debt deflation) once housing prices began falling in 2006. Consumers began paying down debt, which reduces their consumption, slowing down the economy for an extended period while debt levels are reduced.
4. U.S. government policies encouraged home ownership even for those who could not afford it, contributing to lax lending standards, unsustainable housing price increases, and indebtedness.

Fast forward to 2015, where there are many “boomerang” buyers that are starting to come back into the market now due to their time on the sidelines being almost up because of a short sale, or foreclosure they may have had to suffer though because of the circumstances stated above. Many homeowners are forced to rent because they wouldn’t be extended a line of credit - yet. Once they eagerly return to the game though, sources predict a large upswing in home sales and a subsequent decline in the rental market which for several years now has been white hot.

Today’s buyer would be very wise to form an alliance with their lender of choice, run a credit report, find out the reality of their situation and what programs they might qualify for with regards to homeownership and sweep up any mishaps from their past (if they have any) and put a plan of action into place and follow it diligently. For many people, this is easier said than done but if home ownership is still something you strive for – it is entirely possible to go out and get it done!