Payson, AZ

I LOVE Holiday events!
This one is a handmade crafts show. The Community Presbyterian Church sponsors it every year.
This year it will be held at the Julia Randall Elementary School Gym, 8am to 2pm, Saturday the 14th.
There are all kinds of handmade items, everything from the church ladies with tea towels and aprons to beautiful dried arrangements, jams and jellies, soaps, jewelry, and who knows what.
Come see what's new, come to the bake sale, lunch is usually available, Santa will come.
Get yourself in the Holiday Spirit!

Here is a link to the craft show web site- pretty graphics.

And look for me, I'll be there selling a few candles. I still make some when I have a little time to spare from Real Estate!

We've been in real estate in Payson for near 20 years, and we get a lot of people who call us for information. We don't mind, we feel part of our job is educating people.
We DO get a lot of repeat questions, which we answer over and over again.

I got a rare one the other day, however. A woman called up and asked how much sales tax she should write into a rental agreement with a tenant. It took me by surprise, because VERY few people even know there IS sales tax on rentals in Payson. Since there are many rentals in the area, I'm surprised that the town of Payson doesn't make it more widely known.
Sales tax on rentals is set by the cities or towns. So if you own rentals elsewhere in AZ, contact your town and ask, or contact a good property management company.

For years, Payson said "no sales tax on residential rentals". Then one day it occurred to someone that this could bring in revenue. So the town decided to charge sales tax IF an Owner has 3 or more residential rentals.To determine the tax, one takes the amount of rent (say, $850) and multiplies by .0212 ($850 X .0212 = $18.02) I know this one by heart, as one of our Owners has a number of $850 rentals.
We pass these charges on to the Tenant, so in the example above, the Tenant pays $868.02.

We have a few rentals in Star Valley, which is now its own incorporated town. Star Valley doesn't care HOW many rentals an Owner has. Even 1 residential rental is taxed 2%.

Now what do you do with the money? Prest Realty is set up with the state of Arizona to pay the sales taxes for any of our Owners who needs to do so. So we collect it, and once a month we fill out the appropriate form and send the correct amount to the state (who pass the appropriate amount back the the correct town).

A private Owner would need to contact the state of Arizona, Department of Revenue for instructions.
Or, of course, they could just hire Prest Realty!

Those Vicious Pansy Eating Pigs!

What do Pansies and Javelina Pigs have to do with each other?

Nothing, I wish. Every fall I plant lovely pots of Pansies to adorn my front yard. They are the only flower that I know of that can withstand the freezing and thaw of winter. You can sometimes find the flowers sticking out of the snow just blooming like crazy all winter long.

That is until the javelina pigs come through my yard in the dark of night searching for some tasty morsel of food.

The first year I planted lots of purple, blue and some yellow flowers. Their grunts would awaken me as they moved among the flower pots outside my bedroom window on cold winter nights. I'd rub the sleep from my eyes and just cringe as I heard the clatter of clay pots as they nibbled their way through my garden.

The next morning I'd survey the damage. As I replanted several times that first year I began to realize they only eat the blue and purple pansies. Hummmmmmmm. They don't like yellow ones. How interesting. I tasted each color myself but could not tell any difference in taste.

But you know what? I have only yellow pansies this year. Think I might have outsmarted those little rascals? Oh, I hope so.

The Mogollon Rim is Payson's Backdrop.

Driving from Scottsdale on Highway 87 North, you'll find yourself right in the geographic center of the state, 4000 feet higher than Phoenix, and fifteen to twenty degrees cooler...no matter what time of year.

You're in the "Rim Country," a four-season vacation getaway that's well off the beaten path. Before you is a spectacular geological formation known as The Mogollon Rim (pronounced Muggy-own).
Once inhabited by the ancient Anasazi, this gargantuan 7000 foot high escarpment bisects the state from west to east for almost two hundred miles, and towers above the communities of Payson, Pine, Strawberry, Kohl's Ranch and Christopher Creek.

The Mogollon Rim marks the Southern edge of the Colorado Plateau. The plateau extends North and East into Utah, Colorado and New Mexico.

In our area the Rim is a result of uplift along the North side of an East - West trending fault and the removal of about 2500 ft. of Paleozoic age sedimentary rocks from the uplifted edge of the plateau.

Tonto Natural Bridge State Park reopens after being closed seven months for park repairs. Beginning November 15, 2009 the park will transition to a five-day-per-week schedule and will be open Thursday thru Monday, 9-5 p.m.

The bridge is a geological 183-foot-high bridge which is made of travertine. The spectacular waterfall that drips from the bridge drops down into a 400-ft.-long-tunnel created by Pine Creek. Tonto National Bridge is located 10 miles north of Payson, AZ, on Hwy 87. Park entrance fee is only $4 per person. Children 7-13 are charged $1.