Black Canyon City, Rock Springs, The Agua Fria Corridor, New River and the areas around them rent to different people at different prices. Which community you own in decides the return — here is how we read them.
The town itself: homes and manufactured homes on lots of every size along the river and the old highway, most on well or a small water company and septic. A tenant who chose the desert and the quiet on purpose, and a maintenance list — well, septic, access, monsoon drainage — that we budget for before the lease rather than after.
The historic stop at the north end of town, known across the state for the café and its pies, with the trailhead and the river close by. The properties around it see the most visitor traffic in the community, which is where the short-stay question is worth asking.
Properties along the river and the Black Canyon Trail, some with river frontage and acreage. Seasonal flooding and access are the underwriting questions, and they are asked up front.
Fifteen minutes south, unincorporated Maricopa County: acreage, horse property and custom homes on well and septic, with a tenant profile close to Black Canyon City’s and a shorter commute to the north Phoenix employers.
Twenty minutes south, the master-planned community with the park, the schools and the Outlets at the freeway. Anthem has its own site; many owners hold along the whole corridor and we manage it as one book.
Up the hill are Cordes Lakes, Mayer and the Prescott side of the county, and beyond them the Verde Valley where our family has roots. An owner with property along the whole I-17 corridor deals with one company and one phone number.
