I went to the desert SW for a vacation last February. My sister lives there, so me and the wife decided to take a break from the cold here in the Pacific NW and head Arizona. We arrived and did many of the touristy things -- Sedona, Jerome, out to CA for a day. But Sedona was awesome. My wife and sister were planning on visiting a resort for two days, so that would leave me there alone.
So I got on the internet and looked up house listings in the Sedona area. I have bought enough houses and I didn't want to have to deal with several different realtors, so I searched for one in Sedona and the Prescott Valley area. I found a guy who looked interesting and gave him a call. We spoke and I told him about my wife and sister being gone and explained that it would just be me looking at the houses.
I told him that I would be there tomorrow morning and that I would like to spend the whole day looking in several different areas. He said that he would get everything set up. We agreed to meet at his office at 9 am.
I arrived at his office at 9 and we exchanged pleasantries. He showed me the listings. He had like 22 houses to show me. We got in his car and were on our way. John was a nice guy it seemed. Nice looking and dressed more casually than a realtor would back in the Pacific NW. He wore hiking type shorts, hiking shoes and a polo shirt. I was dressed not so casually. I had on tan slack, tan dress shoes and a blue button up collared shirt, untucked.
We drove for about 15 minutes and then arrived at the first house. It was nice, but not quite what I was looking for. We saw two more houses in the area. Again both were nice, but not quite what I was looking for. He suggested that we stop for coffee so he could go over the listings again.
We ordered our coffee and sat at a table outdoors. It was beautiful outside. The sun was warm and felt great. He asked me to tell me more in detail about what he was looking for. I told him again that this would be a second home for us, so it doesn't have to be as big as the three we have already seen.
"I also want more privacy," I said. "I want to swim naked and not have to worry about neighbors. I don't really care if anyone sees me, but I don't want to be in a neighborhood either. Does that make sense?" I asked.
"Maybe," John said. "Let me see if I understand you correctly. You want to be able to skinnydip without the worry of neighbors? But you don't care if anyone sees you?"
"Exactly. Let me see if I can make it easier to understand. If we were to buy a house in a neighborhood and went skinnydipping, it would seem like I was being an exhibitionist. But if we buy a house that is not in a neighborhood, people probably wouldn't think that I was an exhibitionist. Does that make sense?" I asked.
"OK," John said. "I get it. I'm kind of the same way. It is kind of exciting isn't it? To think that someone may be watching?"
"Yes it is. But I don have to admit that I am more than a bit of an exhibitionist," I told him. "Where I live, everyone is right on top of everyone. So it is very crowded and restrictive. Just being here for less than a week now and I already get the sense of space and freedom."
"OK, are you ready to see some more houses," John asked.
"Let's do this," I said as we got up.
The next house we saw was on a golf course. It was nice but too close to everyone else. We drove for about 20 minutes further out in the desert. The last five minutes of the drive were incredible. We were up in the hills a bit. The house had an excellent view. The back faced west and was not in the sun yet. But the house was nice. It had a nice pool out back. You could see a few houses to the north and south but they were at least a half of a mile away. Off of the living room was a covered patio. A big covered patio, complete with a bar, grill, outdoor kitchen and big screen TV. The cover went across the whole back of the house. I could only imagine how nice this covered area was in the summer. We went in and checked out the rest of the house. It was very nice and open. The master bedroom was roomy with a sliding glass door leading out to the back patio as well. I opened the door and stepped out to the patio. What I saw next blew me away. There was an outdoor shower about fifteen feet from the sliding glass door, surrounded by palm trees. It was unbelievable.
"What do you think?" John said.