Just last week, Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross, addressed the Scottsdale Chapter of the Women's Council of REALTORS®, and told everyone something most of us already knew... that Scottsdale is a great place to live, work, and raise your family. Mayor Manross has called Scottsdale her "home" for over thirty years, and has raised her own family here. She is truly passionate about using her position and influence to make Scottsdale a wonderful city.

Well... lo and behold... the new issue of Money magazine had it yearly article on "America's Best Places To Live", and... drum roll please... Scottsdale ranked as the 8th best city t live in (for cities with populations less than 300,000 people). Money gave Scottsdale high marks for its schools, arts and leisure activities, and job opportunities. The only low mark was for the hot weather we experience in Scottsdale. (Yeah... but when we are enjoying our seventy-two degree days in January and February, the staff at Money is scraping ice off their windshields on the streets outside their headquarters in New York!)

The Money article also discussed Arizona real estate, and the price of homes. Although the prices have escalated over the past few years, the Scottsdale property taxes on homes are quite low, relative to other areas of the country. The average $500K home in Scottsdale has real estate property taxes of about $2200. In contrast, a $170K home in Money's number three city, Sugar Land, Texas, has real estate property taxes of $4,500!