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Retiring to Cottonwood AZ How an Artist Moved from Vegas to the Verde Valley

Judith:[00:00:00] Continuing on with my lovely little, um, focus on people relocating, retiring, and relocating to the Cottonwood, Arizona area. Today I'm gonna be talking with my client and friend, Ms. Nancy Turner Hullum, and I assisted her and her fiance Greg in relocating from Las Vegas. And she is an artist. She is an amazing artist.

And she was doing that as her side Hustle while she was working as a respiratory therapist in Las Vegas. So one of the things you're gonna be watching while we chat and you hear her story is you're gonna be seeing all of her amazing artwork. It's all for sale. So if you're interested in any of the artwork, you want more information about it, sizes, whatever, just.

You know, comment below and I'll get you hooked up with Miss Nancy for her [00:01:00] artwork. And she's got her, she's got her gloves on. She's been doing some art. Well, thank you for letting me do this. I appreciate it. You're welcome. It's a pleasure to do this. Yes, Nancy. The whole world's gonna see your art. It is amazing.

It is just gorgeous. I know when we initially met you told me. That you were an artist? Yes, but I had no idea. And Nancy, when we were, I'm gonna say this really quick story, and I'll take a picture of the artwork when I get back to my house, but they came in the fall and the colors were changing and she was snapping pictures with her camera and she went home and you painted a picture.

For me,

Nancy: yes.

Judith: Of the picture of the, our artwork. Cottonwood trees, Cottonwood trees in fall colors. So I was pretty, that was pretty close. It's in my house. I love it. I a lot,

Nancy: I had to gift you with that because you found us the perfect home and we looked on [00:02:00] computer from another state at a million homes and Judith found the perfect home for us.

And we couldn't be more happier.

Judith: I love it. I love it. Yes.

Nancy: I had, I had to do something.

Judith: There's, you're so good to me. And, and yeah. So we're gonna come back to that because you and I started talking. Oh my gosh. Was it like two years before you actually believe So come because. You were wanting to come and you have visited Sedona and the area quite a bit.

So tell me when you started visiting. The area

Nancy: actually had been traveling to Sedona as a tourist for a couple of decades, and then we started investigating the smaller surrounding cities of Sedona and we knew we were wanted to retire in a smaller town. We moved in from Las Vegas. Oh, it's already big, and it was getting even more crowded and we knew we [00:03:00] didn't want that and we wanted to be a little more rural and maybe do chickens and whatnot one day and plant our own garden and.

You can't grow anything in a desert, so

Judith: no, you can't. You were looking for something that was less crowded.

Nancy: Yes.

Judith: Or you could maybe have chickens.

Nancy: That's right.

Judith: Something like that where

Nancy: plant some garden

Judith: those chickens,

Nancy: plant a garden and have some chickens and nice yard for a dog. And Well, we looked online because we were in another state.

I was still working. Retired now. Yes. And.

Judith: We started like two years.

Nancy: We started in, I wanna say 2024.

Judith: It

Nancy: we found online a southwestern style house.

Judith: Oh yes. Oh my God, yes.

Nancy: Judith, her went there and did this full video for us. I didn't even

Judith: know who she was. I was just like, I'll go record it. I'll preview it for you.

And it was one of the most unique homes [00:04:00] I've toured. But there was a lot of issues with that house. But that is, you're right, that's the first one. You must have

Nancy: been there for two hours doing that video for us. I was

Judith: there for a while

Nancy: and she emailed it to us. We watch it. We couldn't, we fell in love with Judith right away.

She took the time to do this for us and from that video we decided against that house. 'cause there

Judith: I would've

Nancy: just Did seem a lot of work.

Judith: Yeah.

Nancy: But Judith listened to what we wanted. I love southwestern style homes and, and a lot of wall space because I do hang a lot of my pieces. Yes, my art pieces.

Judith: So all the art that you're seeing as we're chatting here down in the corner, that is Nancy's artwork, all original artwork and.

She does a lot of landscape and nature and I just love it. I would definitely, I'll be using, I'll be buying a lot of your artwork and filling up my walls [00:05:00] because it's just, it's, it resonates with me. It's really is the kind of art I like, and I like that. I know the artist. That's pretty cool. So I never

Nancy: even, she knew me back when.

Judith: Right, right. So, yeah. So that I, that is funny. I totally forgot about that

Nancy: and that video. I

Judith: remember the house though.

Nancy: You, I know. I said to my fiance, Greg, she must have been in there at least two hours. Indoor and outdoor. You went outside Yeah. Shops

Judith: course. And,

Nancy: but we fell in love with Judith right away from that video and just how you spoke with us and, and you, you understood from the very beginning what we wanted and, but she let us look.

A million houses.

Judith: They looked at houses that I was like, oh my God, that house is. Nancy. Okay. Okay. Okay. God bless you. I love my [00:06:00] artist people. I love my creatives. But the problem is with a creative, no matter how ugly something is, they can see the beauty in it. That's right. And they can see how they can transform it into something gorgeous.

And I was like,

Nancy: potential.

Judith: There were so many houses that was like. Girl, and thank goodness Greg is a lot more reasonable, rational. Like he's more like, honey, that's gonna be a lot of work.

Nancy: Yeah.

Judith: We are not moving into that house. No. And, and yeah, I remember a few that had walls missing everything. I know.

And, and then I had to let you know, because it was a VA loan that you couldn't buy those kind of houses.

Nancy: Right.

Judith: Because with a VA loan, you can't buy a fixer upper, you have to buy a house. That's. Basically everything has to be done right. There can't be broken missiles, broken windows, missing walls, no flooring, all that, you know?

Right. It can't be that. So it helped in getting her [00:07:00] away from that. And the funny thing is, and I'm gonna pop in some pictures of the house that they bought the before, and I'm gonna pop in some pictures of after, 'cause you guys bought this house. And you've been remodeling it for how long now?

Nancy: A good nine months.

Most of last year we, yes. Arrived here. We bought the house, closed on it December 20, 24. Got here, I think it was December. It was

Judith: 25.

Nancy: 20.

Judith: 25,

Nancy: 5.

Judith: Something. No, it was

Nancy: 24 January. I think it was December, 2024.

Judith: You're right. It was December of 2024. 'cause this is 2026.

Nancy: Okay, I have it. It was the end of the year in 2024.

We arrived here first week of March, 2025, last year and started renovations. We started busting down whole camp, everything. The whole entire house was. Renovated.

Judith: They did. They down. The only thing they didn't do is tear off the [00:08:00] drywall and redo that. Right. They gutted the kitchen, tore up the floor bathroom, redid the light fixtures, gutted the bathrooms.

You guys added two gorgeous sheds out here.

Nancy: Nice.

Judith: That this is your this. I will take a video of her art studio. It's so cute. And then Greg has a workshop that's just amazing, but you guys totally redid the interior of the house.

Nancy: So hard

Judith: and it wasn't. Yeah.

Nancy: Actually, Greg, my fiance Greg, got here a few weeks before we actually moved here, Mar, I wanna say it was March 7th, 2025.

Judith: Okay.

Nancy: And

Judith: it, it, they, they've been renovating a long time. They wouldn't let me come until now.

Nancy: Yeah. They, he and the handyman we used, Justin started busting down the cabinets in the kitchen from the kitchen and the bathrooms. Before we got here.

Judith: Okay,

Nancy: so he came two weeks before we actually moved here.

Judith: With all your stuff.

Nancy: With everything.

Judith: Which

Nancy: way did you

Judith: keep all your stuff in

Nancy: the garage? All of our [00:09:00] furniture in storage, so we had to pay monthly storage fees. But I'm telling you, the guys we used, we knew what we wanted. We got right to work and we just got 'em in here. I was meeting them through Judith who.

They

Judith: know local vendors, referral

Nancy: of the vendors that we use and we love them. And they did a spectacular job. We're so happy with their work. And you texted those guys to me when I, when we were, when we were still in Nevada.

Judith: Yes.

Nancy: So we told them we're arriving this day. The following week they were in here working.

I love it. So we got started right away.

Judith: Yes, you did. And the other thing that you had, you had, she had both her knees replaced in the middle of all of this, so, so I'm trying to remember if you had your first knee replacement right before you came the first time? Yes. And then [00:10:00] she did. And then she, and they were, you were flying over and renting cars, right?

That's right. We drove

Nancy: and then rented cars.

Judith: When we went under contract, she had her other knee done three months later. And so I'm like, oh my God. So she's getting her knees replaced and I mean, I don't know. It's a very painful procedure. And so you, I remember I was thinking about this when I was coming over here, is that you had to.

We were trying to get your documents signed when she wasn't looped up on pain medication because she had just had her knees done. She was still coming out, she was on major narcotics, and I'm like, I dunno if we should ever sign papers, is she gonna know what she's signing? I was a little concerned. But you're like, no, no, fine.

I

Nancy: got

it.

Judith: And so she signed the documents, hyped up on narcotics. I'm like, oh God, apparently you came out of it and you are still happy, so we're good.

Nancy: Yes.

Judith: But I was [00:11:00] like, I dunno if she's gonna be able to do that. She just came out surgery.

Nancy: Oh

Judith: man. And so the whole thing was kind of. A little dramatic at the end, but yeah.

And then it took a little while for you guys, 'cause you were also, they were both selling homes. Greg had a house and you had a house. So they were selling those packing and then packing. Consolidating two households in two one. Oh good. I mean, they had so much going on

Nancy: and the day we left Nevada.

Flagstaff had the, the worst snow storm and the I 40 was closed. So our four, four and a half hour drive turned into eight because we, because we had to climb the Prescott Mountain. Oh, Jerome Mountain. We got here so late. It was March 7th. You'll never forget it.

Judith: I remember you.

Nancy: To the lights and snow and

Judith: through the oh, oh oh.

So, you know, she was very determined. They were very determined to move. Here. We were

Nancy: coming.

Judith: And I think that, [00:12:00] that, tell me, tell my, you know, anybody that's considering moving here. Relocating, retiring and relocating. Because you were a respiratory therapist. Yes. And you were working. She was working. This is also another challenge of this whole thing.

She worked nights,

Nancy: 12

Judith: hour nights. She worked 12 hour night shifts, and so she slept during the day. So trying to communicate with Nancy. Was a bit challenging. 'cause obviously you're at work at the hospital. I can't just call you and you're sleeping, so I can't just interrupt. I mean, I was like, oh my gosh.

So

Nancy: I don't anybody, I don't know how we got through it, but we did.

Judith: We did. Everybody worked together to get to this destination.

Nancy: That's right.

Judith: But what is it, what was it? If somebody was to say, why did you wanna retire to Cottonwood, Arizona? What was it about? The area that just drew you in like a [00:13:00] magnet.

It sounds like you were willing to overcome all these burdens.

Nancy: Yes.

Judith: All these challenges to get here.

Nancy: Well, Greg and I had lived in, he lived actually in Las Vegas. I lived in the town next over Henderson Henderson, smaller community. Okay.

Judith: I remember,

Nancy: however, both cities were just getting so crowded. People from Atlanta, we noticed a lot of California plates on the highway.

It's turning into Northern la, you know, number one, number two, and I had to deal with it 'cause Greg was already retired. So I had to deal with all the traffic on the roads at the cashier line, at the grocery store instead of getting into the doctor's office next week. It's now a three month wait. It was, we were feeling it.

Got it. And I'm thinking, I'm getting older. I don't want these long wait times. Number [00:14:00] one. Number two, we, we really do wanna start a garden and maybe have some chickens and have our own fresh eggs. You can't grow anything in, in Nevada. It's, it's a desert, right? Um, here is another thing. Why

Judith: here? Why

Nancy: here?

And we loved Cottonwood. We loved the surrounding Manus Mountains. I love it, the gorgeous cottonwood trees. I am an artist. I do love landscapes and I loved it. I said, I told him this. This is it. We loved the smaller community. You can literally go anywhere and it only takes you 10 minutes. And the gas and in my head stays there forever and I love it.

I know. I'm just, I'm, I'm retiring. I think about things like that and

Judith: we exactly,

Nancy: absolutely love it.

Judith: Yes. And even, even if, I mean, and it's not just the Mingus Mountain range. The mountains are here, but you've got the Red Rocks. The Red Rocks, the Sedona [00:15:00] Red Rocks are like right there

Nancy: nearby gorgeous

Judith: and hiking trails.

I know we talked about the hiking,

Nancy: hiking,

Judith: hiking, and outdoor activity is very important to you guys.

Nancy: We've already been out. I take a lot of photos for my art. We've been to the parks. The, the community parks are gorgeous. There's little creeks from the river, Verde River running through them and hiking trails.

We've been on one, so we're gonna do more, but we'd be so

Judith: busy. Well, when we've had time with all the renovating, I mean, honestly, the. The house is gorgeous. I mean, it just blew me away when I walked in. And I will do a video, not a long, lengthy one, but I'll also pop in some pictures. You can see like what it looked like before they came in and renovated.

Now, thank you,

Nancy: Jude.

Judith: I'm not encouraging everybody to do that by any means. I could not do that. It was like, I mean, well, I kind of am in my house already. Sorry. I am renovating my house, but I'm taking a lot longer than they did. But it's being able to have that vision and. [00:16:00] Really understanding what all this community has to offer.

I mean, it's just love it. You come from the medical industry. Mm-hmm. So have you had any concerns or issues or interactions with the medical community here?

Nancy: No. Um, I re I went ahead and retired. I was still recuperating from the knee surgery. The, we, we both made a nice little profit. We had some equity in our, our homes.

And we just did everything down the middle, the renovations, everything we do down the middle. So not one or the other is feeling more burden and it's, it's just worked out.

Judith: I love

Nancy: that. Love that. The community is smaller, but we love it. You don't have to travel as far the gas stays in my tank forever.

It's just he and I, so, you know, we're just taking care of ourselves and, and doing a lot and we're not. Chincy on things. I mean, we're eating great and ah, what the heck, [00:17:00] let's go out to dinner and trying new restaurants and the local happenings, the fair and whatever, concerts. Oh, that's

Judith: true. You get out and do

Nancy: things.

Yes, we get out.

Judith: Yes. And

Nancy: I think, and there's things to do here. There's lots of things to do here. We went to a restaurant, we tried, I think I told you about it, and the You did town over. Oh yes you did.

Judith: Yes, yes.

Nancy: And there was a little entertainment going on in there and it was really nice and it was. Said, man, you get music and dinner and it's just a nice town that, and it seems to me and Greg that everybody's like-minded and we all keep saying that we're on the same page and you don't have to try so hard that people just get you.

They understand. See, they're courteous. Greg, one of Greg's. I

Judith: did not tell her to say that. No, but that's what I keep saying about living here is that you feel welcome. Always. You feel like you're part of the [00:18:00] community. Even when you're new

Nancy: immediately

Judith: and people are welcoming. They talk to you, they ask, they wanna know where you came from.

Yeah. Not because they're like annoyed, but they're like, a lot of people are here that because they've relocated, but a lot of people are locals and they're just. They're just friendly. They're kind, they're just friendly, people're generous. I, I really like that. Like you said, everything's 10 minutes away.

This is the closest I've lived to anything myself. And so I really like it and I'm getting older and I don't wanna be having to drive as far to get to things, but I like. That Camp Verde's close by, you know, 20 minutes out and you're in Camp Verde and they've got some really nice restaurants. It's beautiful out there.

Nancy: Lot of antique

Judith: stores,

Nancy: which I love.

Judith: Yes, yes. They have a lot of antique stores. Some my favorites out there. Sweet pea.

Nancy: Yes.

Judith: And then they have rim rock is, I call it rim rock, a hidden gem because it's gorgeous. Totally. They [00:19:00] have like, there's some areas that aren't so great, but once you start getting up into the mountain parts of it and you've got these larger homes or you've got these cute quaint little homes, you took us

Nancy: to a home I had to go see.

Judith: It's beautiful in there. And the and there's some good restaurants and antique stores. Yes. And trees. Yes. I drove in there. There's some areas 'cause they have water. Yeah, they have water.

Nancy: Dear cow.

Judith: And it's just, it's, it was, it's just a whole nother gorgeous area. So I. Love that area too. And then there's ville close by, which has things going on in Clarkdale.

Clarkdale. Now, summer's coming. I'm gonna say this for your benefit, okay? Because you like to get out. They have music in the park. I think it's once a month. Clarkdale in Clarkdale in their court. In their cutest It's

Nancy: town too.

Judith: It totally is. And they have this little town square with a park and lots of trees.

Nice. And then they have bands come in and I think it's once a month. It might be more often than that, I forget, but Nice. Just in the summer, in the evening when [00:20:00] it's cooler and you just bring a blanket or a chair. Yeah. And water. And they're allowed to bring food and beverages and you just sit there and enjoy the beautiful.

Which is family friendly.

Nancy: Right.

Judith: And it's just, that's what kind of makes this community. So

Nancy: there's always,

Judith: it's just something to,

Nancy: there's always events. Always. Exactly. I see on like Facebook or I'm still on Facebook, but it's

Judith: okay. I am too.

Nancy: There's, there's advertisements for, they know your location and everything and you'll see bands popping up, cover bands.

Are in the park.

Judith: Exactly.

Nancy: Some local playing

Judith: Easter. Easter egg hunts, you name

Nancy: it. Pumpkin patch thing. Exactly. Apple cider. Bring your dog. It, it's just, it's, oh, yeah. There's a

Judith: dog in the park thing happening.

Nancy: Yes. It's family friendly here. And we do have a dog.

Judith: Yes.

Nancy: We've already taken her to Doggie Park.

Wonderful Park. Beautiful park here. And of course, I, I love all the, [00:21:00] the nature and taking the photos. Yes, yes.

Judith: But it's also just a very clean. Safe community. I don't worry.

Nancy: Yeah, just a, sorry. How much I, the farmer's markets go to the park

Judith: too. Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Nancy: Our, we met, we went to one and on our way back from Rim Rock, they were in Cornfield.

Yes. Rim Mill Park.

Judith: Yes, yes,

Nancy: yes. Met the nicest lady. We bought the local honey. It's just, and she just told us all about the honey. You just meet the neatest people and they're down to earth and we just. Absolutely love it here. Yay. We feel like we just fit in. We didn't have to try hard. The, we love the people.

Our, our neighbors are wonderful. The, the gal next door brought us the most wonderful donuts from some bakery. I haven't been to it, but

Judith: we have a lot

Nancy: of those around

Judith: here.

Nancy: Yeah. I wanna just see your house when you're done and I still have to invite her over, but we've just been kind of getting, catching our breath.

Know, the [00:22:00] people are wonderful. We, we love our neighbors and the views.

Judith: Yes, yes. As I was driving in here to come to your house, and I told Greg and Nancy this as I got here going, I just love this neighborhood. There's no HOA here. So it's nice for people that don't wanna HOA, but I will tell you this is a gorgeous neighborhood.

They're all custom homes. So I will do, hopefully a video, just kind of the drive through here because the houses are very different, unique. There's some really big ones, there's some small ones, but it's just a beautiful neighborhood. So even without an HOA people. Have pride in their homes. That's right.

They take care of 'em. The yards look nice and so it's just, it was just a joy driving over 'cause it's just so beautiful.

Nancy: It's gorgeous

Judith: and it's really close to Walmart and Home Depot. And all the stores. Stores. Yeah. It's close to everything.

Nancy: It's close every, this whole city is close. Everything's close. I mean.

Judith: True. This is true.

Nancy: Literally [00:23:00] 10, 15 minutes tops.

Judith: Yeah. Well, it's not a big town. It's, and I'll put the look up the population again, but it's not big. Yeah. I mean, I forget that it's not big because it's really not. It was really, I

Nancy: know,

Judith: not dense. 13,

Nancy: 14,000

Judith: people. Yeah, it's it's small town. That was

Nancy: right up our, our alley.

So

Judith: there you go. There you go. I love it. I love it. So thank you Nancy, for being willing to be my interviewee for this week's. Video, and if you are looking to retire and relocate to Cottonwood or the Verde Valley, please click the link below because it has. Links to my buyer, guides other information about preparing and it has a relocation guide, it has activity guides, A lot of information.

Just help you in making that decision and obviously just comment, reach out to me via email, comment below and I'm happy to answer any of your questions.