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Sedona? Not quite, here's the truth.

[00:00:00] I thought it would be really kind of fun to share a little bit of the history of the village of Oak Creek because As someone who didn't grow up here, haven't lived here my whole life, I, I like to know... Sorry, I taped myself ... about the communities that I live in, and I like to know the areas, and I'm kind of a history nut.

So let me just share with you what I found, and there's a whole bunch more information I'm gonna share about the Village of Oak Creek, which is an unincorporated area. So its zip code is Sedona, but it's actually a separate area. So I'm just gonna share this with you. So the birth of the village of Oak Creek, VOCA, V-O-C-A, is the largest and foundational homeowners association in the history of Big Park region, and it's a classic story of everyday citizens stepping up to save their community, which is so cool, from a major crisis.

So [00:01:00] VOCA was born out of a community's, a community-wide rescue mission. And so here's kind of the backstory on how they got there, or why they got there. So in the late 1800s, early settlers called that wide-open space, that's now the village of Oak Creek, Red Rock Territory that was seven miles south of the Sedona Big Park.

And you'll see that. There's a... It's called Big Park, and you're like, "What is that?" That's a whole 'nother area, in the village of Oak Creek. That's kind of started it. In the early 1960s, a developer stepped in and was gonna transform this pioneer ranch into a master plan retirement and second home community, officially naming it, branding it, the Village of Oak Creek.

Now the centerpiece of this grand vision was a beautiful 18-hole championship golf course [00:02:00] designed by the legendary Robert Trent Jones Sr. and Jr., and the developer sold off roughly 1,300 lots, and the families began moving in. However, in the mid-1974, economic trouble started to happen, and the original developer went bust, of course.

It was at that time, I think, that things got a little crazy. And so this master planned community faced a really grim future, which was it's they're gonna lose their golf course and all the accompanied recreational facilities that went with it. It was just gonna go into foreclosure, and who knew what was gonna happen, and who was gonna own that?

And obviously, having those amenities really impacted the value of the homes and the draw to come into the area. So in 1975, there was a grassroots rescue. This is so cool. So it... The residents [00:03:00] started looking at this potential loss- And they decided, "We are gonna take control of the situation." And so a very tight-knit group of homeowners of about 150 to 200 residents, families, and non-residents banded together, and they did an impressive thing.

They did a huge grassroots fundraiser, and they came up with $500,000, which is a lot of money back in 1975. It's still a lot of money. And they used those funds to completely buy out the almost foreclosed developer. And now they owned the golf course, the common lands, the amenities. Everything was now owned by the homeowners.

And so that meant that they actually bought the land [00:04:00] That their community's social amenities were seated on. Is that not cool or what? And so they owned their own amenities. Now the homeowners own them, obviously shared between all these families. So that was what happened in 1975. Now fast-forward, so now VOCA, it's been in effect now since 1975, and they have 25 distinct subdivisions.

And again, I talk about that in the video regarding the HOAs, VOCA, and then you have another potential HOA, CC&Rs on top of that. So something to keep in mind. And they have over 2,300... 23, yeah, hundred lots. So that means that each home there has access to, and ownership, management of, the Robert Trent Jones championship golf course, a neighborhood bistro, tennis and pickleball [00:05:00] courts, I haven't played yet, and local park spaces.

So they're, it, it, it's all part of VOCA, and everybody who lives there gets to have a piece of it. They all own a little piece of it. And because the area remains unincorporated, VOCA effectively serves as the early framework for keeping the neighborhood's, standards, architectural harmony alive, long before, you know, it became what it is today.

And it's a very lively, active Dark Sky community. they are a certified Dark Sky community, which I will talk about in another video. This is 179 heading into Sedona and the village of Oak Creek. It's a bit of a hazy day today, so you're not gonna get some great views of the mountains, red rocks, that we normally get, but you're gonna get to see some pretty awesome views, [00:06:00] because this is a very scenic drive into the village of Oak Creek.

As we're driving, it's important to note that this is all Coconino National Forest. So from I-17 on the I sep- 179 until we get into, the village of Oak Creek, it's 15 miles of state forest land. As we come around this curve here, you're gonna start seeing some of the red rocks. It's a little different look than you're gonna see on the West Sedona side, but still red rocks, still absolutely stunning mountains and landscapes Again, [00:07:00] remember, this is all national forest, so there's no homes in here.

This is all preserved for wildlife, and there's a lot of hiking trails in here. People can go off and camp. And you can see the great big mountain range, Red Rocks coming ahead of us as we pull into, make it closer to the village of Oak Creek. As you're coming in on 179, you can certainly pull over at the ranger station here and get a lot of information about the area, hiking trails, parks, and that type of thing To the right up...

I'm sorry, to the left up here, you're gonna see Bell Rock. It looks like a bell, and we are going to drive closer. I've been on that hike many times. It's a very lovely hike. So it, like I said, it's a very scenic drive into Sedona, AKA the Village of [00:08:00] Oak Creek

Now we're coming into the outskirts of the village of Oak Creek. there is primarily residential living here, not a lot of commercial properties But it's an absolutely stunning part of town to live in. It's also very quiet compared to the West Sedona side. See entering Village of Oak Creek. It's an HOA.

It is not an actual city, and that was very confusing for me. And people called it VOCA, V-O-C-A, which I didn't know what that was either. So I'm just trying to clue you in so that when you come and you visit, and you're looking at properties in the area, and you're considering Sedona, you can come across as being very knowledgeable, and you already know what VOCA means and [00:09:00] who, what the Village of Oak Creek is.

Isn't this just stunning? It's just absolutely gorgeous. Now, we have some businesses coming up here. We have hotels. There are restrictions here on how high you can build, so you're going to see a, hotel and storage area that are actually built down. They had to dig down to a certain level so that the views of the mountains were not blocked by their buildings.

So one moment here, and we're gonna cross, up here

Now this here, we're gonna just drive really quickly through this little, shopping center. This is one of the few shopping centers in here. It has, [00:10:00] oh, some restaurants. As you see, they have to dig down because it has to stay at a certain level

To maintain those amazing views. So we've got standard Verizon, restaurants, shoe stores. Things kind of come and go in here

This is one of the busier, shopping areas, boutiques, et cetera. Now this is, we're gonna drive over here, this is the hotel that I was telling you about that they had to dig down to put in the hotel because, and it's a very nice hotel, but it, to maintain those mountain visages

You do have to be very careful driving through here. Today is the day after a holiday [00:11:00] weekend, so as you can see, they had to dig down to put that in. And the storage unit, they also had to dig down to put the storage unit in. Look at those amazing, amazing views. Is that not awesome or what? So

Now the Village of Oak Creek does have a 18-hole golf course, and the dues that the community pays, all of the homes in the Village of Oak Creek except for a handful pay annual dues to the Village of Oak Creek

And that maintains the golf course and the clubhouse, and I believe there's a restaurant over there as well

There is one grocery store [00:12:00] in the village of Oak Creek. We're gonna drive up here. It's called Clark's. It's over here on the right

We're gonna just drive out because it's a beautiful residential area

And the homes here usually start at at least 750. So there are some condos that are going to be less, but even the manufactured homes here, unless they're completely, trashed, are gonna be starting at potentially 600,000. So it's not a inexpensive area to buy in. However, you get the benefits of living in Sedona without as much of the tourist traffic and congestion [00:13:00] It's a much quieter part of Sedona

Yes, there are hiking trails you can get to here as well. Uh, Sedona has no shortage of hiking trails and access to different

Activities, outdoor activities. All right, we're gonna cut around and give you again a little more tour of the area. Plus, this is gonna bring us through to, this is the golf course. Here is the golf course. So we've got the golf course, which is quite lovely, and clubhouse. So this is where you would come if you're gonna golf in Village at Oak Creek.

This is the clubhouse. Here's the actual clubhouse[00:14:00]

And views, obviously, of the mountains everywhere. Watch you drive over a golfer. That would be bad day. See that? Oh, my God. I love the moments here. It's just amazing. Simply amazing

Is that not, is that not... Oh my God, if you were in the car with me, you'd feel like you're driving right into that mountain. It is so massive. Oh, my Lord. I love it. Love it And just giving you a little more feel for the homes in here. there are restrictions on coloring that you can paint your home.

Again, they're very wanting to stay blended in with the community, so you're not gonna see purple or green or red or pink or blue houses, because it's just not [00:15:00] allowed, and they also want it to be not highly reflective, so it doesn't shine at night. This is a dark sky community. There are no sidewalks , there are no streetlights, and That can be a little distressing for people, that are not familiar with the area and are coming in at night.

So I strongly encourage people to plan ahead and try and arrive before dark, because it's very dark. Homes cannot have lights on that are above a certain level of luminosity. It's just really committed to the dark sky community, and you're gonna see amazing, night skies here. Now we're gonna head out on Jacks Canyon Road.

This is Jacks Canyon, and there are larger [00:16:00] homes and acreage homes out here. They ... This is important also to keep in mind, is that the Village of Oak Creek is a HOA that covers probably 95% of the village. I mean, the Village of Oak Creek is the HOA. So 95% of the homes here belong to that HOA. However, with that in mind, there can be two HOAs, so that there could be another subdivision that has its own personal private HOA in addition to the Village of Oak Creek's HOA.

So it's layered on layer, which can be an issue for some people. the Village of Oak Creek HOA dues are not super expensive. However, their [00:17:00] restrictions apply in addition to any additional HOA subdivision restrictions, CC&Rs. So it's just something to keep in mind as you are home searching potentially in the Village of Oak Creek.

Look at these mountain vistas. This is why people love living over here. I mean, anywhere, anywhere in Sedona, people come for the views. They come for the

Culture and the art, the outdoor activities. There's just so many reasons to want to live in the Sedona area And all of those are great reasons to live here because it is beautiful. It is absolutely a [00:18:00] stunning area to live in here. It's more of a residential area. It's just a really... I mean, all the homes in here are just beautiful.

However, not all are updated, not all are super well-maintained, but on the outside they look great. I have toured some homes in here that were absolutely... They were unreasonably asking price because we're in Sedona, it should be that much. However, you do have to maintain your home to maintain the value.

Yeah, I've toured, I've done a lot of, Okay, I've looked at a lot of houses, and I recognize many of these homes as ones that I've toured, at one time or another

You're also gonna notice that there's a lot more mature trees here. we're higher up [00:19:00] elevation. It's cooler weather. We do have four seasons, and these homes have been here a long time. So it's a mature community with mature trees and cooler weather in the winter, also cooler weather in the summer, and they do get snow more often than, Cottonwood or the Verde Valley

Look at those amazing mountain views. Can you imagine sitting in your backyard and this is what you see? Woo. Love it

Look at this. Look at this. Just spread out in front of you. [00:20:00] Glorious, glorious views

Again, as I said, more of these properties have acreage. There are ranches in here. I know that sounds weird, but there are some horse, facilities here

As you can see, these properties have a lot more elbow room between them

Still have those amazing local beers

Now getting trail crossing. I don't know if that's for people or horses. Hard to [00:21:00] tell. Probably both

Look it, the vestiges are absolutely stunning here. Stunning

break through the trees

There's that lovely clay. Get that on your shoes, on your clothes. It's really hard to get out. [00:22:00] There's Bell Rock again, certainly. Isn't that amazing? Just fantastic. Yeah, so you tell me which part of the Sedona area, the Village of Oak Creek, which the zip code's Sedona because they don't have their own government, they, they are governed by the Yavapai County Or do you like West Sedona better?

And we're gonna be talking about that more. So stay tuned for more Sedona video information. It is part of the area, the the, it is a beautiful part. so I'd like to share more about that with you. But tell me which one you think you might like better, the Village of Oak Creek or West Sedona.