{"id":3557,"date":"2019-03-06T16:17:18","date_gmt":"2019-03-06T23:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/?p=3557"},"modified":"2019-03-06T16:17:18","modified_gmt":"2019-03-06T23:17:18","slug":"tale-two-states-phoenix-hot-market-nebraskans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/tale-two-states-phoenix-hot-market-nebraskans","title":{"rendered":"A Tale of Two States: Phoenix a Hot Market for Nebraskans"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Fremont native Bart Mruz settled down in Phoenix, Arizona, \"\"<\/a>he didn\u2019t expect that so many of his fellow Nebraskans would follow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mruz is a real estate agent in Phoenix for the brokerage Realty Executives. As part of his job, he specializes in helping people from his home state to buy and sell property in his adopted state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And the market is hot, Mruz said. On average, he sees 20 to 25 purchases per month from the eastern Nebraska area. He knows about 30 people from Fremont that have purchased property there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI call it a tale of two states,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019d be shocked, especially on Cornhusker game days, how many people are down here at the bars. There\u2019s a huge presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The trend is so palpable, that in 2014, he started marketing his properties back here in Nebraska. He comes back frequently to meet with people and work on marketing, and his brokerage cooperates with several here in town, referring business back and forth.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It\u2019s not just Nebraska, either. Mruz sees a growing market from other Midwestern states, too, particularly in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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There\u2019s a number of reasons why midwesterners, and Nebraskans in particular, are drawn to Phoenix, Mruz says. The weather is a big part of it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThis time of year, you can just look out your window [in Nebraska] the last couple days and figure out why,\u201d Mruz said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But also, the Phoenix area offers affordable options, compared to the surrounding areas of other popular cities to settle in, like San Diego or Los Angeles or Las Vegas. And it\u2019s only a few hours from those cities. And the housing taxes are \u201cabout a third to a half\u201d of what they are back in Nebraska, Mruz said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Phoenix also offers a growing city with a vibrant downtown and more than 200 golf courses. Hiking and other outdoor activity is popular.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNow that the city has grown and we have an active downtown and the median age keeps getting younger and younger here, the city is really cool,\u201d Mruz said. \u201cI mean it\u2019s evolved and it\u2019s grown and it\u2019s dynamic. It\u2019s got a vibe.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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For Nebraskans, one of the most popular areas is the city of Scottsdale, not far from Phoenix. Mruz describes it as a dynamic neighborhood.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s gorgeous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mruz sells properties for both part-time and full-time living, and he\u2019s seeing an explosion in second-home ownership in the area, where people are buying properties outside of their primary home. He notes that the Nebraska crowd gets younger and younger every year. More are buying properties condominiums and townhomes, as well as zero-lot properties — like a single-family home on a small lot with a small yard.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIn the last, I would say, five to 10 years especially, it\u2019s just exploded,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ve got people buying second or third properties down here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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When Mruz moved to Phoenix, he didn\u2019t quite expect to see so many of his fellow Nebraskans there.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He grew up in Fremont, the son of a local builder, and had an interest in houses and construction from an early age. As a kid, he\u2019d go with his dad on Saturdays to building sites to help out. He\u2019d spend his time in class doodling floor plans.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mruz went to school for journalism and was originally planning to pursue a writing career. One Friday afternoon in September 2001, he was meeting with an executive at ABC about the possibility of writing for the Drew Carey Show. But the following day was September 11. The studios went on lockdown and Mruz became leery of big city life. So he decided to stay in Phoenix and pursue real estate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cGradually, I started bumping into people that I knew back in Omaha, and then I started watching, and it kind of snowballed every year,\u201d Mruz said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mruz enjoys getting the opportunity to work with people from his home state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s fun to work with your native people, so to speak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Originally published in fremonttribune.com.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  When Fremont native Bart Mruz settled down in Phoenix, Arizona, he didn\u2019t expect that so many of his fellow Nebraskans would follow. Mruz is a real estate agent in Phoenix for the brokerage Realty Executives. As part of his job, he specializes in helping people from his home state to buy and sell property … Continue reading A Tale of Two States: Phoenix a Hot Market for Nebraskans<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[829],"tags":[855,354,856,212,420,213],"yst_prominent_words":[1937,1275,1930,826,1932,1940,546,1931,1928,1935,1936,1363,1929,1927,1933,1934,796,1938,1939,1066],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3557"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3561,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3557\/revisions\/3561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3557"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.realtyexecutives.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=3557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}