Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Cornville, Camp Verde, Jerome, and up into Sedona. Each town rents differently — here is how we see them.
The commercial heart of the Verde Valley. Old Town has turned into a genuine destination — tasting rooms, restaurants, a walkable main street — while the wider town carries the jobs: Verde Valley Medical Center, retail along 89A, and the trades that serve the whole region. About 46% of Cottonwood homes are renter-occupied (ACS 2020–2024), far more than in Camp Verde or Sedona, so a rental here is priced against other rentals.
Founded in 1912 by William A. Clark as the smelter town for his Jerome copper mine, and it still looks the part — laid out on a grid, mature trees, a quiet town park. The Verde Canyon Railroad runs from here, which brings visitors through town. Housing stock skews older and smaller, and it holds a particular kind of tenant: people who want quiet and character over square footage. Good long-term rental territory, and increasingly good short-term territory because of the railroad.
Unincorporated Yavapai County, spread along Oak Creek, with larger lots, horse properties, and the vineyards along Page Springs Road. Renters here are looking for room — land, a barn, a shop, distance from neighbors — and about 81% of Cornville homes are owner-occupied, so the right rural rental has little direct competition.
Where I-17 crosses the Verde River, with interchanges at exits 285, 287 and 289. Fort Verde, Montezuma Castle and Out of Africa Wildlife Park draw visitors. The median gross rent is $1,059 and the median home value $318,100 (ACS 2020–2024), across acreage, horse property, ditch-irrigated land and smaller-lot subdivisions.
A former mining town clinging to Cleopatra Hill, now an arts and tourism destination and a National Historic Landmark district since 1967. The housing stock is old, steep, and unlike anything else in Arizona — which is exactly the appeal. Long-term inventory is scarce; short-term does well here for owners who understand that maintenance on a hundred-year-old building on a hillside is its own discipline.
The Beaver Creek drainage east of I-17, near Montezuma Well and the golf course, reached from exit 293. Unincorporated Yavapai County, with a mix of modest homes and larger parcels, each priced on its own comparables.
North on SR 89A, and a different market entirely — a median home value of $786,800 (ACS 2020–2024), heavy visitor demand, and a City permit for every short-term rental. We manage in Sedona and the Village of Oak Creek as well, and we will compare a Sedona purchase against a Cottonwood or Cornville one honestly before you commit.
