Sedona Arizona interview with Major Scott Jablow

[Chad McMahan]

Here is a link to an interview we (Equity Team- Will Hamburg and myself) did with Sedona, Arizona Mayor Scott Jablow. We discussed short term rentals- past, present and possible future in Sedona.

In total, combing 2 private meetings/interviews, we spent approx 5 hours with Mayor Scott Jablow, Assistant Mayor Holli Ploog, Housing Manager Shannon Boone, and their in-house council.

My take-away:

The Sedona government is receiving a lot of pressure from people that are anti-STR. It's an expensive town to live in, with a shortage of LTR's, so they are eager to decrease STR's and increase LTR's.

Mayor Jablow recognizes the importance of STR's for a higher quality vacation for tourists, but he and the local administration want to limit this, once there is a AZ law that allows them to do so.

One of the best "nuggets"/"gems" was to hear him say to us that upon a AZ law getting passed that does indeed restrict the number/percentage of STR's, those that already have a permitted STR in Sedona will be grandfathered in. According to Mayor Jablow, there will not be a quick drop in STR's. Rather, it could take years to slowly reduce the percentage. I like this approach. Not only does it give peace of mind for myself and my clients, but it feels cooperative and reasonable.

[Lauren Kormylo]

The first words out of the mayor's mouth, "To me, short term rentals are like a cancer on the city...Yes we do receive a lodging tax from that, but quite honestly, the amount of damage that short term rentals do to our city isn't outweighed by the amount of tax we receive."   When asked what advice he has for prospective buyers of STRs, "Not to buy, not to invest in Sedona, if that's their interest."  "Sooner or later, the bottom is going to fall out of the investment."

I would never trust someone with that attitude to grandfather in STRs.  And the city council is who decides these matters anyway, you can't trust what the mayor says.