By Elisa Andreis

Voted by USA Today the no.1 best place to live in America, Sedona is a resort town. It has the warmth of a small town and the sophistication of a bigger city (with a 90 minute drive-time proximity to Phoenix/Scottsdale area and to international Sky Harbor airport).

At 1370 m elevation, Sedona sits in the upper margin of the Sonoran Desert. Its massive red rock formations make it a unique setting of spectacular natural beauty. The land is dotted with canyons, creeks, mountains and forests and it is blessed with four mild seasons.

One of the elite Western communities, like Aspen and Santa Fe, it is a rich art center, with its 80 art galleries, its Independent Film Festival, the Jazz on the Rocks festival and over  3 million visitors a year. Sedona was already popular in the forties and fifties as Hollywood used it for many Western movie location shooting. Outdoor enthusiasts find plenty to do: hiking, biking, golfing at the top rated championship courses and at the exclusive Seven Canyons Tom Weiskopf-designed track.

Predictions say that in Sedona vacant land zoned for residential will be sold out in the next 10 years.  Its geographical condition makes the case of land scarcity as Sedona sits at the center of a natural amphitheatre surrounded by mountains, an island of private property surrounded by national forest land.

As a result of all this in terms of real estate, Sedona has not been nearly as affected by the market downturn as other major areas of the US, such as California and Florida.  There is a case for value in investing in Sedona. How much further does your dollar go?

Here are a few examples to illustrate this:

A 4000 sq ft home in Palm Beach, FL on a lot of 0.5 acres is about $2 million

A 4000 sq ft home in Aspen, CO on a lot of 0.5 acres is about $2 million

A 4000 sq ft home in Laguna Beach, CA on a lot of 0.5 acres is about $2 million

In Sedona, Arizona a 4000 sq ft home goes for about $1 million