Real Estate Investing 101

What are Real Estate Investors Buying In Phoenix These Days?

This isn't an information post, rather I am trying to gather info from real estate investors as to what they are currently buying. So, all you investor types, can you give me a bit of feedback on what your current strategies are? If you are in the rental side of the business, how are vacancy rates effecting you? Are any of you trying to do flips? Where do you, the real people living and breathing real estate investing see as the short term opportunities?  Long term?

I will gather data and information from as many sources as possible and be back to you with the results. Just toss me an email at gene@urbanteamaz.com with your expert opinion and we'll see what the pros have to say.

Best to you,

Gene Urban

Estimating Repairs on Foreclosure Properties

The following article on estimating repairs on bank owned or foreclosure properties came our way from the good people at Advantage Inspection Service. These are the guys we use for our personal property inspections.

Since many of our readers are buying homes in “AS IS” condition, we thought this info would be valuable and important. Enjoy.
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In 2009, 36.8% of all closed residential sales in the Greater Phoenix Area were lender-owned properties!
We all know that bank owned and foreclosure property sales are clipping along at a furious pace right now. Many consumers are caught up in the perception that they will undoubtedly save mountains of money if they buy a distressed property. Experienced brokers and agents know that this is not always the case. Repair costs can grow rapidly and turn a “great deal” into a time consuming frustration. Estimating repair needs and costs is crucial.

Your first step is a professional home inspection for several reasons. It is likely that the homeowner did not properly maintain the property as finances became strained. In some cases, an angered homeowner may cause both obvious and hidden damage to the property. It is not uncommon to see missing/damaged fixtures, appliances and components at a foreclosure property.

Start estimating. You can take the simple or detailed approach with estimating repair costs. A great first step is to go to www.fixfliprent.com/repairs where they have a free easy to use repair cost estimator. If you want a finely tuned estimate you can look at the Craftsman Book series of software. Trial versions can be found at www.craftsman-book.com/downloads which gives you the ability to estimate construction costs like a pro.

One final note. It is often a challenge to get the utilities turned on before the inspection. Persistence is needed in dealing with the various parties as you arrange for the inspection. Don’t give up and by all means have the home inspected. Who knows how many thousands of dollars it could take to repair an undiscovered defect.

For more information, feel free to give us a call or send an email.

David Swartz
Advantage Inspection Service
602-864-8331
www.azinspec.com

Funny, But True Landlord/Tenant Stories

We have not posted one our “Funny Landlord Tenant Stories” for a few weeks so we are over due. In the midst of life’s ciaos, a little humor is a good thing.

Thanks go out to Andy Hull for his on-going offerings of great stories. If you need a knowledgeable landlord/tenant attorney, he’s well respected in the Greater Phoenix area. 

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In one case, the tenant appeared in front of the Judge and admitted that she had not paid rent. Her main concern was that she would be liable for the remaining months on her lease and would potentially have to pay that off. After looking at the lease, the contract had expired several months prior and the tenant was on a month-to-month tenancy. This was pointed out to the Judge, and the Judge informed the tenant that she would potentially only be liable for one additional month if the landlord was unable to re-rent the property. The tenant starting jumping up and down with joy, praising God, and yelling “Hallelujah, Amen”. The Judge said he had never seen a tenant so happy to be found guilty and evicted from their rental unit.

Another potential client contacted our office with the following correspondence. “Please help me get these people out of my house. Have you ever seen the movie Pacific Heights? I am living it. I am not cut out to be a landlord. I am a sucker that people like this pray on. I have been set up from the very beginning. I let them get so far behind on their rent because they came up with this huge story about the tenant’s father dying, the tenant being an only child, and he had to pay for all the funeral expenses. He didn’t want his dad to be buried in a pine box with no headstone. I found out later when his father called me looking for his son that he was very much alive and living in California. His father said, “if you hear from my son, please have him call.”

Take care... Ron Urban & Gene Urban

The Urban Team... Featured Real Estate Columnists for Times Publishing

A couple months ago we were contacted by the publisher at Times Publishing to write a specialty column called "After The Bubble." We were asked to research and provide information about some of the great real estate deals in the Greater Phoenix market.

We spit the market into four sections: Great deals in the West Valley, the East Valley, Scottsdale and the luxury market. We scoured the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service (ARMLS) looking for recent home sales that were significantly less than what the home sold for a few years back.

The process has been very fun and the research has been surprising at times. You too can see the wild deals we find by picking up a copy of one of the many Times Publishing newspapers including: The Scottsdale Times, Chandler times, Northeast Phoenix Times, Glendale Times, Gilbert Times, Ahwatukee Times or East Mesa Times. The paper can be found in racks at most Grocery Stores, Walgreens and other locations valley wide.

We've included a scan of the column from the September edition. We hope you enjoy and be sure and pick up the October edition coming out soon. If you click on the image you will see it full size.

 Ron Urban & Gene Urban
The Urban Team at Realty Executives
602-234-5777