In Maricopa County, Arizona which includes Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley, Fountain Hills, Mesa, Peoria and Chandler home prices exploded from 2001-2005; Skyrocketing more than 100% in most places.

We all know what happened next; Phoenix AZ real estate prices have declined sharply.In fact, in some areas outside of Phoenix AZ like Gilbert, Chandler and Tempe homes can be purchased as much as 50% of the 2005 values. 

Due to the challenges of selling homes many empty homes on the market are being listed for rent. Owners are thus able to collect income while waiting for the home to sell.

However, there is as a troubling occurrence, as homeowners are having difficulty or no success in selling homes.  They are becoming less able to make the monthly mortgage payment and these homes are going into foreclosure.co

I am hearing story after story of good paying renters coming home to foreclosure notices on their doors with no return phone calls from the landlord. Unfortunately, there is little renters can do. The current law does not require that rental monies be paid toward the mortgage or returned to the renter.

How can renters protect themselves?

I highly recommend you ask your real estate agent to check the tax records for further information. ‘What can this tell you’ , you may ask? Possibly, nothing, maybe , a lot. Here’s an example.

If you find an apartment for rent you can look up the Maricopa County AZ tax records and find out purchase price and loan amount. You may even be able to find out , using the owners name, if the landlord owns other real estate, amounts and loan amounts.

Here’s what to do:

• Ask your estate agent to do a comparative market analysis on the subject property.
• Compare the CMA value to the loan amount due.
• If the loan amount is not , is less then 90% of the CMA value, then I would argue that the landlord is less likely to walk away from 10% or more equity.
• That is not always the case, as you also need to have the real estate agent estimate the approximate monthly mortgage payment the landlord is paying.
• Compare that to the monthly rent amount you will be paying the landlord.
• Again, if there is a large deficit (negative cash-flow), then weigh that into your decision of the landlords willingness to continue to be in a negative cash-flow situation.

These are not hard-set rules. Though, they can be effective tools and methods to help evaluate the likelihood of a landlord keeping your monthly rent (minimum 90 day foreclosure process) and not paying the mortgage and ultimately, you being evicted from your home and likely losing your deposit monies.

If you are a renter, make sure you contact a real estate broker who is knowledgeable with Phoenix AZ rentals and the Scottsdale AZ rental market.

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Copyright © James Wexler *Renter Nightmare – check the tax records*

If you are listing your home as a short sale in Phoenix Arizona or Scottsdale Arizona make sure you hire an agent who knows how to do short sales and has the experience to get the job done.

Call 480.221.8080 to find out more about Phoenix AZ Short Sales and Scottsdale AZ short  Sales