All Forum Posts by: Matt Greer

First things first. Never and I mean never bring up race as a landlord. Even if you think it could play a factor it's not allowed to play a factor. If this prospect decides to take action against you this is posted online and you never know what a jury will think and you just brought race into the picture. In my eyes every prospect is an indistinct humanoid to me. 

Now as far as lying to you that's suspect and I wouldn't trust it, but you can decline them by saying you don't want to rent out to a business to board it's employees which is totally logical. Just make sure if another business ever applies you deny them for the same reason.

The easiest way to stay out of trouble is to set up guidelines on who you will and won't rent to. Always write them down and if you can record them as an attachment to you LLC's operating agreement at the county courthouse (assuming you have an LLC or corp.) do it.

Yes a lot are coming to the Phoenix area. A good way to see them is to take the 202 in Gilbert and Chandler and you'll see a ton of new large commercial developments. We've also had some major companies move into the valley. Sedona is a different market than here in Phoenix. It's much more tourist driven and there's a lot space between Phoenix and Sedona so I wouldn't be surprised if you aren't seeing it.

@Nicholas Ward I'm in that area and would love to connect. I'm located in Mesa, grew up in Gilbert and work the east valley and Phoenix areas. If It's an investment in real estate that makes money I'm interested. 

I wouldn't unless you know for a fact they'll pay and won't cause damage. If something goes south you'll either have to eat it or take a a family member to court. Sounds like a nightmare. I also know of people who rent to family as a charitable sort of act to help them out if they're struggling, and that can be good as long as you know what you're getting yourself into beforehand.

I'm in the Arizona Real Estate market on a daily basis it's what I do. I've noticed that there has been a slight slow down in the purchase of residential real estate. Granted it's still fast, but nothing like it was a few months ago. In the past year I've seen investors literally buy properties and just hold them for a month or two and turn around and sell them or do a very minimal remodel and make money. It's been an  amazing and wild ride, but I've noticed another trend emerging as the residential market is starting to slow a little. 

More and more businesses are moving here. These are businesses that are coming here from across state and international borders. This is amazing for our economy because it brings jobs and money from other places into our economy. All these people moving here made it so that Arizona has a ton of workers and that mixed with our low taxes and relatively lenient employment laws has drawn a ton of businesses here and they just keep coming.

What are you doing to take advantage of these large businesses moving here? Are any investors switching their focus or placing more of their portfolio into commercial property investments or do you not see the need? This massive growth has opened up a few new opportunities for land investments. Some I've seen are land turned into truck yards for all the smaller contractors building everything. Storage as people are forced into smaller homes due to higher home prices. Warehouses seem to be doing great as well. What creative ways are you taking advantage of the commercial growth (that you don't mind sharing of course) that is accompanying this massive growth in population?

I pretty much just work with residential real estate, but I also follow the money and wanted to see what other people think of this trend in Arizona especially in the Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa and Gilbert area where I'm at.

That's a pretty big jump. You'll probably lose a tenant, but I'd rather lose a tenant than keep a disgruntled tenant.

The house is yours if the deed is valid. Filing the deed just lets everyone else know you're the owner. I'd definitely get a title search thought to see if there are any liens and then figure out from there based on equity what you should do next.

The quality of rentals will go down and tenants will ultimately pay the price.

@Zack Francis The low rates are certainly attractive because you can get so much more for the same payment. I think this market will continue to rise, but I don't like to buy based on future possibilities, because you never know. I'd recommend trying to snag something off market or maybe looking in a few different areas that aren't too far.

I wouldn't. If they caused damage to the property and you allow this you won't have any money from the deposit to pay for damages. There is the possibility they know they won't get the deposit back and if you allow them to use it to pay rent then they effectively got it back. It's much more difficult to collect money than it is to just hold part of a deposit.