The rental market in our area continues to amaze me... Good rentals under $2,000/mo can be hard to find. This spring, even seasonal rentals were hard to find.

Apparently all the people who aren't eligible or aren't ready to commit to a mortgage or a long …

The headlines over the last few days have been quite loud about the rent increases we've seen here in the valley. Yesterday, the Cromford Report's Daily Observation read:

"February 23 - The single family rental situation on ARMLS is getting silly. There are now only 2,196 single family …

I don't usually blog about nationwide economic events because real estate is hyper-local, but this latest post from the Cromford Report was interesting enough for some deep consideration:

"January 31 - The local housing market might be pretty quiet right now, but we are seeing dramatic action in the numbers …

If you need someplace to live in Phoenix or Scottsdale, AZ, you might want to consider buying a home over renting. Last Friday, the Arizona Republic reported  "It's much tougher to find an affordable rental in Phoenix now than a year ago," said Mike Orr, director of the Center …

I love how numbers make most decisions so much easier to navigate... yet, most people opt not to do the work, especially when it involves big financial decisions like buying a home vs. renting one.

Yesterday, the Cromford Report staff posted some info and a chart about the "Buy vs …

On August 16, 2014 Fannie Mae revised their guidelines to reflect the waiting periods defined for people with a "prior derogatory credit event", i.e. a Bankruptcy, Foreclosure, Short Sale or Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure. The reason they did this you ask? Banks don't make money if they …

This morning, ARMLS released it's Rent Check statistics for August 2014 showcasing the Valley's leasing market. Year to date in the Phoenix area, rentals continue to perform very well in comparison to the previous years going back to 2005. Leases did make up a significant portion of my …

1. Not having to answer to a landlord.
2. Paying YOUR mortgage & expenses beats paying someone else’s
3. Being able to tap into your home equity in case of emergency.
4. Appreciation (MORE MONEY!) if/when you’re ready to sell.
5. Not having to move because your landlord booted you.
6. Being able to …

I think now that elections are for the most part over (except where the last of the provisional ballots are still being counted here in Maricopa County), most folks have some expectation of what comes next.  The mortgage interest deduction is likely to stick around, unless it also gets …

With the sheer volume of homeowners who have either short sold, or lost homes to deeds in lieu of foreclosure or actual foreclosure, there are more renters than there have been in a long time looking for suitable homes to live in.  To add to that, with so many …