That is because they are required to be owner occupied for their loan. Not that anyone checks up on you.

It’s hard to get an exact handle on the number of investors in the market- not everyone was honest in their mortgage applications- but estimates range between 30-40%. Given the total vacancies, rentals, listings, etc.- you have to wonder if that number is too conservative.

Anyway, 44% is indeed astounding. My understanding was that many CA “investors” (speculators) were pouring cash into AZ. I kept reading about it, but i thought it was more hype than fact. Apparantly, it was fact. more troubles!

That’s why John McLeod is doing his Monday posts for us on GSEs like Freddie and Fannie. Right now, everyone is focusing on “What is this doing to the value of my house?” However, when Japan’s housing bubble burst, it literally decimated their banking system. When this goes South, people are going to start worrying more about what this is doing to our banks.

That’s amazing because if this person bought at the peak using (the now typical) nothing, or close to nothing, down then their monthly cash flow on this property is upside down something like $700 per month. That’s gonna hurt a typical household. This is assuming they keep it rented. Doesn’t sound like THAT”S even happening. If household saving statistics are right and this sort of thing is happening in mass, I’d hate to own much stock in banks heavily leveraged in mortgage notes.

I just ran across this $1850/mo. rental listing on Craigslist for Queen Creek:

This Beautiful 3,200 square foot two story home located on a cul-de-sac and home sits on a golf course provides lot’s of room for a family.
4 bedrooms with walk-in closets and three baths. Large Game room, Family room and living room. Separate utility room includes washer and dryer. Spacious kitchen with walk-in pantry, breakfast bar and microwave and double wide refrigerator included. Salt water pebble-tech pool with rock water fall, built in BBQ with fridge. Lot’s of afternoon shade and Beautiful views of the Superstition mountains and golf course. Large 3 car tandem garage perfect for boat and toys. Gardner,pool service, trash, cable, HOA dues included in rent. Home is available to move into now. Please call…

http://phoenix.craigslist.org/apa/190308939.html

 

Twist

I was reading your comment to my husband- who got curious. He just counted- about 225 homes were listed for rent YESTERDAY on in PHX metro on Craigslist.

That too.

No question about the rental thing. Backpage has an amazing number of rentals- it’s hard to gauge numbers trends in an specific area though. I have a couple of other “unofficial” meters that I check as well. One is Realtor.com- for Gilbert, AZ last April, there was only a few rentals listed, now there is 163- and they aren’t the best place to look for rentals. I always look at the rental section of the AZ Republic- Gilbert is filled with “lease purchase” – code word for “I couldn’t sell my house, so I am trying to rent it out.” And this in a city that was listed as one of the top growing in the nation.

I don’t want to deny people their say, or change their meaning (that’s too PC), but I am sticking to my unabashedly old fashioned policy.

Twist may be Christian and if so, she’s simply adhering to one God’s (the real God…Your use of that handle is a joke – not a funny one!) basic tenants. You should probably be a little more tolerant.

Anyway, 44% sounds like a real shocker!

Twist, as I have told you in past posts, the rental market speaks volumes about what is going on in PHX. on backpage.com most of the houses for rent are empty, and are largely at the periphery of the city. I am guessing the owners are waiting for some kind of runup like CA had seen and smehow this year is just a lull. So they need some one to help pay the mortgage in the meanwhile. Also as I have said in the past alot are rent to own. The scary part as I see it is demand for rentals is down and asking rents have been going down on properties that have interested me, for the last 2 months that I have been looking.