Some rentals rent quickly and others linger on the market and often very little separates the two. When the right principals are applied you can have a home leased in much less then the average time and if you miss a few details you can have a home empty for longer then necessary. Below are a few basic principals.

1. If the home is not clean and I mean sparkling clean even in the nooks and crannies, the grout, the paint, the floor and even the filters, then you’ll loose a lot of potential tenants. This is one of the top complaints we hear from potential tenants about other homes they’ve seen. Often you won’t even know that’s the problem. They will either tell you “it’s nice and I’ll get back to you” or simply say no and disappear.
2. Calling back and or returning emails is on par with no. 1 and amongst the silliest of ways to lose potential tenants. Just as often as we hear about cleanliness, we hear about the other guys not returning calls. What’s the purpose of placing ads and putting up signs if the caller will not be even called back. You can wait a day or two because by then they will usually forget which property or they may have already found something. Same day works best if you can get back within an hour or two, but 4+ hours and your losing them.
3. Photos of the property will only look good if the property is clean and prepped. Don’t skimp on photos. If you don’t have an appropriate camera, hire one or hire a photographer. Photos are a key draw and if you have a nice property that’s not well photographed you’ll easily get dismissed by looking tenants, and are looking online: more so for homes then apartments.Consider that a professional photographer that will provide you with some 30 photos will cost about $150 and bad photos may prevent your place from leasing for some additional time, the cost quickly becomes a mute point: if your rent is $1,000 a month, just leasing a weak earlier because of good photos will be very much worth it and you’ll have the photos for the future as well.
4. Marketing a home online is vital. Skip the papers. Take the time and spend some money to place the ads in some of the most looked a places, including some that are free like craigslist or some paid like rentals.com for about $40 per month. Also consider PropertyNut.com - a one month ad there is about $10 and they will distribute your ad with photos to lost of sites, including automatic periodic placement in Craigslist.
5. Be flexible with showing times. Lot of potential tenants work a lot. That seems to be the way of live in American. This harsh work life prevents many tenants from having lots of time to look for properties. If you can, accommodate them.
6. Be flexible with credit. The recent market downturn has been bad for a lot of people, but they are not bad people. Yeah, you have to be aware of the complete losers who simply have no respect for credit, but quite a few people had a foreclosure or short sale. Can they now afford the rent, do they have a job, how is the other credit. Don’t go by the credit score as you’ll lose out on some of your best tenants. Consider more then the numbers.
7. Provide evidence or assurance that you’re a good landlord. Lots of tenants move because their current landlord fails to live up to their responsibility. If you can provide evidence and assurance that things get fixed and taken care of, that will go a long way at getting your place leased. Remember this is a business and tenants are your customers.

Consider that tenants are providing so many benefits to you: paying your mortgage and paying down your principal, keeping your property occupied and secure, then it would be prudent to treat them with respect for mutual benefit: it’s worth the extra effort, even though, I know, it’s easy to sometimes skimp on a few things.

Even if you are not the landlord manager, but you have a management company, check on them. Is the management company doing things right. From my experience they fail on many levels so vet carefully.

This is a post originally published at PhoenixMarketTrends.com

There are a lot of pressures on rents our there, but little in terms of help for current owners.

It’s simply supply and demand, but also the quality of the supply and the tenants perceptions that govern the rental market.

Drive almost any area in the valley and you’ll see lots of discounts on rents.  While many times those discounts are a rouse to get people calling the perception is still there that deals are abound for the tenant.

And they are.  The combination of increased inventory and also new inventory from owners who got a good deal and can undercut the competition, is driving rental prices down.

If someone purchases a fourplex for $170,000 with renovations it will be much easier to compete for a tenant then for an owners who paid more and has higher obligations. They may still have to in order to get tenants, but it will take them longer the actually bite the bullet and lower rents.

Current tenants and potential tenants know this and are able to take advantage of the situation, but asking for reduced rents, improvements to the properties or a combination of the two: actively looking tenants want low move in cost and as little in additional expenses as possible.

Having a nice apartment, a washer and dryer and especially as a small patio or yard is a definite plus and will help lower vacancy rates.  If you can, add these items and you’ll get a long term benefit.

Be prepared for this to continue for a while.

Leasing is an important part of any real estate investment.  It that an understatement!  It is your business in the rental property sector.  The property is but a vehicle with it’s own benefits, but it is the tenants that provide the income, the cash flow so managing that part of the business, well, is crucial.  The article below covers a very common occurrence.

How To & How Not To Lease Out Your Phoenix Home?

There are many ways to invest in real estate.  One is to simply be a money lender.  While this is not truly real estate investing, it is a way to get a decent return on a secured asset.

Invest in Phoenix Real Estate Indirectly: Be a Money Lender With 8-12% Annual Return

While the reports below cover the single family home market.  It is just as important to follow because these numbers influence every facet of the multifamily sector: rental rates, vacancy, etc.

Read Current Phoenix Housing Reports

In the coming week we’ll update the sales numbers for both December 2009 and January 2010 for the small multifamily sector in Greater Phoenix.

It’s that cycle of the market where most multifamily property owners are having to adjust their modus operandi: even well cared for and superbly managed properties are seeing increased vacancy and pressures on rents.  This cycle seems to be of great girth, depth and resonance.

It’s a tough one, one that has and will continue to affect may owners.  It’s especially difficult for owners who debt prevents them from being competitive with owners who are able to reduce rents to stay competitive and still cash flow.

So what’s going on.

This is a perfect storm, a beauty from the distance but fierce when you’re in it.

1. Depressionary pressures: prices for many goods are down, but so are wages and unemployment.  Lower demand has forced many retailers to lower prices, cars, houses and many durable goods are down as well with rental rates right behind.

2. Consolidation: many people are consolidating living quarters reducing the need and increasing supply.

3. Vacancy: is also up because the buoyant housing market where prices have decreased a great deal making the rent vs. buy decision easier for the tenant.  The government is providing massive incentives in cash and low interest rates to reduce housing inventory, but at the same time hurting landlords.

4. Competition: is up from other owners and from single family homes and condos.  Multifamily owners not only have to compete against each other, but veryattractively priced single family homes.

What can you do.

This is not the time to cut back on maintenance, advertising and property management: quite the opposite. Owners need to be scrupulous with their resources and activities, but not to the detriment of the properties.

To compete in the is market you need to be diligent with having the units be clean, well cared, for, maintenance free and well advertised.

1. Adjust rents, even for existing tenants to keep them in place. It’s much less expensive to keep existing tenants then to to cope with vacancy, repairs and advertising for a new tenant.

2. Paint is an easy and cheap way to freshen up the interior and exterior. Often some strategically painted walls on the interior with interesting shades will make all the difference with out having to paint the entire interior.

3. Increase the competence and quality of your advertising. Make sure potential residents know about your property and get as much information as possible.

4. Be a little bit more flexible with credit. Many prospective tenants in the current market are the same people who lost their home to foreclosure or a short sale. These actions do not necessarily make them bad tenants.

Don’t skip on processing and due diligence. Sometimes it easy to bend your qualifications too much just to get a body in the doors. I’ll tell you from experience that tenants accepted out of desperation don’t work out and often end up costing much more then if you would have waited.

It’s a very difficult market now, one not seem in many decades. On the one hand there is a tremendous occasion to buy low priced distressed properties that will certainly do well. On the other hand current owners and new owners are all in the same difficult rental market. It’s people that take on adversity as a challange in personal life or business that get past it with strength, often in a better position then before.

If you do not visit Phoenix Market Trends you may not have seen that we have published a few articles that may be of interest to our readers here at Arizona Apartment Investor.

With a lot of lender owned and short sale multifamily properties selling we put together some steps to help lease them since most will be vacant or you’ll make them vacant before repositioning.

1.  Filling A Vacant Income Property After The Purchase: How To Get The Income Flowing.

Property prices have dropped a lot for all property types.  Although rents have dropped as well they are still at levels which allow both multi-family and single family income properties to cash flow.  The article below reviews a good rental area where prices are very good as are the prospects.

2.  Phoenix Area Real Estate Investments That Cash Flow

This is an interesting read for the longer term and in real estate, investing is longer term so it would behoove you to know where the populations are moving, how and why.

3.  The Shifting Suburban Landscape And The Current Economic Crash

Bank owned properties are very attractive but not always.  We reviewed the market to see at what discount they are selling in proportion to list price and normals sales. 

4.  What To Offer On A Phoenix Bank Owned Home?

Homes are affordable now an many are very inexpensive at around $40.00 and sometimes less per square foot.  Often these are big homes with don’t make the best investments as rental income properties.

5.  $40.00 Per Square Foot Newer Phoenix Valley Homes: The Affordable Big.

This is just starting.  For about half a year now there were restrictions on how many loans an inventor could have and still buy properties.  If you had 4 or more you were out of luck, having to resort to expensive financing with made the investment not work, but now that number has grown to 10.  So investors can dive into this tremendous market filled with cash flow properties, good financing options and lots of potential for wealth building.

6.  Financing Up To 10 Properties Is Available Again.

Artur Ciesielski, (Certified Commercial Investment Member) 602.628.4349

Recently we revived a simple way to help lease a property in any market but especially in a tough rental market.  See the post here: How to lease a home or apartment in a tough rental market.  That -cleanliness- was one thing of many that can be done. 

Another good way to stand out from the competition in most properties except luxury homes is to get rid of the carpet.  Carpet detracts from the property.  They are usually worn and most owners put in cheap, not just in expensive but cheap carpet which will be quickly worn out and a year from now useless.  Even if you put in carpet people know that carpet is dirty even if it looks clean: they know how bad it can be especially in rental properties: carpet makes the property look older and more worn.

So what do you put in.  The choices are tile and laminate or a combination of the two.  Nice tile and a decent laminate have a lot of positive qualities.  These qualities expand beyond the simple fact that they are cleaner.

Tile is best in the living room, kitchen and bathrooms as well as the hall way: laminate is good in the bedroom, hall way and living room.  You can buy a laminate floor and have in installed for about the same cost as carpet.

These hard surface flooring materials are more durable and cleaner.  A nice light or medium shade laminate will also make the rooms feel larger.

In our experience putting in hard surfaces has paid off big.  It has paid of in less maintenance, lower turn over cost and lower vacancy rates: it puts us a head of the competition.  We know because we ask.  Sometimes a prospective tenant will choose an apartment with hard surfaces and olderkitchen vs a new kitchen and carpets.

We’ll look at other ways to increase income, reduce management costs and make renting homes and apartment a more pleasant experience in future articles.

The recent Apartment News a publication of the Arizona Multi-housing Association reports that vacancies in the valley are at "record levels"

In the valley rents dropped by $3.00 to $770.00 on average.  This is, "the first year to year decline in the same quarter (3Q’08) since 2003.  Vacancies stood at 13 percent, a record high for the Valley."

While the data compiled is for larger properties the smaller properties those 3-20 units have similar results.  From what I have seen and in doing the occasional rental survey, vacancies – both economic and physical are up. 

Competition has increased.  Driving through neighborhoods potential tenants are faced with many choices even in some of the more desirable rental neighborhood where vacancies were usually low.

It is difficult to find a tenant and a lot of effort has to be forth to entice them to even look at units.  Even in the advertising outlets there has been a surge of properties. 

So why so many vacancies if homes are so difficult to buy?  Well, homes are difficult to purchase but not in all segments.  In fact, sales of homes under $125,000 have increased 5,200% over last year.   The spurt of affordable housing has enticed quite a few tenants to buy homes. 

Increased competition from rentals includes homes and some tenants have moved into single family homes.  A very common occurrence is consolidation of families from multiple living units to one: families and friend are moving in together.  On the other hand we have had some interest from people who have decided to rent their home which has a higher mortgage and find a lessexpensive apartment: though this is a very small slice.

Either way, the rental market -whether for apartments or homes- is soft.

Phoenix Asbestos Inspection Important for Healthy Home

If you live in Phoenix and are a potential home-buyer or are remodeling a home built prior to 1980, you may be at risk for asbestos exposure. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry stated that a large industry in Arizona is still present because of mines operated by Asbestos Mines, a division of Arizona Asbestos Inc.

Now seeking to redefine the way asbestos is handled, the Asbestos Institute is stationed in Phoenix and is one of the largest training facilities for asbestos abatement in the world. Those involved in real-estate should be aware that asbestos exposure can cause health concerns for you and your family.

Used in many building applications throughout the 20^th century, asbestos was a hot commodity due to its qualities as being heat and fire resistant. The inhalation of asbestos fibers causes a severe lung-ailment known as mesothelioma. With many at-risk occupations such as construction and factory sites, Arizona ranked 28^th in the United States from asbestos-related deaths in the past 23 years. Mesothelioma treatment is limited to a handful of options and patients who contract the disease are given poor prognosis.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is committed to protecting the public from asbestos-containing materials by educating and assisting with asbestos removal, transport and disposal. The removal of hazardous substances must be performed by professional abatement contractors who are trained in these matters. Eco-friendly options must be considered when the removal is complete.

The use of recycled building materials as forms of insulation completely replaces the need for asbestos. These alternatives include cotton fiber, cellulose and lcynene. Studies show that these materials can reduce energy costs in the home by up to 35 percent each year. Turning your home asbestos-free is essential for living in a safe environment for you and your family.

We recently leased a condo for a client in Scottsdale.  The last tenants had to be evicted (not tenants we brought) but guess what they did?  The property was clean, very clean when they moved out but once the new tenant moved in one room had no power! 

An electrician had discovered that inside each of the electrical contacts the insulation had been removed from each wire: this is a clear and probably fire hazard the electrician indicated. 

Why did they do it?  I won’t answer for them but this put at risk the entire building: at risk of fire.  This sort of stuff is very uncommon but, it raised the question to what extent should you do an move in and move out inspection?  That is something each owner needs to answer them selves but make sure you insurance is up to date.

There are very good property managers out there and there are both pros and cons to hiring individual agents or larger management companies, but you need to vet them carefully: you’re relying on someone to run your business.