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Small Multi-family Apartments in Central Phoenix

Artur  Ciesielski, CCIM: Commercial Real Estate Agent in Phoenix, AZ

Small Multi-family Apartments in Central Phoenix

North Central Phoenix offers many multifamily properties like four-plexes or similar which not only make very good investments but are alternatives to owning a house or a condo.
Small Multifamily Property In Central Phoenix

Central Phoenix is one of the best places for living in the valley. That's part of why the median price is $290,000 and homes go up to well over $1,000,000. It's the central location, the abundance of shopping, entertainment, jobs and excelling schools -like the Madison Schools district - that make this area so desirable.

The same reasons that make this a popular area for home owners makes it one of the best areas for investors not only in homes but in small and medium sized apartment buildings.

The desirability means higher rents and lower vacancy: both physical and economic vacancy but, it also means that the price for the properties is higher.

Examples of small to medium multifamily properties in Central Phoenix


What is For Sale:

Because this is such a good area for rentals, rarely are properties available for sale: at least the best ones: they are rarely sold because there has to be really good reason to sell like a change in plans or lifestyle and need to reposition fund to increase the return or other similar reasons. They do once in a while show up for sale and it's usually worth the wait if you're looking for a premium property.

Take a look at small investment multifamily properties for sale in North Central Phoenix.


Prices and recent sales:

Prices have a wide range. It depends a lot on the sub-market within Central Phoenix. For instance properties south of Camelback and East of Central usually sell for less: as little as $50,000 per unit but multifamily properties along Rose Lane can sell for as much as $130,000 per unit.


Rental rates and vacancy:

Rents range widely and often depend on the individual motivation and management of a property. In the better areas one bedroom apartment range from $500 up to $650: 2 bedroom apartment range from the low $600 and go up to $1,000 for units with a small yard which is not uncommon. Some even have pools and other amenities. Well cared for properties get a premium. It's not always necessary to completely update properties. Some owners have taken advantage of the popularity of mid-century modern and left most of everything original: but its still clean and in tip top shape.


Central Phoenix Owner Occupied 2-4 plexes.

If you drive the area and view multifamily properties it will often be difficult to distinguish a single family home from a triplex or fourplex. On some of the properties that we have prospective tenants called from a sign assuming its a house: that's very common. This similarity is because quite a few multifamily properties are owner occupied in part and some owner have been there a long time.

Imagine a triplex with one large 1,200 sf unit and two smaller units each with a small yard and covered parking and for $350,000 while homes sell for a similar or slightly higher price, only that your two extra units provide you an income of $1,300. Reduce that $1,300 by the water, sewer and trash and it's $1,210.

If your payment on the property is $2,032 reduce it by $1,300 and it's $732.00 plus taxes and insurance and you can see the benefits. Add to this that each month about $425.00 goes toward the principal plus you get partial interest write off and partial depreciation and you start to see the benefits over renting a place or even buying a condo or a house.

Do you have questions? Please don't hesitate to contact us.

Central Phoenix Valley Real Estate Statistics by Zip Code

Artur  Ciesielski, CCIM: Commercial Real Estate Agent in Phoenix, AZ


In addition to having regular updates about the Greater Phoenix real estate market and the occasional special reports like REO sales, the investor market and so on we have decided to create zip code specific posts which will be updated monthly of semi monthly with real estate statistics for that specific zip code.

The individual articles also have interactive maps of the zip code: links to related articles: links to homes and condos for sale and a map with the most recent 20 properties on the market.


Since we concentrate mainly on the Phoenix Central Valley the regularly updated zip codes will be:

85014 Central Phoenix

85016 Biltmore Area

85018 Arcadia Neighborhood

85020 Sunnyslope East

85028 Phoenix Mountains North

85253 Paradise Valley


...plus there will be some additional zip codes added in the near future and if at any time you would like very details information for any zip code in Greater Phoenix just let us know. We do business all over but simply concentrate in the Central Valley.

Links to these reports will be available always from the Phoenix Housing Market page. or from the individual Central Valley Neighborhoods profiles on the left side of the front page.

Century Plaza Questioned

Phoenix High Rise and Loft Condo Expert, Will Daly at www.WeKnowUrban.com: Real Estate Agent in Phoenix, AZ

Last night a visitor to WeKnowUrban left a scathing comment about the brand new midtown Phoenix high rise condo project, Century Plaza.

We don't know if the allegations are true. However, I personally have had what I consider strange experiences with the developer with respect to Certificates of Occupancy as I too am under contract for the purchase of a condo at Century Plaza.

On August 14th I received a letter from the developer asking me to schedule my closing date. That same day I sent a fax to the broker of the project asking for proof that they had received a permanent Certificate of Occupancy for both the condo for which I am under contract AND the common area in general. I did not hear back from them until August 21st when I received a certified letter stating that if I did not close within 48 hours of the date of the letter then they would consider me in default and basically take my earnest money (NOTE: I did not receive the letter until four days after the deadline date). I immediately responded and again requested proof of the Certificates of Occupancy and have not yet heard from the company.

To be fair I have not yet obtained a loan for the property (loans are EXTREMELY difficult to obtain in todays lending environement) so perhaps the developer is not taking my requests for C of O's seriously. Nonetheless, my experiences coupled with PhxBabe's comments leads me to wonder what the rest of the story might be. Certainly, it seems that a cursory look on the part of the City of Phoenix might be in order.

If you have any similar OR contradictory experiences with Century Plaza please share them with the rest of us.

Phoenix Light Rail Chuggin' Along

Phoenix High Rise and Loft Condo Expert, Will Daly at www.WeKnowUrban.com: Real Estate Agent in Phoenix, AZ

About a month ago the mayor celebrated the launch of the new Phoenix Light Rail by taking a ride in one of the cars as far south as McDowell Road. It was mostly a PR media event but that's why it's noteworthy.

For over a year we have been stating that despite whether or not the light rail is viable or worthy of our tax dollars there is zero question that come December it will get major media attention. The entire light rail route area will go from a depressed and shunned area to a local and national media darling. Escalating oil prices, fear of global warming, renewed interest in the environment, waning interest in sub-urban sprawl, not to mention the investment of $1.5 billion tax dollars will make the first light rail line in the Phoenix area very news worthy.

We don't believe that condo and home prices along the light rail will explode as a result but we certainly believe that the light rail will contribute to the stabilizig of prices.

Clearly we'll know a lot more in less than five months.

Pssst, Gas Prices Are High so Buy Real Estate on the New Light Rail Line

Phoenix High Rise and Loft Condo Expert, Will Daly at www.WeKnowUrban.com: Real Estate Agent in Phoenix, AZ

Yes. Fuel slightly went down in the last few months, but alternative transportation is rapidly growing in popularity right here in the desert sprawl city. In this past week's Business Journal, an article explained that while gas grew over a dollar since July of last year, the number of Valley workers riding the bus, biking, walking or carpooling nearly doubled. According to the study conducted by Valley Metro, 43 percent of workers are using alternative transportation, up from 24 percent a year ago.

When alternative transportation increases, property values start to increase near urban connected cores. Even though many projects near the Light Rail and in downtown cores are struggling, this is a great sign that soon Phoenix will become a best of both worlds city. With gasoline being a major expense, walkable, mixed-use, dense environments are highly desirable areas to live. Prices in the overall residential market will take a to while to recover, but the urban condos will see the quickest increase.

A great new feature on the WKU website will actually rate each project in terms of walkability. The Walk Score, found on each projects' main page, calculates how many amenities are nearby and determines how easy it would be for you to walk to these daily visits instead of driving.

Click the link to read the article - http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2008/08/18/story18.html