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.

Paradise Valley is having a hard time with its stock of homes. The total inventory of 500 active homes exceeds 1,000 days of supply. This is extreme in any sense.

It means that sellers will have to compete fiercely for the few buyers out there. In September there were only 15 buyers: down from 17 last month: down from 20 last year.

Pending sales are down as well to 14 from 16 last month. This means that probably the situation won't improve in the next report.

I won't mention the medium price not the changes because there are just too few sales and the sales so varied that any number even when compared to previous months won't be accurate.

The per square foot data is a bit more accurate and in September the sold per square foot price was $369.20 down from $467.09 last year and $568.73 two years ago.

This is good news for the buyers who are looking in Paradise Valley and it is a good time to look with such a good choice of homes and lower prices.