go and inquire from a real estate dealer.

Maricopa and Queen creek are 2 very up and coming areas in AZ...

Maricopa is roughly 25 minutes from Phoenix, and Queen creek is roughly 35-45 minutes away...

Both have a huge supply of new homes that contractors are willing to sell significantly under market value....

Do you have a mortgage consultant to get your financing approved?

If not, i would be happy to assist you....

I work with Providential Bancorp, and have been originating mortgage loans for over 13 years...

Feel free to call or email me at any time for mortgage advice...

Good Luck!

Jason Fry
Licensed mortgage banker
Providential Bancorp
jasonf@providential.com
312-264-6448

Would you consider delaying your plan? Professional investors are careful in choosing each investment that would be near or immediately cash flow positive. With overpriced housing market, that is not possbile.

For example, it costs $500,000 to $550,000 to buy a two bedroom units in Sunnyvale California. Mortgage monthly payment with nothing down is $3500 to $4000 a month with 7% APR. The rent one can collect from such unit would be $2000 a month. Therefore, for each unit you buy, you would lose $1500 a month.

* We assume tax benefits would cancel out with tax and maintenance fee. Please consult your CPA.
**If you have large down payement, the rate may be lowered.

Another important factor to consider, home price may not appreciate as much anymore. In most area of the U.S., housing price stopped going up as inventory continues to build up. It is normal to see a correction as a boom that lasted for several years.

If you are investing new money in to real estate, this may not be a good time as the potential return on investment is small compare to the high risk of lower home price.

If you are doing a side way move, meaning you are selling one to buy another one, then it is acceptable.

Nothing is absolute, but housing market is very likely undergoing a correction and this is only the beginning. Some say this would be a soft landing (0 to 10%). Some say a big crashing is coming (10 to 20%).

money.cnn.com/2006/09/08/real_estat...
money.cnn.com/2006/09/05/real_estat...

Good article when you want to put in bid, negotiation.
biz.yahoo.com/brn/060909/19463.html...

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How to value a property during market downturn?

Housing market continues to slump. Now we can calculate true value of a property easily. As price decline, we don't need to guess and factor in the potential price appreciation while calculating home value. Without the guesswork, figures are more accurate.

Let's use following example:

Today, a typical 15 years old, two bedrooms condo/townhouse is priced around $500,000 and $550,000 in Sunnyvale, California. Rent for similar condo/townhouse is $2000/month.

If you are a home owner, $2,000/month in rent means $20,000 a year in profit ($24,000 per year in rent, minus $4,000 maintenance costs). A $20,000 income is equilevant of owning $400,000 bonds or CDs, because current yield of 30 Years U.S. treasuries are 5% (5% of $400,000 is $20,000). Bank CDs have similiar yields.

In our example, the two bedrooms condo/townhouse is 20% to 25% overpriced. They should be priced at $400,000.

It is interesting to note that if we redo the calculation from buyer's perspective instead of seller's perspective, the figures are even more shocking.

Mortgage payment consists of two parts: mortgage interests and mortgage principal. The interests portion is similar to rent. If you pay interest, it disappears and doesn't add equity to the property. To fully simulate characteristics of renting, we assume buyer will apply for a zero down, interest-only loan.

It turns out that rent of $2000/month is equivelant to mortgage payment of a $340,000 loan at 7.0% APR. And comparing $340,000 loan to $500,000 or $550,000 price tag, from buyer's view, the two bedrooms condo/townhouse is 30% to 35% overpriced.

One may ask, why is there a discrepancy between two perspectives of the buyer and owner?

The discrepancy is a result of 2% differences in interest rate that buyer borrow comparing to yields of bonds and CDs that owners would get. We understand that buyer would always pay more. That is the premium of buying to own. However, looking from home owner's perspective, current housing market is probably 20% to 25% overpriced. We recommand investors to wait for a better entry point.