August 20, 2008

Three months free rent. iPods. And a market in freefall. Welcome to Phoenix, where they can't give homes away, and they can't rent them out either


So what happens to a town when the industry that makes up 40% of its economy implodes in historic fashion?

What happens when hundreds of thousands of illegals who built the unwanted homes pack up and go home, and tens of thousands of realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers, builders and other REIC lose their jobs?

What happens when the mortgage fraud is shut down?

What happens when home after home after home after home is empty and unwanted?

What happens when home prices crash yet another 22% in 12 months and rents drop another 9% year over year?

This is what happens. And no, year-round-golf and pro athletes didn't matter.

Apartments offering freebies, other deals

Renters rejoice - Apartment owners are dangling freebies in front of new tenants who sign 12-month leases.

One company, Mark Taylor, is even going so far as to offer a free iPod, a $25 iPod tunes gift card and two months of free rent to new tenants who lease any apartment in its 34 Valley complexes, including eight in Chandler, four in Tempe, four in Ahwatukee and two in Gilbert.

Renters can thank the struggling real-estate market and its deflated housing prices, increased foreclosure rates and depressed rents on single-family homes, condominiums and apartments. Add to that the condominium-conversion flop, which has led to condos reverting to rental apartments.

"This is a great time to be a renter," said Pete TeKampke, a commercial real-estate broker and board member of the Arizona Multihousing Association.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sheeple overpay for things if you throw in something 'free'

Anonymous said...

free iphones...big deal. They are practically giving those things away everywhere. The first wave of morons willing to pay $500 for a phone has passed. Now the only way apple is selling them is through gimmicks. Nothing unique about Phoenix in that aspect.

Anonymous said...

If you are a renter and a minimalist that "packs lightly" you can bounce from place to place and live relatively cheaply.

Anonymous said...

If you are a renter and a minimalist that "packs lightly" you can bounce from place to place and live relatively cheaply.

August 20, 2008 12:21 PM

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Yes it's called being a vagabond or a hobo. Great lifestyle choice.

Anonymous said...

What happens?

I'm hoping that all of the boring johnny-come-lately middlemen who give this town a pretty boring persona all get up and move to the latest boomtown du jour.

I'm hoping that big box retail chains will stop swarming in on us like vultures and the many cool local restaurants and other independent retailers will outlast them.

I'm hoping that we will continue to attract really talented musicians who choose to live here while not on tour because it is so much cheaper and less hassle than living in Los Angeles.

I'm hoping that a really talented work force will continue to develop here because housing will be cheaper than other high-tech areas like it was in the late 90's.

I'm hoping that housing prices crash enough that I can buy up just a little bit without having to sell my almost paid-off current place.

I'm hoping that people who provide the most value to their fellow man will be rewarded with the most compensation.

Anonymous said...

Renter's rejoice?

Not yet. I'm not gonna rejoice until the flying monkeys do an end zone dance next to the foreclosure sign in Swann's front yard.

Dopes!

Anonymous said...

Just wait till Mark Taylor Company finds out what the FB's learned from the mortgage brokers...

They'll take the Ipod, live free for two months, and jingle mail the keys in the office payment drop box...

Dopes!

Anonymous said...

How about free daily blow jobs (the sex kind, not Bush-Cheney-Hitler propaganda) ?

New reality show:

Realtor Hunt:
Each episode highlites hunting down like a dog and punishing the Realtor, et. al REIC who lied, misrepresented and stole your money and future and ruined your life?

Now that, IS a show. Forget interracial dancing or volleyball of any kind, hell, make this an olympic sport. Image the Russian or Chinese team going after their own...

You're Welcome.

Fence off Arizona and make it a big penal colony. Start with incarcerating McShame and his entire family.

Anonymous said...

"chslaxcoach said...
I'm hoping"

A place called HOPE, huh? Isn't that where blowjob Bill was hatched?

Anonymous said...

chslaxcoach,
noble and aspirational thoughts.
My advice to you,do want most do in that cowtown...drink heavily.

Mark in San Diego said...

Keith - it is good to see you coming back to your "roots" as it were to lambast Phoenix!. . .this is where it all started for HP as I recall - I still love that old "Freefalling" music video. . .that aside, Three's Company TV show comes to mind - more young people here in SD are taking in roomates, and young mothers are moving back in with mom and grandma, now that unemployment in California has hit 7.3%. . .it will be a long cold winter for landlords, as double-up becomes the norm. This thing has a long long way to go, now that the Main Street recssion has begun.

Anonymous said...

I had a friend who went to phoenix in early 2007 in order to work the real estate market. I told her that it was a stupid move but, hey, you can lead a horse to water..

Last I heard she was in Vegas.

From the frying pan to the fire.

Anonymous said...

i wish i connected finincialy or politicaly enough to get the am trac line back to dowentown as i see no other way in or out of town for a ill person per which if the economy worsens we shall all be............ and from a non connected back waterless....................

Anonymous said...

I remember my first tript to Denver, Summer of 1990. The whole place was flat on its back, still in a recession. Starter homes were at 65K. Furnished apartments were being listed as "keep all the furniture if you stay the whole year". One person I met had a modest 2 bed 1 bath apartment, in a decent area, for a whopping $285 per month. Utilities included.

Phoenix will now learn that indeed "the past is prologue". Enjoy!

Anonymous said...

Yes it's called being a vagabond or a hobo. Great lifestyle choice.

August 20, 2008 12:45 PM

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Ha. My dad called me a vagabond the other day. I've moved 3 times (even though I still work at the same place) since I started working in summer '05 post-college. I've kept the belongings fairly minimal.

I do plan to bite the bullet and just buy next year as the approach I've taken the last few years is annoying. I have a nice fat downpayment for a home here in south Chandler courtesy of the vagabond lifestyle.

Anonymous said...

Rents in Scottsdale are still sky high compared to 2002. What deflation?

Anonymous said...

"What happens when hundreds of thousands of illegals who built the unwanted homes pack up and go home, and tens of thousands of realtors, mortgage brokers, appraisers, builders and other REIC lose their jobs?"

People dance in the streets?

Anonymous said...

But Greg Swann said everything would be great?

Anonymous said...

That shit hole of a city will be a desert ghost town within a decade.

Anonymous said...

Renting is great. When you're 22 and out of college. At 29 it's odd. At 35 it's quite loserish. At 40, it's beyond pathetic.

I remember I had a neighbor about 15 years ago when I lived in an apartment. Guy was in his 50s and he was one sad old fuck. Felt sorry for him really.

I suspect he is a regular on HP.

I bought a house in 2002 and my mortgage now for a 3000 sq ft home is lower than what you baboons pay in rent for a crappy apartment. Like I said, loser city.

Maybe if enough of you vote for Hussein Obama he'll buy you all a house.

Anonymous said...

When I was in grad school, a classmate who was married and had previously lived on the other side of the country told me that when he was accepted to grad school, he and his wife sold or gave away 90% of what they owned and moved with just a small U-haul trailer. When they arrived, they got a small apartment, and furnished it from garage/divorce/estate sales. As soon as he graduated, he sold all the furniture that they had bought for more or less what they had paid for it, and they moved back to their hometown.

If you are just getting started with your career, having minimal stuff and being open to ANY geographic transfer at any time will probably help you move up the career ladder a lot faster than those who are tied to a certain geographic area.

Once you have children, especially school-aged children, you really are tied down. But when you are in your 20s, it is stupid to buy a condo and fill it with a bunch of brand new crap that makes you unwilling to consider jobs overseas, etc.

Anonymous said...

I've spent a lot of time in Phoenix on and off between 2002 and 2004. In all my time there I don't recall meeting anyone in the REIC. I did have a lot of fun and thought it was a decent city, with weather that except for July/August is fantastic.

Anonymous said...

anon 4:47 said:

If you are just getting started with your career, having minimal stuff and being open to ANY geographic transfer at any time will probably help you move up the career ladder a lot faster than those who are tied to a certain geographic area.

___________________________________

You do know there are these things called moving companies right? Odds are if you are moving for a job situation, your new employer will pay for moving costs. Any job transfer overseas would include some storage agreement as well. There is an entire industry out there dedicated to corporate relocation and temporary storage for corporate clients.

In the past 10 years I've moved 3 times, each time more than 1000 miles. Twice for work, once for personal reasons. The 2 times for work, I paid $0 moving costs. And I got full service, ie my stuff was packed and unpacked for me. The second time around I even got 8 weeks of free lodging in a rented furnished apartment while I looked for a house.

The third time I shelled out $7500 out of pocket. Well worth the money not to have to carry boxes in 95 degree heat. And it was definitely worth it if the alternative was living in a studio apartment with a love-seat and 13" TV as my only possessions.

I'm all for buying things prudently and only buying what you can afford. But purposely not buying things simply for the remote possibility that one day you'll have to move those things is ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

BAGAGE...BAGAGE....BAGAGE...........

Anonymous said...

Oh, now these people try to dangle worthless plastic shit in our faces to get some buisness. Ipods...pfft.

Give me a free rifle and we'll talk.