Camelback East vs. Tempe Arizona

[Stephen Hilton]

Hi BP Family,

I’m new to real estate market and have decided 2019 is the year I finally jump off the plank into the world of investing. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions! Thank you in advance.

I’m born and raised in northern CA (currently located in Oakland, CA) working for a startup company who helps set up processes/operations for other young tech companies (think accounting, payroll, cash management, taxes,...etc). Due to the outrageous increase in rent prices I have now decided I am ready to escape and redirect my hard earned money into some equity. Ideally I’d like to move right outside of CA so I can still fly back and forth to work every month. My research has naturally pushed me into Arizona given location to southern CA (family is there as well), affordability, friendly taxes.

I’ve been hearing from friends living in Arizona that East Camelback is a great neighborhood to reside due to its location and being near bars/restaurants. Ideally I’d like to purchase a multi-family and live in one unit but as a first time buyer, with no connections, I’m a bit hesitant to take on this project. I may end up buying a single family (2bd, 2bath) and then once I have my boots on the ground look into a duplex.

When searching for multi-family around the EC area it seems that not many are available however in Tempe they seem to have a ton of inventory. Why is this? Is Tempe a good place to look/is demand there with near by college/what type of renters are out there?

As a young professional (28 yo) with a background in consulting software companies on best practices/processes from CA where would you advise I start looking to purchase my first house? Any connections in the AZ area would be wonderful. The comfortable purchase price would be around $350k. Any new developments/areas that are starting to be gentrified?

Thanks,

Stephen

[Ryan Swan]

@Stephen Hilton welcome to BiggerPockets, and hopefully to Phoenix in the near future! I'm a native Phoenician and long time local investor, so I'm pretty biased that it's a great place to live and work in real estate. 

East Camelback would be the east end of Camelback Road, which runs through the heart of "Old Town Scottsdale", so definitely a lot of great bars/restaurants. You may actually be referring to "Camelback East", which is a different larger area to the West that is in Phoenix. Also lots of great SFHs, shopping, dining, and neighborhoods in this area as well. What cross streets do your friends live near? 

You won't find any MF properties along Camelback in Scottsdale, but there are some scattered properties in the greater Camelback East Village area of Phoenix. Mostly 1950s/60s build 2-4 unit properties. The good ones come on the market infrequently and they tend to be more expensive because it's generally a nicer part of town. 

Tempe has more MF inventory because it was zoned that way. It's always in high demand by both student renters and investor buyers, so it tends to push the prices up (both sale and rent) relative to other parts of town. My bread and butter rental business has been student rentals in Tempe for the past 15 years, so I know it really well.