Zoning - to re-zone or not to re-zone, that is the question!

[Jessica Jay-Maleski]

Hello!

In the past I have purchased properties that were zoned commercial, however I have purchased them with the intention of being long-term buy and hold residential rentals (multifamily 4-plex). My other purchases were a while ago. In one case I had a property re-zoned to residential, in another case the property was considered mixed-use so I left it as-is. 

The primary reason for rezoning (aside from complying with laws) is that it did save tremendously on taxes. That said, I am curious about the following:

1) are there any glaring reasons one can think of to attempt to keep a property zoned commercially, even with residential use?

2) I will very likely need to pull permits for this property and I don't want to and up in a lurch as I am relying on the ability to update the electrical to make this deal happen. 

3) Any thoughts as to whether to try to have it rezoned to residential or to multi use?

I understand this can be fairly geographically specific. This property is in Phoenix, AZ.

Thank you so much for any assistance you can provide! This community has been invaluable to myself and to the bajillions of people I have sent here to search the forums over the years :)