Outskirts of Phoenix Metro

[Danae Aballi]

I couldn’t decide on Phoenix metro for the growth, or Tucson for the affordability but then I discovered Coolidge AZ which is in between both markets. The “path of progress” is to infill the Phoenix and Tucson markets to eventually be one. This is a long term appreciation play, and an immediate cash flow. Anyone have experience buying in a small city 30 minutes outside of a major metro? Any thoughts or feedback? There’s no restaurants or hospital for example but everything you need is 25 minutes away. It’s mostly suburbs out there 

[Shiloh Lundahl]

@Danae Aballi, @Brian Ploszay, @Michael Leung I have several properties in Coolidge, Casa Grande, and Florence.  These are all smaller towns between Phoenix and Tucson.  I like each of them and they have been good cash flowing markets.  But I specialize in the lease option model so I attract really quality tenants, however, if the screening is done well for the tenant, I would imagine that the tenant base would be good too.  Coolidge doesn't have a big employer base, but it isn't far from Florence which is the county seat where the majority of the government buildings are for the Pinal County, including several of the states prisons which is a huge employer in Florence.  Casa Grande has its own employment bases and is getting more with bringing in a new motor company and several other companies that will employ thousands of workers.  

There has already been a very large appreciation just within the past 3 years but even a more steep just the last 3 months with interest rates dropping so much. It wasn't uncommon to buy properties (3 bed, 2 bath) in Casa Grande for 70 - 90k off the MLS about 3 years ago. Now those same types of houses are selling for 130 - 150k. and the price points in Coolidge were just a little lower than that. I am sure that there is room for a little more appreciation but I don't think that there is much more room right now. The key in those area is to buy properties for well under market value and then rehab them and rent them. That is how you create equity in those cities. Also, keep in mind that each of those cities have old neighborhoods and new neighborhoods. I make my money in the old neighborhoods.

Right now, I am under contract to buy a house in Coolidge.  It is a 2/1.  I am going to just keep it as a rental rather than do a lease option with it because it isn't a 3/1 or 3/2 and 2/1s are not as desirable as lease options.  Anyway.  We are under contract to buy it for $62,500.  We will but about 20k into fixing it and it should be worth 115k when we are done.  We will then rent it out for about $800 - $900 a month and we should cash flow a couple hundred dollars a month from it as well as create about 30k of equity right from the start.