-I like the idea of Scottsdale because the vibrant social scene and baseball stadiums (I'm a male in my 20s and SF Giants fan)-I am looking for a single family home (3-4 beds + pool)-Ideally would like to keep budget under $500k and from what I've seen that is not very doable in Scottsdale, but seems obtainable in Chandler-I've heard Mesa is a dirtier more crime ridden town (which I don't understand if its in between Scottsdale and Chandler)Morale of the story is I know nothing about AZ and want to invest in a place i wouldn't mind living, but with great rental potential.

The strong main street and college scene really set it apart from other towns in the area in my opinion.

I ended up using  the concierge service that gave me money upfront on a credit card to update the flooring, paint and stage my property totaling in $18k that I have to pay back once it sells.If I do a cash out refinance, that means that I need to take my property off the market and stop working with my Realtor that put in a lot of work already into showing open houses and all the work she’s done behind the scenes.

Quote from @Don Konipol:One word - PARTNERAbsolutely this.50% of a deal is better than 0% of a deal.I'm not sure about the behind the scenes work. 

(& to all the "omg 2008 all over again" commentators, if that was going to happen, it would have happened like 10 iterations of this exact same thing ago, there's nothing super unique or special about this unicorn-of-the-day).Behind the scenes, the market has been so hot, that big banks have been unable to fulfill their community reinvestment act obligations. 

Made a whole scene 

But if you only have 1 and you're local, you might want to manage it yourself to see what truly goes into running a property and then you'll have a better idea of what goes on behind the scenes.

I've been out of the real estate scene for a few years and I'm gearing up to get back in.

Unfortunately, we can't hear the agent side so we can't really know who is wrong and who is right.Anyways, Great Real Estate Agent do a lot of things behind the scene that most clients or customers don't know about.

I am new to the multi-family scene, and don't have any connections2) Did you chose to consult an agent in your target city or one near by?