This characteristic is shared by a few other cities like Fort Wayne, South Bend and Bloomington. 

I told her that a property two houses down with the same property characteristics was renting for $1025 and as she stated that one of her tenant's lease was up in July.The owner refused the offer because her mortgage balance was around 150K.

It is fast/easy for them to put the data into the mls and come up with comps based on all the characteristics of the house.Another way to get comps is through your county recorder/assessor.

When looking for one, I would value this characteristic highly.

What characteristics are most important?

Then you can assess unusual characteristics of the property to adjust as needed.

It's not always a requirement but a good characteristic of a good agent for an investor is if the agent invests themselves, whether it be rentals or flips.

Within Phoenix alone, you could find the historic district, the Biltmore, Ahwatukee, South Mountain, just to name a few that have widely-varying characteristics.

@Joe Villeneuve so what characteristics of a market that makes you want to invest to it?

You also wouldn't want to target similar returns if the risk characteristics are materially different as you may have to exit the ARM investment if refinancing rates aren't favorable (reinvestment risk).