This is a great question and something that investors need to keep in mind if buying rental properties. Due to the large influx of investors back into our market and inexpensive homes being bought up as rental properties this is causing lots of competition among landlords. In addition, you have sellers who cannot sell and choose to rent their homes until they can. We now are seeing brand new apartment complexes applying for bankruptcy protections because the rents they were banking on are drastically lower. Tenants have lots of options when renting but need to do their research on the financial stability of their landlord and have some protections in place to be notified if their landlord goes into default. There is a way you can legally be notified months in advance of a foreclosure on the property you are living in. You actually get notice when all the official and recorded notices are sent out to all parties. You just need to be added to a recorded instrument, which you can at no cost, as in interested party.

Rents have gone down in most areas of Greater Phoenix. It is a simple matter of supply and demand. 2009 has seen a large number of investors coming back to the Phoenix market to take advantage of the low priced bank owned homes. This trend is likely to continue since low-priced REO properties continue to be fairly abundant and the number of foreclosures is on the rise.

We are told that the east and west Valleys have the most competition for renters. This is understandable as these areas were hardest hit with foreclosures in 2008.

We believe rent rates will continue to plummet as the market finds equilibrium. Most of the property managers we interview for articles on our investment site, http://www.GreatInvestmentHomesAZ.com, say they are having trouble finding qualified tenants due to lack of funds for deposits, poor credit due to job loss and/or foreclosure or other qualification issues. They have also said competition among landlords has resulted in more price negotiations and shorter least periods.

The investment market is best suited for those with good cash reserves who can weather the market conditions. Some will need to take negative cash flow and reap the rewards only time and a better economy can offer.