If an investor is interested in exploring a new geographical area – especially an international one with which he is not personally familiar — he or she should include investigating local landlord/tenant laws as a part of the due diligence process. Both landlord and tenant have certain legal obligations to uphold and typically strict procedures and timeframes must be adhered to protect the investor and his property.

In Arizona, the Secretary of State oversees these statutes. The full Arizona Landlord & Tenant Act may be downloaded here

Arizona’s State Supreme Court handles affiliated judicial actions. Information and a link to the specific forms required for evictions in Arizona may be found here

Some federal or state laws may also be applicable, particularly with regard to Federal Fair Housing issues, information on which can be found at HUD’s website.

These issues become particularly important for the investor purchasing foreclosure properties. If a property under consideration has tenants in place, this issue has the potential to affect the investor in a variety of ways, most of which has the potential for legal implications. Holdover tenants have rights and the tide of public opinion and sympathy most often lies with the tenant.

Although it may be difficult to determine how the property’s prior owner have handled their tenant, the investor purchasing a foreclosed property with tenants in place will typically be responsible for the tenant’s rental deposits or other advance fees they have paid to the prior owner. If the foreclosing lender has named the tenant in the foreclosure action, with the hope of using the foreclosure action to evict the tenant, this may have significant legal implications on the investor who purchases the property.

A variety of community grass-roots advocacy groups have sprung up around the country. These groups often act to assist a tenant who feels they have not been treated fairly as victims of a foreclosure action. Should one of these groups become involved, the investor runs the risk of court costs or other expenses to defend themselves as well as attracting the attention of a tenant-sympathetic media.

To best avoid problems relating to holdover tenants in a foreclosure action, and to ensure that all applicable laws and tenant protections are considered in the due diligence process, the investor should always engage the services of a reputable local real estate broker or other legal professional. In matters of this nature, the utmost care is always the safest course of action.

While acknowledging a statistic that Canadian and Chinese citizens account for the majority of international homebuyers in the U.S., RealtyPartner singled out Spanish, French and Italians among European buyers taking advantage of the current low list prices of U.S. residential property.

Overall, RealtyPartner said foreign buyers have spent $16 billion in the American real estate market, with a majority of homes being paid for in cash.

Last month, all-cash buyers accounted for 30% of existing home sales, up from 25% in May 2010, and 12% two years ago, says the National Association of Realtors.

Cash buyers, who are mostly investors, accounted for at least 30% of existing-home sales for the fifth-straight month, the association says. They hit 35% of buyers in March.

The cash buyers are enticed by low prices and potential rental income, economists say. But while their activity has helped curb price drops, price increases have yet to follow.

Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/business/realestate/articles/2011/06/22/20110622Cash-buyers-rule-home-sales-market.html

By John Gittelsohn Bloomberg.com

Thirty-six percent of so-called Millennials own a home today, and 66% said they see themselves as homeowners within the next five years, the report found. The Wells Fargo report defines Millennials as people born between 1979 and 2001.

There are 51.5 million people between the ages of 20 and 31, prime ages for becoming a first-time homeowner. There are more people in this home-buyer age group than there were baby boomers of that age in 1977.

The finding is encouraging for the housing market because it suggests strong housing demand in the years ahead…Full Article at Market Watch

Cash is an important part of the game, too. The “ante” is $10,000 just to get in the game. That’s just to open a bid. If you win the bid, you are required to pay the entire amount the next night by 5 p.m. In January, 2011, 72% of all pre-foreclosure auctions taking place in Maricopa County were for cash. Of course, there are sources waiting to help you with the cash flow.

A hard money loan is a specific type of asset-based loan financing. You can receive funds secured by the value of a parcel of real estate. Hard money loans are typically issued at much higher interest rates than conventional commercial or residential property loans and are almost never issued by a commercial bank or other deposit institution The credit score of the borrower is not important, as the loan is secured by the value of the collateral property. If you are interested in a hard money loan, contact us to have a representative contact you within the 24 hours to discuss your specific needs and how AZForeclosureList.com can help.

In addition, if you need guidance or help breaking into the game, AZForeclosureList.com can help. Our staff handles the research which means you have more time to spend choosing which homes you want to purchase. And to make your job even easier, we’ve partnered with several local Arizona companies that provide our clients with title insurance services and title searches and access to hard money financing. We can provide the bidding, real estate and rehab services.

As U.S. housing prices continue to drop and the dollar remains weak, international buyers are snatching up homes across the state. From metro Phoenix to the rural areas of Arizona, international buyers are increasing their real estate holdings throughout the entire state. Across the U.S., foreign home buyers spent nearly $41 billion on U.S. residential real estate from March 2010 to March of this year, a large percent of that money was invested in Arizona’s market.

Considering opportunities for the real estate investor are wide-open in Arizona, it’s no wonder investors are flocking to the area. The fix and flip market is rebounding. Former home owners, who lost their homes to foreclosure, are looking to re-invest, and the lease-option, rent- to-own or seller carry strategies may be their only option.

If you prefer to buy and hold real estate as an investor, Arizona has one of the biggest rental markets in the nation. A large majority of former home-owners, who were victims of the real estate foreclosure crisis, stayed in the same neighborhoods, and were forced to become renters. The demand for real estate properties in much of the greater Phoenix area continues to increase.

No matter what your investment strategy, the real estate market in Arizona offers infinite opportunity.

Many buy and hold investors are buying homes in multiple at these prices and reaping the rewards from the current rise in rental prices directly related to inflation and the devaluation of the US dollar.  Another resource for snatching up profitable rental properties, is through trustee sales.  Buying homes at trustee sales before these homes go back to the banks is key to buying positive cash-flow investments.

We provide our clients with multiple market value assessments including a tax records value and 2 MLS comparison values based on a cost & square foot approach.  Our proprietary database of foreclosure properties provides easy to read “quick view” profit margins based on the opening bid values and averages of the comparison values so you can make instantaneous decisions about which properties you wish to purchase.

The process for a trustee sale hard money loan through our partner Capital Fund 1 is as follows:

• Borrower wins bid at trustee sale auction
• Borrower provides Capital Fund 1 with property address and winning bid price via phone, email or text message
• Capital Fund 1 underwrites property to determine loan amount
• Typically, within an hour of receiving property info, Capital Fund 1 responds to Borrower with proposed loan amount
• Assuming borrower is agreeable, appointment is set for Borrower to come to Capital Fund 1 office and sign loan documents which Capital Fund 1 will then prepare
• Capital Fund 1 Orders a full title commitment for the property which is received before the loan is funded.
• Document signing occurs later that day or the next morning
• After signing Capital Fund 1 takes the borrowers Cashier Check as well as the Cashiers Check in the amount of the loan to the trustee and pays for the property.

The process for a loan on a property that is being purchased through escrow is very similar.  Feel free to ask your hard money loan questions here.

“Home values in the United States fell faster in the first quarter of 2011 than they have in any quarter since 2008, when the housing market experienced its worst performance,” the report states. “Very few markets were exempt from home value declines in the first quarter.”

The markets recording the largest declines for the quarter include Chicago (4.8 percent), Atlanta (4.4 percent), Detroit (5.2 percent), Minneapolis-St. Paul (4.8 percent), St. Louis (4 percent) and Sacramento (4.2 percent).

Only four markets recorded increases or remained flat. They are Fort Myers, Fla. (2.4 percent increase); Champaign-Urbana, Ill. (0.8 percent increase); Honolulu, Hawaii (0.3 percent) and Sarasota, Fla. (no change).

Source: http://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2011/05/09/zillow-phoenix-home-prices-decline.html