Oddly enough, I was having this conversation with a client from Edmonton yesterday … is it necessary for a Canadian purchasing rental property here in Arizona to hire a property manager?

Logistics told me you’d want to have a property manager, unless you enjoy flying up and back to the States repeatedly. Then I saw this note from Larry Yatkowsky, from a Q-and-A forum in the local paper in Vancouver:

QUESTION: We just purchased property in xxxx (a 4-plex apartment). We plan on renting out 3 of the units and keeping one. The border-crossing inspector told me that I have to hire a rental agency in order to rent out the apartments, and I also have to have a property manager full time. Do you know if this true? We will be at our apartment approx 2 times a month. So we do not need a property manager.

DAVID INGRAM replies: You need a property manager if you do not want the strong possibility of going to jail for a few days before being deported and then not allowed back in the USA.

Crossing the border when you have an ad running to show the premises and saying you are going down to spend the weekend in your holiday home (i.e. lying to the HOMELAND (sic) Security official could result in seizure of your vehicle and a ban for up to 10 years under their ER (Expedited Removal) provess. In other words, is is more serious to lie to the guard at the border than it is to do the work.

You ‘could’ actually show the property for rent, but you can NOT write out a contract for rent or collect a single rent cheque or cash for rent in the United States. There is nothing new about this. …

If you are physically there you can NOT cut the grass, shovel the sidewal, paint or decorate or repair of fix or remodel or improve or take out the garbage for any part of the rental property. You can paint and clean your own unit if it is NEVER rented or intended to be rented. You cannot paint and clean up getting the property ready for rent.

Luckily, shoveling sidewalks is not a major issue here in Arizona. But the rest deals with two separate issues. One - don’t lie to the border agent. Seems to make sense. Two - get a property manager to handle the work on the property since anything you do can and will be considered working here in the states without papers.

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And another one gone and another one gone …

Another one bites the dust!

Hey! Gonna get you too!

Another one bites the dust!

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We interrupt your normal programming for a blatant plug based on an actual e-mail I received today …

What’s the best way to search for a home in one of the MANY retirement communities in the greater Phoenix area? (all the way from Wickenburg to Apache Junction) We are overwhelmed!

(Tangent, courtesy of 10 Things I Hate About You … you can be overwhelmed and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever be just whelmed? Onward …)

Since she asked …

Phoenix Retirement Real Estate.com features all of the listings from 20 active adult and retirement communities across the Phoenix metropolitan area, from Sundance in Buckeye to Fountain of the Sun in East Mesa.

Beginning next month (or maybe soon, if I can wrap up one other massive project), I’ll have monthly sales data for each of the communities also posted. You see, Phoenix Retirement Real Estate.com is a blog disguised as a website, allowing me to add dynamic posts on top of the homes searches.

Of course, being able to see all of the homes in these communities is just the start. Buying a home also involves finding the right property - in the location you want, closest to the amenities you need. For that kind of detail, contact me and I can provide more personal assistance.

I can’t tell you what are “good” and “bad” areas either legally (Fair Housing) or logically (both good and bad are subjective terms.) But if you’re dealing with substantive criteria, I’ll be happy to help.

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Years ago, during the days of the Asian Contagion that struck Wall Street and caused the New York Stock Exchange to close early because of extreme losses, there was an undercurrent questioning the Exchange’s intervention into the markets.

Let the markets run their course, the theory went. Market mechanics will take hold.

I’ve had the same thought every time there’s discussion of a bailout, or freezing of the foreclosure process, or whatever else may come out of the mouths of folks running for office. I’d rather they stay out of the way and let the markets run their course.

As my client, also a reader, put it to me yesterday as a conclusion to his e-mail … markets work. And he’s absolutely right.

Yesterday’s news that Phoenix real estate sales were up year-over-year for the first time in any month since July 2005 was good news, at least to me, because it indicates an increase in demand. Yes, the news was accompanied by a drop in the median price but at this point that’s to be expected. Banks are forcing the prices down in an effort to find the point where demand begins to erode the supply.

We’re getting closer.

Yes, there are 54,000 properties in the Arizona Regional MLS … yes, there are 38,000 single-family homes for sale in Maricopa County. But the latter figure has been dropping over the past several weeks.

It doesn’t take an advanced economic degree to understand what happens when supply starts to drop and demand starts to increase.

Markets work.

The worst isn’t behind us. But the beginning of the worst is.

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Have you ever wished there were an easier way to view homes for sale in the Phoenix real estate market? Something even easier than clicking on a link sent via e-mail each day? Thanks to the folks at Diverse Solutions, there is.

All of the property searches on my neighborhood sites - Arrowhead Ranch, Westbrook Village, Ventana Lakes, Phoenix Retirement Real Estate - can be set up as RSS feeds into the reader of your choice.

(RSS stands for Real Simple Syndication and it allows you to follow multiple blogs and other feeds from one site. There are a number of free readers available; I use Google’s reader, free if you have a Google account.)

Here’s how the feed looks on Google Reader …

Clicking on the address takes you to the full property page, scrolling down shows you the home’s basics along with the description written by the listing agent.

So if you’re one of those who enjoy looking at the “Just Listed” pages of the websites, this is going to be right up your alley.

In addition, if you search for properties through the Phoenix Home Search page, you can set up the results as an ever-updating RSS feed. This feature does require you to register with your name, e-mail and phone number - one of the few times I ask for such info, but I think it’s worth it.

Also, within the next day or two, I’ll be adding “just listed” searches for the various cities around Maricopa County. I’ve not yet decided how I’m going to present the information, but at a minimum that will make the RSS feeds available to those so interested.

These feeds unfortunately won’t replace the Client Gateway e-mails many of my clients receive, at least not for some, only because some of the searches go deeper into the listing details than I can go through an IDX feed. But for the rest, this is a quick and easy way to watch the Phoenix market from afar.

Happy hunting!

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