Arizona Mortgage Opportunities Abound as State’s Condo Market Slumps

Just like the Arizona housing market boom in general, the condo craze has started to slow down rapidly throughout the state.

The condo boom started as a cheaper alternative for those seeking an Arizona mortgage to buying a single-family home. But once the market became overcrowded, some developers are now forced to rent.

Condos can be a great alternative to a single-family home if you don’t want to deal with a lot of maintenance or if you don’t need the space.

“Just recently, we had a boom just like the housing market in places like Phoenix and Florida. What happened was they just overbuilt,” Mike Bianchi, owner and broker for Windemere Central Phoenix, told Phoenix’s 3TV.

Bianchi said developers in the Phoenix metro area converted too many apartments into condominiums.

“(Developers) took a ton of properties that were rentals before and turned them into homes or condotel units. They flooded the market with too many condos and now there is not enough buyers for those homes,” he said.

And furthermore, now you have people who would like to rent properties, but can’t because there aren’t many takers anymore.

“I think, currently, 98 percent of the apartments that are in the city of Tempe are currently rented. That’s an extremely high rate of rentals.”

That’s why you’re seeing some condos being converted back to apartments.

“The good news for consumers is if you want to buy a property and you want to buy a condo, now is a great time to do it because there’s a ton of them on the market,” Bianchi said.

That means you’ll get fantastic incentives. Bianchi’s company just sold a condo to a buyer who will have all of his homeowner’s association fees and taxes paid for the entire year. Just something to keep in mind if you’re thinking about applying for a home mortgage loan in Arizona! Opportunity knocks!