Meet The Forkenbrock Group

Knowing someone trusts me enough to recommend me to their friends and family means so much to me. There’s no better compliment in this business than a referral, and I never take that trust for granted. #thankfulgratefulblessed #queencreekrealtor #arizonarealtor #realtorlife

San Tan Valley is a great example of how much the market can change. Home values climbed, came back down, and right now we’re in a strong buyer’s market which can mean great opportunities for buyers. Sellers, don’t panic. Homes are still selling. You just need the right price, preparation, and marketing strategy. Thinking about buying or selling a house in San Tan Valley? Message me to schedule a mini consultation. Dawn Forkenbrock, San Tan Valley Realtor w/ Real Broker

Should You Sell Your Rental Property in Tempe or Keep Renting It Out? For landlords sitting on a Tempe rental property, the sell-or-hold decision depends more on exactly where the property sits than in almost any other East Valley city. Here is what the data shows, plus the tax details that too often get overlooked until it is too late to plan around them. Tempe's rental performance varies more by location than most neighboring markets. Properties within one to two miles of ASU's roughly 80,000-student main campus have commanded 3-bedroom rents in the range of $2,800 to $4,500 a month with near-zero vacancy, while cap rates citywide have been estimated anywhere from about 3 to 5.5 percent depending on the source and specific submarket. Owners who bought years ago at a lower basis are generally better positioned than someone financing a purchase at today's price and rate. ASU's presence shapes the entire rental calendar here in a way that is fairly unique to Tempe. The university's main campus drives strong, somewhat seasonal rental demand, particularly within walking or short driving distance of campus. This creates near-zero vacancy in close-in neighborhoods, supports short-term and semester-based rental strategies, and means leasing activity tends to cluster around the academic calendar rather than spreading evenly throughout the year. Which part of Tempe a rental sits in matters more here than in most neighboring cities. North and central Tempe near Mill Avenue and campus commands the highest rents but is dominated by apartments and townhomes rather than single-family homes. South Tempe, including the Kyrene and Warner corridor, is more family-oriented with a higher share of single-family rentals, while far south Tempe near the Chandler border has lower rents but can produce better cap rates for investors buying at the right price point. If you do decide to sell, tax exposure deserves attention well before closing. A rental sale generally triggers two separate taxes: depreciation claimed over the years of ownership is recaptured at a rate of up to 25 percent, and the remaining long-term gain is taxed at 0, 15, or 20 percent depending on your total taxable income, with an additional 3.8 percent net investment income tax possible for higher earners. A CPA can model your actual liability based on your specific purchase price, depreciation taken, and income. A 1031 exchange is worth exploring if you want to stay invested in real estate while deferring these taxes. It allows an investor to defer capital gains and depreciation recapture by reinvesting sale proceeds into another qualifying investment property, but it requires identifying a replacement property within 45 days of the sale and closing on it within 180 days, so it needs to be planned before the original sale closes, not decided afterward. Whether to sell or hold ultimately comes down to your property's specific location relative to ASU, your current cash flow, your loan terms, and your broader financial goals. A close-in property with strong rental demand may be worth holding even with modest cash flow, while a property further from campus with weaker fundamentals may be a clearer candidate for a sale. If you are weighing whether to sell your Tempe rental property, I would be glad to pull current market data specific to your location relative to campus and walk through the numbers with you. Dawn Forkenbrock, Tempe Realtor w/ Real Broker