I know you have heard it all. The real estate market has tanked and the world is ending. It seems these days the media is in a feeding frenzy to let us know the economy is terrible and there is no hope in sight. Speaking of our current rental market for single family residential properties, this simply is not the case. Over the past few months I have been able to research not only numbers from our company but also other management companies along with related articles. These findings have shown the market beginning to shift. In almost every case numbers leased per month have gone up dramatically from just a year ago. The time of vacancy has even decreased and in some cases there was no time off the market. These numbers even included some of the harder hit areas such as Queen Creek, Florence, Maricopa, and Buckeye.

Speaking of our company in general, we rented 67 properties in the month of February. Six of these properties we had found a new tenant before the existing one had even moved out. Zero time for vacancy makes any investor extremely happy. Looking at a few other management companies, the numbers showed vacancy time was down on average almost two weeks. This is quite significant when considering paying a full month's mortgage. There will still be quicker areas then others but what wonderful news for all investors knowing what a fantastic time it is to buy but having the dreaded concern of how long will it take my property to rent.

After researching a few of my other colleagues, I have found similar responses. One reported, "Personally, I don't have a property vacancy that has been longer than 2 weeks, and I have only 2 vacancies. Requests for significant price reductions by tenant prospects have all but stopped, while at the same time, the quality of tenant prospects I am finding has once again improved." Another went on to report, "Around January 15, 2009, the rental market started to pick back up, and has continued to steadily pick up through February. Whatever kept tenants away in late 2008 has gone away."

One last bit of good news is the average amount of monthly rents. We are also seeing an increase in this number in specific areas. This number might not be as significant as we all would hope but any increase in the long run will benefit the investor.

In conclusion stay away from the dreaded media and the fear of the market. There is a fantastic opportunity right now that is going to pass you by. We are looking to increase our inventory because we just don't have enough properties available to lease right now. You and I both know we have not seen prices like this in a long time. Make it happen.