Zodiac Rentals

Tree-lined streets, modest homes, and a gritty blue collar - mainly hispanic immigrant - resident base, the Reed Park neighborhood in Central Mesa is as working class as you get.

The neighborhood though middle-class had fallen on hard times during and immediately after the recession as a spate of foreclosures and short-sales hit some of the more marginal communities harder than others. Nowhere was this dereliction more obvious than in the condition of small apartment complexes and fourplexes that had suffered their own problems with evictions, past-due tenants, foreclosures, and underwater landlords who had lost all incentive to maintain their properties, pay their mortgages, or supervise their tenants. Drug problems seemed prevalent especially among the younger folk who had often moved back in with their parents.
    
As expected, the fourplex had significant deferred maintenance and the tenant profile was quite poor. Slowly and steadily, we took a stab at weeding out bad tenants, getting the errant ones in line, and giving the property a complete facelift. On the inside, we stuck to the 2-tone paint, retouched cabinets, and bathroom updates. On the outside, we got a little more creative using different shades more imaginatively and also built a lovely, contemporary wood plank fence in a neighborhood overrun with chain link fences and boring single-tone exteriors. Being the corner lot helped too as the backyards felt more spacious and private.

Within a year and a half, we were able to turn this fourplex into quite the head turner. However, being part of a community of six to seven identical fourplexes, we still had to deal with bad decisions made by neighboring landlords teaching us an important lesson that sometimes being different from the neighborhood not only makes it easier to stand out but also helps build the right image.

Being different also helps during any future appraisal as not having comparables means that your valuation is not dragged down by so called comparable properties that are not as well rehabbed or as professionally managed as yours.