PHOENIX — Buying a new home. Unfortunately, it’s something that’s just not affordable for many Arizonans, with mortgage rates expected to remain high in the year ahead. This Money Saving Monday 12News is sharing how more and more people are taking advantage of an innovative alternative: build-to-rent communities popping up across the U.
S. Build-to-rent is now reshaping Arizona's housing landscape for those who are renting and not quite ready to buy. “We had been out of Phoenix for almost five years and returned to the area,” said Paul Ruffino, who was looking for a new home in the Phoenix metro area.
“We own another piece of property that’s large, that is an income property for us, so we were looking for something else,” he said. Ruffino said when they were looking at rentals and several different properties, they stumbled upon an ideal neighborhood in north Phoenix. “I’m in hospitality, the hotel business, and it’s all the accouterments of a luxury hotel,” he said.
“The only thing you don’t have is room service, but these days with Instacart and with DoorDash, you do, amazingly you do.” Branden Lombardi is the president of BB Living in Scottsdale, a single-family build-to-rent developer and operator. He said their rental home communities provide a solution for a lot of people, often people who can’t afford to buy a home.
"The median home price today is $650,000, so to afford that, you need to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $160,000 a ye.