Where they're buying: Phoenix, Tempe and Prescott, Ariz.
Number of properties: 5
In March 2009, when Coldwell Banker real estate agent Tom Weiskopf thought the Phoenix market was finally hitting bottom, he bought a bank-owned home for $200,000 to fix up and flip, something he had been doing for years.
The house -- a 1,350-square-foot, three-bedroom home with an in-ground pool -- needed a little TLC. It took several weeks to put in a new kitchen and bath. During that time, the market continued to tank and there was no way he could flip the home for a profit. So Weiskopf rented it instead.
"It's been a goldmine," he said.
Weiskopf gets $1,450 a month in rent for the place and, with taxes low, just $821 a year, he clears about $4,000 a year on an investment of about $50,000.
After the success with the Phoenix house, he looked for other single-family homes to invest in. In 2010, he bought a small 950 square foot two-bedroom near Arizona State University in Tempe for $80,000 in cash. His daughter, an ASU student, lives there and he rents the second bedroom to another student.
He also recently closed on a 1910 historic cottage in Prescott, a popular vacation destination about 100 miles north of Phoenix. He's charging $850 a week for stays in the two-bedroom home. If he's able to keep the place fairly booked, it will go a long way toward paying all the home's expenses and provide a small return on his $165,000 investment.
Weiskopf has purchased a total of five homes in the past two years. For the time being, he's taking a break and waiting for the investments to pay off.
"I'm done right now," he said. "To buy anything more, I would need to sell something I have."
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