This is the letter I sent to all my "A list" clients.

It's been a while since I wrote and gave you an update on what's transpired within the real estate market and myself. It seems like 1992 was only yesterday when I first started in residential real estate, since then here's some of the local highlights.

We have a freeway in Scottsdale, yes! Two Nordstroms, D-Backs baseball, NHL Hockey, a lake in Tempe and more restaurants in north Scottsdale that you can shake a stick at.

Our real estate market expanded and appreciated, finally...It all began to turn around in 1993. Right now 130,000 homes per year are changing hands (new & resale). Experts say we will grow by nearly 800,000 people over the next ten years. The Scottsdale air park will be the largest employment cluster in the valley.

Home values and prices have increased. At a rate of 9% per year from 1998 - to 1993 - 2004? - around 20%. In 1993/94 Scottsdale builder specs -homes were going for less than $400,000...try finding one now for less than $895,000. In PV, forget it unless you've got $2.5 million for a new spec home. Tear downs are the new trend.

Fortunately, I have been here for it all. In 1999 I closed a record $15,000,000 in residential real estate. I average around $10-$15 million per year and 90% of my business is by referal only. At this point I've sold hundreds of homes from entry level to the multi-millions. My listings on average sell at 98 percent of list price and 48 percent of the time I'm a buyer agent. It's been a wild ride and I'm ready for more. Its time to get in the game.

With that said I want to encourage you to take a look at investing in rental homes. With the growth and great interest rates, we will still probably see 5-10% percent (or so) appreciation gains per year.

Here's a scenario that illustrates the potential - lets say you own $1,000,000 in rental real estate - at those rates you'd expect to have your properties appreciate $50,000 plus per year, relatively passively. Renting only to people with clean credit reports pretty much takes the hassle out of being a landlord, usually renters won't trash their credit over a rental home. By the way, depending on your income the potential tax advantages are real nice come April 15th! I have rentals and look at it as a way to actually retire before 80!

How much cash does it take to get started? Only 10 percent of the list price and around 1-2 percent in closing costs. So leveraging $125,000(including closing costs) dollars to own $1,000,000 in real estate and passively creating a sizable net worth gain per year starts to look good, right? Of course everyone is interested in making money.

To aid you in this endeavor, go to my web site www.marktait.com and get free daily active listings emailed to you automatically. A little trivia about my site, it generates around 1000 page views per week. Why? Its built to serve you, rather than promote me.

Sure you've heard all the horror stories. Tenants are a hassle. They won't pay. They beat the house up...etc.

Sure you can get a bad tenant, but I know the way to avoid them! Don't let dead beat tenants in your properties! Let the other landlords rent to them! How do you do this? Only rent to tenants who have clean credit histories, period. I always check. Because if they come in clean, they normally won't trash their credit while they are with you. I have had a few break the lease early, but they are responsible to pay until the home is leased again, so your covered.

Maintenance - Its the other big hassel you hear about. I put all rentals on Maintenance contracts. That way if something goes wrong with the AC, the tenant calls the Home Warranty Co., not me and deducts the co-pay from the next months rent as long as the receipt is with the rent payment. Also, its nice to fix an AC unit for $45 dollars.

Finally, I need to thank each and everyone of you again for thinking of me when your thinking of real estate. It's friends like you that cause me to enjoy what I do so much. By the way, do you know someone who's think of buying or selling, please call or email me with their number.