Phoenix has always had a lot of high-end rentals available, which you could get good deals on if you agreed to rent for a year. (Think of the resorts in winter going begging in summer.)
With the advent of ARMs things got even worse--most 'renters' were busing buying inflated housing prices: e.g. one acquaintance whose home went in value in 1 year from $160,000 to $280,000.
So the rental places got desperate. I locked in rent for two years, at a lower rate than before the crisis.
Will wait to pick up a nice foreclosure (here or elsewhere) for a steep discount. Remember that sub-7-percent mortgage is still very low by historical standards.
"Buy low, sell high".
Cheers!