Can you buy a home in Kierland, Scottsdale, to rent out?

Yes, but four things matter for whether a particular home can be rented the way you plan, and you check them in this order: which city the address is in, whether each stay is under 30 days, what the association's documents say, and whether the rental is registered with Maricopa County. Kierland is in ZIP code 85254, and the homes you can buy there are single-family houses built by UDC in the 1990s, plus condos and townhomes.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Realty Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. I don't have rental income figures for Kierland, so I won't put a number on what a home might earn.

There are two groups. The single-family homes were built by UDC in the 1990s, and the condo and townhome communities in Kierland include Optima Kierland, The Landmark at Kierland, Plaza Residences, Plaza Lofts at Kierland Commons, Kierland Greens and Kierland Heritage. There are condos in Scottsdale Quarter as well. Here's what Kierland is and how to search it.

When you search for luxury rental homes in Kierland, you'll also run into Kierland Commons, and that one is a shopping center on about 38 acres, not a place to live. It's one of two shopping centers around the community, along with Scottsdale Quarter.

Homes in ZIP code 85254 carry a Scottsdale mailing address, but some of them are inside the City of Phoenix, because the post office that serves them is in Scottsdale. The city the home is actually in decides which short-term rental rules apply to you, and Scottsdale and Phoenix each have their own. The listing's mailing address won't tell you, so ask the title company to confirm the parcel before you write an offer. Here's more on how the Phoenix side of this border works.

Scottsdale requires a license for a vacation or short-term rental, which the city defines as a rental of less than 30 days. KJZZ reported in December 2022 that owners had to apply by January 8, 2023, and that starting January 9 a rental without a license could be cited a minimum of $1,000. The city's own release at choosescottsdale.scottsdaleaz.gov says the license is held per property and that an owner who rents for 30 days or longer doesn't need to go through that license process.

The city's page also lists a state transaction privilege tax license among the application requirements. For the current fees and requirements, look at the city's short-term rental page before you count on a number.

According to the City of Phoenix's short-term rental page, every short-term rental property needs a permit from the Planning and Development Department, the application is filed through the city's SHAPE PHX portal, and the initial and renewal fee is $250 for each permit. The same page lists a transaction privilege tax license from the Arizona Department of Revenue among the things you submit, asks you to update your rental status with the Maricopa County Assessor's Office, and says the permit number has to appear on each advertisement. The city moved from registration to a permit on November 6, 2023, so a guide that still says "register" is out of date.

The Phoenix page doesn't say how many days make a rental short-term, so ask the city about your plan before you assume which side of the line a 28-day or 31-day stay falls on.

Yes. The Maricopa County Assessor says residential rental property has to be registered with its office under Arizona Revised Statutes 33-1902, and its form lists a $10 registration fee. The form also says an owner who doesn't live in Arizona has to name an agent who does. The City of Phoenix's short-term rental page also tells owners to update their rental status with the Assessor.

State law also limits what cities can do. Under A.R.S. 9-500.39, a city can't prohibit vacation or short-term rentals outright.

An association can limit rentals even when the city allows them, and Kierland doesn't have a single association. The single-family homes, Kierland Greens, Kierland Heritage and the Optima Kierland condominiums each answer to a different one, so the rules you read for one community don't apply to the next. Here's which association applies to which part of Kierland.

What to look for in the governing documents is a minimum lease term, a cap on how many units can be rented at once, a requirement to give the association a copy of the lease or register the tenant, and any fee or fine for renting. A minimum lease term of 30 days or more rules out short-term rentals no matter what the city permits, so read that part first. Read them before the inspection period ends. Here's which HOA law applies to you in Arizona.

1. Decide how you'll rent it, before you tour. A stay under 30 days and a year-long lease go through different rules, so settle that first. Before we tour, we'll go over pre-approval and the buyer broker agreement, and I'll ask how you plan to rent it.
2. Get pre-approved. Here's how financing works, start to finish.
3. Find out the city. Ask the title company which city the parcel is in, so you read the right rules.
4. Read the association's rental rules before you offer. Ask for the governing documents for that specific community.
5. Look at the city's current licensing or permit page, and at the county's registration page, and write down what each one needs from you and what each costs.
6. Then compare the property against what you'd earn, using rents for homes like that one, not a citywide average.

• Taking the mailing address as the city. A Scottsdale mailing address in 85254 can be a Phoenix parcel, and the two cities handle short-term rentals differently.
• Reading one association's rules as if they covered all of Kierland. There isn't one Kierland association.
• Checking the rental rules after closing. Check them while you can still cancel under the inspection period.
• Counting on a rent number nobody can back up. I don't have a verified Kierland rental income figure, so ask for the actual leases or booking history of the specific home.
• Forgetting the paperwork that isn't the city's. The state transaction privilege tax license for a short-term rental and the county rental registration are separate from the city.

If you want a condo or townhome in Kierland to rent out, read the rental rules in that community's association documents before you look at the unit itself. If you want a single-family house, the documents for the association it belongs to and the city's rules are the two things to read, and UDC built those houses in the 1990s.

If you already own a home in Kierland and are deciding between renting it and selling it, start with the same city and association checks, then get a real number for what it would sell for so you have something to compare against. Here's what your home might be worth.

Tell me the community or the address you're considering, and whether you plan stays under 30 days or longer leases. I'll find out which city the parcel is in, pull the association's rental rules and point you to the city and county pages for that address. Here's how I work with buyers purchasing a home they won't live in full time, and here's more on second homes and rentals in Scottsdale. For the bigger picture, see what to check before buying a Scottsdale investment property and how buying works. Call me at (480) 203-6605 or get in touch.