"Historically, the Scottsdale multi-housing market has experienced high barriers to entry due to a limited number of available investments," says Karl Abert, a broker with the Phoenix office of Marcus & Millichap. "In the face of the volatility of the national economy and the local real estate market, apartments are sound investments."

The class B apartment, which was built 13 years ago, sold in six weeks, Abert says. "Despite this property's age relative to the amount of surrounding new product, we were able to demonstrate to the buyer that with continued renovation and repositioning, as an investment, Joshua Tree has tremendous upside potential," he adds. Kowalski plans to spend $750,000 in the next 12 to 18 months on improvements to the property. The Phoenix office of Marcus & Millichap, with brokers Abert and Peter Katz, negotiated the sale.

The speed in which the sale of Joshua Tree was made is reflective of the pace of Valley apartment sales since the start of the year, David Wetta, Marcus & Millichap's managing director in Phoenix, tells GlobeSt.com. "It's real active," he says. "There is still a lot of optimism in the marketplace."