"They were in an exchange and had exactly the down payment they needed. This was their first venture in Phoenix," Karl Abert, a senior associate at Marcus & Millichap in Phoenix, tells GlobeSt.com. The five-year-old Villas Monterosa is a 90%-occupied, four-building development on 3.3 acres at 10515 W. Monterosa St. The property was on the market seven months before buyer Stickman Properties LLC of Woodland Hills, CA, entered a three-month escrow, according to Abert. Stickman assumed a $3.2-million loan, due in 2010, funded by EF&A Funding LLC of Southfield, MI. The loan's fixed-rate interest is 8.03%.

Abert, the deal's only broker, says Stickman brought the highest bid to the table for seller and developer, Newsun Properties LLC of Phoenix, which was asking $4.4 million for the complex. The seller parted with the property so it could deploy more equity to single-family development and get out from under managing the apartment complex, the broker says.

The Villas Monterosa has 47 two-bedroom units ranging in designs of 936 sf and 1,057 sf and 11 three-bedroom apartments with 1,192 sf floor plans. Monthly rents range from $800 per month to $995. The units resemble single-story condominiums with pitched roofs and skylights.