Plan Reasonable? (Phoenix, Mesa, Scottsdale: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[12682]

I apologize for all the posts, but moving cross-country is feeling rather overwhelming at the moment. I have to be in Phoenix in a couple of weeks for work. My plan is to drive out, stay in a hotel, and look for a place to live in the evenings. I will have already made arrangements for my belongings and my pets to arrive at the end of the first week. Is five business days long enough to find a place, sign a lease, and receive the keys? It would be long enough in the city where I live now, but I'm concerned things may be different there. Even if it is possible, will the need to move in right away dramatically limit my options?

Additionally, I haven't found many lease/rental options to love via internet research. Are the listings posted on Zillow, Craigslist, etc. truly indicative of the leases/rentals available? If they are reflective, is the lease/rental market always so sparse and unappealing or is it simply the time of year? (If additional info helps, I'm looking for a house with a private pool in the Gilbert/Chandler/Tempe/Mesa/south Scottsdale areas).

[observer53]

Five days is going to be a tight fit, as looking for places only in the evenings, especially in winter, doesn't give you a lot of time to work with, or see places that may not have electric turned on. If you find something the first day, then that would help getting the rest organized. It would help to find a realtor who works with rentals, or a property manager, to help you find it, but your time to find that is limited, too.

Time of year could be a factor as far as what you are seeing in terms of rentals, it's not something I follow closely. Try some other websites (homes.com and others) and see if you find other options.

[S. Chris Webb]

What is your price point?

[12682]

Originally Posted by S. Chris Webb

What is your price point?

I'm expecting to spend $1,000 - $1,600. I'm willing to go up to $1,900 if the place is great and the pool and yard maintenance are included in the cost.

[Galaxie Girl]

Originally Posted by 12682

I apologize for all the posts, but moving cross-country is feeling rather overwhelming at the moment. I have to be in Phoenix in a couple of weeks for work. My plan is to drive out, stay in a hotel, and look for a place to live in the evenings. I will have already made arrangements for my belongings and my pets to arrive at the end of the first week. Is five business days long enough to find a place, sign a lease, and receive the keys? It would be long enough in the city where I live now, but I'm concerned things may be different there. Even if it is possible, will the need to move in right away dramatically limit my options?

Additionally, I haven't found many lease/rental options to love via internet research. Are the listings posted on Zillow, Craigslist, etc. truly indicative of the leases/rentals available? If they are reflective, is the lease/rental market always so sparse and unappealing or is it simply the time of year? (If additional info helps, I'm looking for a house with a private pool in the Gilbert/Chandler/Tempe/Mesa/south Scottsdale areas).

It's certainly possible to find a place, sign a lease, and get keys within a few days. My husband and I own rentals (apartments) in the Phoenix metro area, as do my parents, and we only advertise/show them when they are available for move-in. I'm sure we're not the only landlords in the metro who do that.

You may, however, be finding that the rental market is rather tight right now. I was just talking to my parents, and they just filled their one vacant unit within 2 or 3 days. Lots more people are out looking to rent now, much more than we saw a couple years ago, so that might be why the available rentals you're finding are limited and, perhaps, less desirable. I don't know for sure if the single family home rental market is behaving the same as the apartment market (we don't own any SFR rentals there), but I imagine it's at least similar.

I don't know that moving in winter has the same stigma as it does in much of the rest of the country. Winter is probably the best/coolest time of year to move in the Phoenix area. We even have a tenant who makes his lease end at year-end so that if he wants to move, he can move during winter, when it's cool out.

My best advice would be to monitor the rental listings daily (multiple times a day if possible), and act quickly on new listings. Seems like the good deals go fast right now.

Good luck with the move!

[Zippyman]

one more point - there are a few rental scams on Craigslist, make sure you're dealing with the actual owner or a licensed agent before you hand over any cash. dont accept any stories about "friends" renting houses... Landlords ask for *all kinds* of personal & private info , its ok (and prudent!) to ask for a driver's license before peeling off a stack of $100 bills. you can verify ownership at the maricopa county website.

[2000dynasuper]

Another option is to google property management companies for Phx. A lot of them not only list for owners but also have their own properties that they have purchased when they were cheap. You can list your criteria to find the type of houses you are looking for.

[FromEastCoast]

I can tell you from very recent experience that Zillow and Trulia are not reliable. This was especially true when searching for pet friendly rentals. Even the displayed mobile and pc based results were different for the same app. The majority of houses that I saw on those sights were not available when I asked to look at them. This was the case for both purchase and rentals. This threw me for a spin, as I had anticipated it would be easy to rent based on what I saw online. Fortunately, I have a good real estate agent that is helping me lease a house, knowing that I will likely buy in the near future. Good luck.

[FromEastCoast]

Also, I don't think 5 days will be enough time. You'll be looking at night after work, which means you may not be able to get in and see the apts. It may take a few days of just driving around and scheduling walk-throughs. Once that is done you'll need to get the credit check, deposits in, utilities, etc. I'm sure it is doable, but think it will be one hell of a week.

[crystalys]

Originally Posted by FromEastCoast

Also, I don't think 5 days will be enough time. You'll be looking at night after work, which means you may not be able to get in and see the apts. It may take a few days of just driving around and scheduling walk-throughs. Once that is done you'll need to get the credit check, deposits in, utilities, etc. I'm sure it is doable, but think it will be one hell of a week.

One other thing that I would like to point out which may take some time is if you are moving from out of state and you were renting in the other state, some places require a reference letter from your previous landlord. They may even have a specific form as part of the rental application packet that you would need to get filled out by the former landlord. So along with all the other "stuff" mentioned above, it could very well take you longer than 5 days to secure an acceptable place.