Flying out from Chicago to Surprise to check out house rentals…help!? (Phoenix: apartments, leasing)

[spm2600]

I posted a more generic question in rental section however thought I’d post in Phoenix to get some more locational details.

My wife, kid, and I are relocating from Chicago to Surprise, wife and I have flight booked for 25th of June and leave first thing that Sunday morning. Plan is to book some showings a few days prior to flying out; I’m a bit hesitant in the whole rental process; anyone have advice on best approach? We are looking to sign a lease while there- does that sound doable? Or does the process take much longer?

We have a POD in storage, as soon as we sign lease I want to have it shipped from CHI to PHX so we can move in ASAP.

[RubyJune]

Originally Posted by spm2600

I posted a more generic question in rental section however thought I’d post in Phoenix to get some more locational details.

My wife, kid, and I are relocating from Chicago to Surprise, wife and I have flight booked for 25th of June and leave first thing that Sunday morning. Plan is to book some showings a few days prior to flying out; I’m a bit hesitant in the whole rental process; anyone have advice on best approach? We are looking to sign a lease while there- does that sound doable? Or does the process take much longer?

We have a POD in storage, as soon as we sign lease I want to have it shipped from CHI to PHX so we can move in ASAP.

Hi from the rental forum! You may be able to sign a lease right away, but there is usually a credit check application process. You may not be able to sign until that is complete, which can take anywhere from 24 hours to two weeks, depending on how fast any references reply.

OP - The reason I suggested you post here was due to the specific location questions you had.

Fellow Forum Folks - he was originally concerned about how to find rental homes specifically in Surprise. Does anyone have suggestions aside from the usual CL, Zillow, and Realtor.com?

[GeoZona]

Zillow.com is a nice and easy-to-use site for finding homes to rent.

I'd recommend a place at or north of Greenway Rd, which may be considered a nicer area as you get closer to Sun City West. You got Valley Vista HS and Surprise Community Park maybe within walking distance, depending on where you rent.

[GeoZona]

Originally Posted by RubyJune

Hi from the rental forum! You may be able to sign a lease right away, but there is usually a credit check application process. You may not be able to sign until that is complete, which can take anywhere from 24 hours to two weeks, depending on how fast any references reply.

OP - The reason I suggested you post here was due to the specific location questions you had.

Fellow Forum Folks - he was originally concerned about how to find rental homes specifically in Surprise. Does anyone have suggestions aside from the usual CL, Zillow, and Realtor.com?

Ha, I didn't see your post before I suggested the usual Zillow.

[RubyJune]

Originally Posted by GeoZona

Ha, I didn't see your post before I suggested the usual Zillow.

Heh - no worries. Second opinions never hurt!

I knew someone here would have good ideas on good neighbourhoods to focus on as well.

[Zippyman]

Most landlords & PM's here want you to sign a lease, or at least put a deposit down asap, so that won't be an issue, nor will moving in quickly be an issue. The biggest issue will be finding a re agent to show you more than a couple rentals - rentals on the MLS (realtor.com) generally don't pay the agent much at all, so a huge portion of agents don't even want to show rentals, and if they do show rentals, it's with the understanding that they'll pop locks for a day & you'll pick one of those houses to rent.

Fwiw, we have a couple of big brokerages here that advertise on Craigslist as "apartment locators" - those brokerages usually have a couple agents that specialize in rental homes, so that's a good place to start. Another one might be desert wide properties - they have a couple of offices in the valley & they specialize in single-family rentals - much of what they have never gets to the MLS - they have enough foot-traffic that they don't need to post many on mls.

Zillow & craigslist are hit and miss.. prolly worth a half-hearted effort, but a ton of scams & dead/taken listings..

You might want to contact a local agent a few days before you come - they can help you set up a customized mls search, so you can get an idea what's out there & narrow the field a bit for when you get here.

Welcome to Phoenix!

[spm2600]

Excellent advice. We narrowed down locations and I did see Desert Wide Properties as contacts for some of the locations found in Zillow.. Not good knowing about Zillow/CL being unreliable.

Much appreciated.

[spm2600]

Side note... Rentals that I was looking at in Marley Park/Royale Ranch aren't on realtor. Still will call them closer to flight out there- those were two of the main areas we wanted to be in... Surprise Farm has a lot though.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by spm2600

Side note... Rentals that I was looking at in Marley Park/Royale Ranch aren't on realtor. Still will call them closer to flight out there- those were two of the main areas we wanted to be in... Surprise Farm has a lot though.

I wouldn't get too discouraged by what you're seeing from another state - nice single-family rentals pop and get rented pretty quick, especially in great neighborhoods, so I'd bet most of what's on Zillow & the like is "leftovers". If you're here on a saturday & something you like pops on saturday, you can be the first one in & secure it for yourself.

If you set-up one of those MLS "portals", you can search "completed" deals in your favorite neighborhoods & you'll probably spot some "diamonds" that popped & went under contract the same day. If you're here, ready to look & ready to sign an app, you can get one for yourself. You only need one, right?

Good luck!

[RenW]

Originally Posted by Zippyman

Fwiw, we have a couple of big brokerages here that advertise on Craigslist as "apartment locators" - those brokerages usually have a couple agents that specialize in rental homes, so that's a good place to start. Another one might be desert wide properties - they have a couple of offices in the valley & they specialize in single-family rentals - much of what they have never gets to the MLS - they have enough foot-traffic that they don't need to post many on mls.

Before we moved to Phoenix I planned a four day trip to the area about a month before we needed to move to find a good rental property. I had been researching online significantly, normally I wouldn't have used a service like Zippyman mentioned but my time was limited. We were looking for apartments but some of them specialize in rental houses (or have an agent that does). I was pleasantly surprised to find the one that we used helped us find the apartment that we are in now. I secured a lease within the first two days here and spent the second two days exploring the area. The one I went through got paid by the leasing company and not myself. I had to fill out an application with a bunch of information that they used to forward on to leasing/rental companies.

Having been through the process myself, I would suggest researching and selecting an "apartment locator" in the Phoenix area you want to live that has a house rental specialist. Work with them remotely and plan to have them show you some properties the first day you are here. At the very least you will have someone that knows the area and will quickly show you from property to property and you will get a first hand look at the rental market. Don't rely on them solely, but use them as a resource to see more properties efficiently. As well, look at other rental avenues independently.

One of the independent landlords I spoke to here suggested a Rental Resume. They usually include rental/housing history, employment history, information about your family, and references. Be very careful though and do not include any sensitive personal information that could be misused like SSN# or account numbers. This is a good thing to attach to e-mails or send to potential future landlords. It has a lot of the information that they are going to want anyway, and makes you a more desirable tenant. It also might give you an edge if there are multiple people looking at a property (which may be more important for housing rentals.)

Good luck!