Help with searching for houses available for rent (other than Craigslist)?

[Arizona Renegade]

Thanks for all of the replies! I really appreciate the information and suggestions. And I apologize for not replying sooner, but I've had something of a stressful past few weeks (including having a tooth extracted yesterday, that included around 250 miles of driving total), so I haven't been as focused on trying to move as much lately. I have checked out most of the sites listed/suggested, though, and it does seem as though it will likely be difficult to find even a 2-bedroom house for around $1,000 in the East Valley; which is frustrating. I might be able to afford a little more for monthly rent, $1,200 might be feasible, but I don't want to be stretched thinly financially and end up struggling and stressing about money.

To those of you who suggested driving around neighborhoods in areas where I would like to find a place to rent, are there really lots of people who just post For Rent signs out in front of the houses? Do some of you folks frequently see these signs in front of houses these days?

And I'd like to ask, has anyone here specifically seen a For Rent sign in front of a house in/around East Mesa, Apache Junction or Chandler recently?

[Arizona Renegade]

Well, I'm still looking for a place to rent, and after looking at lots of posts online over the past couple months, I now have something new I'd like to ask about: rent prices.


It seems as though rent prices are steadily going up, and are likely going to continue to increase, so it would serve me well to try to find a place to rent as soon as realistically possible. From what I gather, it sounds like lots of people are moving to the phoenix Metro area, many of whom are used to paying higher rent prices, so it's drastically driving up the demand, and the costs, for housing. So, it seems like it's just not going to be realistic to find a 3-bedroom house in a decent/good area for around $1,000-$1,100 these days/any time soon, so I'm going to have to start looking at places with higher rent prices and plan on spending more like $1,200-$1,350 per month for rent.


I have found some houses for rent in the $1,000-$1,200 range in East Mesa and Apache Junction and it seems like there are more places for rent, with more-reasonable rent prices, in that area. And while that would make for about a 30-mile commute for me to Talking Stick in Scottsdale, and I would like to have less of a commute, it's not nearly as bad as what I'm used to driving, from Payson to Scottsdale. Is paying around $1,100 per month for a 3-bedroom/2-bathroom house in East Mesa/Apache Junction good? Could I likely find a better deal? Or is this likely about as good as it's going to get any time soon?



And I actually came across (what I think is) a nice 3-bedroom/2-bathroom house in east Tempe, right along the Tempe/Mesa border, for around $1,300, near the 101 and University. It's actually just east of the 101 (between the 101 and Dobson) and just south of University (between Main and University). Is this nice/safe area of Tempe? And is around $1,300 for a 3/2 house in this area likely a good deal? I'm assuming that this would be considered a good price for rent for a house in the area - or anywhere in the East Valley that's in a decent, safe neighborhood - but I would really like to get some thoughts from other people who are more-familiar with what rent prices are these days.


I also wanted to ask - if any of you would be willing to reply and share the info. with me - what are some of you folks paying for rent these days? Particularly, for a house in the East Valley, since that's where I'm looking to move; but, even if you currently live (or have recently lived) in an apartment, even in a different area of the Valley, I would really like to get some feedback from you, so that I can have a good frame of reference of what rent prices are like these days and to be able to have a better idea of what to anticipate paying for a place that I'd like to rent and live in for a while.


Also, I have mostly been checking out Zillow and they seem to be really good resources to use to find houses for rent; even if most listings seem to be posted on both sites. However, if anyone has any other apps/sites, ideas or suggestions about how to look for houses for rent, please feel free to let me know, because I would appreciate all of the help that I can get.



If some of you would like to reply and would be willing to share some feedback with me, I would really appreciate it.

[KO Stradivarius]

We rented a 2 BR/2 bath apt (~850 sq ft) at Liv Avenida (a newer very nice rather upscale complex in Chandler) for like $1,450/mo. It may be higher now. Moved out a year ago, bought a house in Gilbert. I'd say that's getting close to the high end for apartments unless you want a 3 BR, garage space, etc.

[Arizona Renegade]

Originally Posted by KO Stradivarius

We rented a 2 BR/2 bath apt (~850 sq ft) at Liv Avenida (a newer very nice rather upscale complex in Chandler) for like $1,450/mo. It may be higher now. Moved out a year ago, bought a house in Gilbert. I'd say that's getting close to the high end for apartments unless you want a 3 BR, garage space, etc.

Thanks for the reply and the feedback. I am actually specifically looking to rent a house, but I am also trying to get an idea of what rent costs are like these days, so it's good to hear what you were recently paying for an apartment in the area. From what it sounds like, paying anything around $1,350 for a 3-bedroom/2-bathroom house in the East valley is fair and reasonable. I was really hoping to be able to find a 3/2 house for rent in the $1,000-$1,100 range, but I don't think that's realistic right now; even in the not-so-nice areas. So, while that may be more than I was hoping/wanting to pay, the reality of rent prices is what is important to me.


So, the search for an affordable rental house continues!

[Arizona Renegade]

I'm still looking to find a house to rent in the East Valley, so I thought I'd try to bump the thread and see if anyone feels like chiming in with some new advice or information.


Also, is there a good/bad time of the year to look for a house to rent? Is now, June, a good time for rentals? Or would it likely be better in a couple months when the weather starts to cool down? Would there likely be more, or fewer, places available to rent in August, September, October, November, December?


As always, if someone would like to offer a helpful reply, I would really appreciate it.

[kent_moore]

Did a quick check in Zillow, and there's almost zero listing that is under $1200 in Scottsdale. There are few in Mesa specially in 85205 but I'm not familiar with that place.

Did you consider buying cheap hybrid car to minimize your gas consumption?

I used to rent a 3BR in Ahwatukee back in 2015, my monthly rent was only $1050, now it is currently rented for $1450.

[AZ Manager]

Originally Posted by Arizona Renegade

I'm still looking to find a house to rent in the East Valley, so I thought I'd try to bump the thread and see if anyone feels like chiming in with some new advice or information.


Also, is there a good/bad time of the year to look for a house to rent? Is now, June, a good time for rentals? Or would it likely be better in a couple months when the weather starts to cool down? Would there likely be more, or fewer, places available to rent in August, September, October, November, December?


As always, if someone would like to offer a helpful reply, I would really appreciate it.

Your best time to look is holiday season. Summers are the hottest time for the market so you will see higher rents, more competition, and less negotiating room. In the winter months it becomes a bit harder to fill vacancies though none of that really applies to well maintained rentals as I've had mid-November vacancies filled by December 1st before. East valley is the trendy side of town right now so good luck finding affordable well maintained homes without being fairly aggressive pursuing it.

Personally, I blow off any contact that uses the automated form on sites like Zillow that say something like "I'd like more information." It is generally a waste of my time as those people are much more likely to not even respond to my email reply and if they do and we schedule a showing they generally miss that showing. People who take the 30 seconds to fill in the form with more specific questions or just outright call me like it says to do in the ad are the ones that I respond to because they don't miss nearly as many showings.