my apartment ratings in Tempe/Phoenix (Scottsdale, Chandler: gated, apartments, condominium)

[bona0718]

For all of you apartment hunters looking around the Phoenix/Tempe area, I just returned from a weekend trip and thought I would give my review of the places I saw. Keep in mind I will be working at ASU, so that had a lot to do with my final decision. I gave each complex a rating and included prices where I could remember. Hope this helps!

Peaks at Papago Park (Phoenix) - The actual apartments were very nice but the neighborhood is absolute crap. Strip clubs and power lines adorn the surrounding areas. If you are single, or don't have little kids you might not care. But I just found the neighborhood to be really depressing. But again, the apartments themselves were solid.

Rating: 2 out of 5

Colonial Grand at Scottsdale (Scottsdale) This place was very beautiful. It's a smaller property with about 180 units. Prices were very reasonable, except it seemed there was nothing close by, i.e. shopping, grocery stores, etc. Perhaps I didn't do enough driving. But anyone deciding to live there would be very happy I'm sure. I definitely reccomend it

Rating: 3 out of 5

Peaks at Papago Park (Phoenix) You really get your bang for your buck here. The apartments are very spacious. The staff was super nice. You have Papago Park and the Phoenix Zoo right around the corner. The complex is HUGE though. Like 800 units. We had to take a golf cart just to get around. All in all, it seemed like a nice place to live

Rating 3 out of 5

Galleria Palms (Tempe) Again, a nice place...but just nice. Nothing spectacular. It's just down the street from Arizona Mills Mall and close to ASU. The thing is, their apartments don't seem as big as advertised. We saw one that was supposedly 1,200 square feet but seemed more like 800. It just felt cramped.

2 bedroom 2 bathroom for $875/month
Rating 3 ou of 5


La Estancia (Tempe) This was my second favorite place of the list. It's not flashy. But it's right across the street from a police station, and the grounds are beautiful. There are trees and bushes everywhere. Very peaceful ambience. The apartments themselves are very nice too - very spacious and livable. You almost feel like you are in a condo, not an apartment. Great place to live

2 bedroom, 2 bathroom for $895/month
Rating 4 out of 5

Finnistera - This was an awesome place too. It's truly a beautiful property. It's right across the street from a ton of shopping, restaurants, etc. I can't say a bad thing about the place. Unfortunately it was a bit out of my price range. 2 bedrooms 2 baths are going for roughly $1,000. I wasn't willing to pony up $1,000 a month unless I was blown away. Finnistera was awesome, but I wasn't floored. But again, if you end up living here, you'd likely be extreemly happy.

4 out of 5

Bella Flora (Phoenix) This is actually a condominium site, but they have about 15 units they are renting out. The units are pretty small - about 820 square feet. I wasn't really impressed. The clubhouse is spectacular, the pool is beautiful, but the apartments themselves weren't that great. It's like they were trying to compensate for the subpar apartments with their other amenities. Walked away uninspired

2 bedroom 2 bath for $820 a month
Rating 2 out of 5

Alexan Metropointe. My new home! This was just built and completed last month. We're talking brand spanking new. It is right next to Finnistera, so its close to all of the aforementioned shopping and restaurants. The apartments themselves are HUGE -1,150 square feet. 9 foot ceilings. You feel like you are in a little house. Stainless steel, granite counter tops....this place had it all. And 2 bedrooms 2 baths are going for $925 - I got lucky and qualified for a special. I'm totally excited about living there. I'm shocked there wasn't a waiting list. It seems to be filling up fast though.

2 bedroom 2 bathroom - $925/month
4.5 out of 5

Happy home hunting everyone!!

[Ilovemyweimaraner]

Thanks for posting. Most of those are out of my price range, but I think I'm going to take a look at the La Estancia complex when I go to Phoenix to look at apartments in a couple of weeks. It's always helpful to read other people's opinions on apartments, especially when you're not from the area!

[moughie]

Congrats bona0718 on your new home!
Sounds like you took your time and investigated thoroughly.

Welcome to Tempe!

[altus2006]

bona,

This is a very handy list posted by you and will benefit a lot of people now and in the future.

altus2006

[w1ngzer0]

a lot of apartments on apartmentratings.com, in the phoenix area, get bad rating; except for the very expensive ones.

There are a lot of apartments not listed, that are really good.

[GilaMonster]

This is a pretty helpful posting and it confirms what I have been finding out lately when it comes to rents. I was comparing rents because I own an apartment in Chandler and want to adjust the rent, in a rather good complex in a good neighborhood the average is almost at $ 1 per square foot or around $ 900 for a 1000 sq.ft. apartment.