Moving to Tucson from London, UK (real estate, apartments, rentals)

[chantpleure]

Hi,

I am moving to Tucson from the UK to study at the UoA. I have visited the school and spent a day in Tucson just looking around the neighbourhood.. this was in July so I know how horrible the temperatures can get during the daytime.. I managed to see a couple of apartments but still know very little about the area. From reading some of the past threads it would seem that the south side of town is a place to avoid? I've been all over craigslist and some other websites trying to find somewhere to rent but I feel as though the prices on the internet are higher than they would be if i were driving around and seeing apartments..
I will be moving there in January and my partner will be moving in November. He hopes to find a job at a school in some kind of teaching capacity, I've heard (again on here) that the schools in Tucson are horrible, is anyone here a teacher or have teacher friends that can tell me more about what it's like?

Thanks

[sierraAZ]

Well, my first inclination would be to ask "what's wrong with ya" , unless you're studying something particularly special. I know U of A is big on astronomy.

Anyway, to the point. No, you don't wanna be on the South and Southwest side. Southeast's fine, but that's kind of far from the U. I was talking about this stuff recently, so I take it you read it. You've probably checked these sites, but just in case:

Apartments for Rent and Homes for Rent

Move.com - Find Real Estate, New Homes, Apartments, Houses for Rent and More

ApartmentGuide.com - apartments for rent, apartment finder

Tucson Arizona Apartments For Rent | Tucson Apartment Rentals | Apartments.com

Apartment Ratings - Apartments for Rent with Ratings and Reviews from Actual Renters

Stay away from the places offering included utilities. That means they turn on the heat and the ACs whenever they feel like to. Then again... some people don't mind it. Oh, there may be places (cheaper) that have evaporative coolers (we call them swamp coolers) instead of AC. Miserable in the monsoon (humid) season! About the rent - you pretty much get what you see online.

P.S. The forum is screwing up the links again. Oh, well... you can figure it out.