Nice Rental Areas? (Phoenix, Scottsdale, Paradise Valley: real estate, apartments, rentals)

[mountaindreamer]

I would be new to the Phoenix area (from East coast) and would like to know some nice neighborhoods with affordable rental apartments about $700 - $1000 per month. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

[ivanabacowboy]

I am in the process of relocating to Arizona. My final one way ticket out of snow (Cleveland, Ohio) is September 1. ;-)

So that people can assist you, it would be helpful if you told a bit more about what you are looking for. By that I mean, 1/2/3/more bedrooms? Are school districts a concern (do you have children?)? Do you have employment and where is it located? Do you prefer a more "urban" environment (ie walk to the bars) or stuff more spread out? Are you looking for a community with older residents, younger, college, or doesnt matter? That kind of stuff.

Have you ever been to Phoenix?

I am not a Phoenix area expert. The area I am familiar with is fairly small because I knew I wanted to be close to work and to my family out there. The apartments I focused on were mostly in north Scottsdale and north Phoenix (generally Zips 85032 East of 42nd or so and all of 85254, 85054, and 85260) which are nice neighborhoods. I was looking for 2 bedrooms and most of them were running $1000-$1600, because I wanted the whole "live in a resort with a pretty pool" kind of thing, just my preference. I didnt price 1 bedrooms. There are also cheaper apartments out there in the areas I looked the other posters told me, the more "basic" type buildings.

I did see three buildings that were pretty nice and are at the higher end of your price range. Camden San Paloma (near Shea and Scottsdale I think) seemed fairly nice. Also Bellagio (56th and Bell). And Greenspoint (42nd & Cactus, a stone's throw from Paradise Valley Mall).

Also, go onto rent.com or one of the other rent sites and search around and find something you like-and the posters here will let you know if it is the kind of area you are looking for. (Warning on the search sites: DO NOT just plug in PHOENIX. You will get like 4000000000 results lol! Try to focus in certain Zips/areas to get a manageable result list.)

Also from what more than one of the communities told me: you actually may find better rent on a 2 br than a 1 br. I guess 1 br are in hot demand-makes sense I suppose for singles/snowbirds etc.

Also do not be afraid to call some of the apartments that seem out of your price range. A lot of them may offer discounts/incentives. At Desert Club they were pushing the 2 bedrooms. Market rent on my unit (I am going to Desert Club, off Scottsdale Rd north of Kierland) is something between $1300-1400, but I got the Unit with a garage for $1079 for 15 months. (Caveat: that doesnt mean you will get the same incentive to renew your lease when it expires of course....) So make sure to ask if they have any incentives going on.

If at all possible, visit the apartments before signing a lease. One other apartment I liked ended up in the flight path of the local airport so there was a bit of air traffic noise-which would not have even crossed my mind based on their ad, but would have become annoying as a daily occurrence.

If you want a reasonable commute to work, try to avoid the highways (traffic) if at all possible is what I have heard.

Good luck in your search! Hope you post back-the locals will be more than happy to give you advice!

[mountaindreamer]

Thank you so much for the info.

[maxch]

I moved to Phoenix in the November'06 with my wife (we're a young family with no kids) and was looking for an apartment in the North Phoenix not far from my work (Tatum & Shea). My wife wanted to go to the Paradise Valley Community College to pick up a few classes, so that was another areal limitation for us. Also, we came from a very small and safe town where people don't lock their doors nor cars pretty much at all.. after a little research on crime in Phoenix, safety was my big concern. So I wanted a gated community with amenities. My price range was up to $900 and I needed 2br apartment. I used apartments dot com as my search tool and it helped a lot, especially if you can narrow down your area by zip code. Anyway, it appeared that my price range with desired criteria was barely enough for 1br and we decided to go with it - I figured it's better to be in a good community in 1br rather than in bad one with 2, and sleep on the balcony guarding your car The timing was near Christmas and a lot of complexes were offering promotional rates and discounts. We picked San Pedregal on the Greenway and N 12th St. (one of Mark Taylor's communities). We live there since January and love it. It is a luxury community with large apartments, most beautiful pool area, grills, playground, great gym, everything is looking new, neat, green and grassy, covered parking, gated and they even have security patrol at night. Due to the discounts we're paying around $830/mo for 1br apartment. I'm sure it will go up when it's time to renew, but we wouldn't like to move anywhere else. Close to I-17, 51, PVCC, about 15-20 min driving to my work at Tatum and Shea, takes us only 10 minuted to get to the Desert Ridge Marketplace (always on time for happy hour )... Lookout Mountain hiking across the street, Costco on Cavecreek Rd, WalMart and Sam's Club on Bell less then 5 minutes away. We're pretty happy with out choice. Check it out!

Try copying and pasting this link into your browser - it's a birds' eye view of the area
Live Local Search

[biophase]

You have so many choices in that price range. You can easily find a 1br for $700 and a 2br $1000. I would look at nicer condo's instead of apartments. You do deal with an individual owner but you can often negotiate the rent down even more.

I am a real estate investor but don't have any rentals available now. (Actually I do, but its a huge house way out there) But I've had 2br 2ba condos in old town scottsdale asking $1000/mo with all utilities included. In the PV area that a previous poster talked about, I had a 2br 2ba condo for $875/mo. I follow the rental prices closely and they are slowly creeping up, however with $1000/mo to spend you should be able to get a decent place anywhere.

Have you determined an area that you want to live in? Do you want to live near downtown? the nightclubs? further out?

[moughie]

If you have a family, check out Ahwatukee ( zip 85048) Good schools ( for AZ) and somwhat of a community feeling. Lovely foothills and views with close proximity to the airport.
Good luck!

[crystalys]

Originally Posted by mountaindreamer

I would be new to the Phoenix area (from East coast) and would like to know some nice neighborhoods with affordable rental apartments about $700 - $1000 per month. Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

There are plenty of affordable rental apartments in that price range. There are also some townhouses, condos and single family homes in that range depending on where you want to live and what other ammenities you are looking for. Can you give more details of what you want?