Extended Stay in Phoenix (Mesa: apartment complex, rental, condos)

[GibbyGrubber]

Hello all!

My family of 3 (myself, my SO and our son) are moving into Phoenix. I have a job offer and start the first week of June. We are struggling with finding an apartment while we're on the east coast as almost every realtor/apartment agency, etc. will not rent to us unless we view the rental. We are okay with this and understand it, and I was able to do some area sweeping and rental hunting when I was out there a few weeks ago, I agree just because some of the houses I visited were... REALLY bad even though pictures were amazing looking online.

Does anyone have any resources for extended stays in Phoenix?

We'd probably stay in the extended stay for 2 weeks and aggressively look for housing while there.

ETA: I did do a search but the newest one was 2011... so looking for more recent information!

[jdahunt]

There are extended stay hotels.....or you can sign a lease for a 3 month lease for an apartment, then from there it is month to month....some are very nice but you can expect to at least pay $1000/month for those in decent areas.

[Bound4AZ]

My wife and I just are relocating to Phoenix soon too, and also considered the "extended stay" motel/hotel options. This is what we found. Extended Stay Americas have mediocre-to-poor reviews all over the east valley. The one closest to the airport has the "best" reviews but still have many iffy reviews as well. We mainly looked at google reviews and yelp. We had a hard time swallowing $1500-1800/mo for a places that the reviews make sound like they are fleabags, flophouses, etc.

Motel 6 has their own version, but their reviews were even worse.

If your budget allows, Marriot also has their own extended stays, but start at around $2500/mo for the cheapest, and go up from there.

What we ended up doing was using VRBO. It's basically people renting out furnished houses, condos, etc. We found something that has all the amenities you'd expect from a furnished place, with the added bonus of our own washer/dryer, parking near the door, etc. for far less than the extended stay. The main way to pay is via credit card.

Good luck!

[sargeant79]

When I moved out here 4 years ago, I stayed in a Budget Suites for about a month while I looked for a house. My wife was still back east with our dogs getting our move together, so it was just me. The one I stayed at was up on 27th Avenue and Yorkshire, almost to the 101, and I think I paid $169 a week for a "one-bedroom". It was pretty clean and I didn't have any safety issues.

Not sure what part of the valley you are trying to be in, but Budget Suites also has locations on Indian School and 3rd Ave in Phoenix and one in Mesa near Fiesta Mall on Dobson. The Budget Suites aren't the greatest but it was by far the nicest of all the weekly places I looked at.

Also, one thing that has caught on in the last couple years is AirB&B. Had that been around 4 years ago, I probably would have done that instead of one of those weekly apartment buildings.

Hope all that helps.

[kodokan]

Definite vote here for skipping corporate extended stay apartments, and going for VRBO/ Homeaway/ AirBnB furnished holiday villa accommodation. June is low season for Phoenix, so you'll almost certainly have lots of choice for very reasonable rates.

When we moved over from Europe in 2011, we stayed in holiday villas for the first 6 weeks whilst we found a rental and waited for our furniture to be shipped over. We actually did 2 weeks each in 3 different homes, and used it a way to check our potential areas for living: walkability and shopping in immediate neighborhood, what the work commute was like from there, etc. The kids loved the excitement of a new house every two weeks, picking a new bedroom, discovering what the new pool was like and what toys/ books there were for them to explore, etc.

We were renting spacious 4-bed homes with private pools, BBQs, Playstations and so on, for less than the 2-bed hotel-a-like apartments were pricing out. It was a really positive start to living here compared with 6 weeks in a cramped apartment.

[GibbyGrubber]

So, I wrote out a nice long post, but it was eaten...

Either way, we will be spending 3 days in a hotel as we found an apartment complex that has a quick application turn around and it's a month-to-month situation, 6 miles from my job and is MUCH cheaper than anything I have found on the great suggestions. I used Airbnb in the past and have loved it but the weekly prices are more expensive or the same price as the extended stays...

We will be okay with an "ok" month-to-month cheap rental while we get to know the area and look for a more forever home situation.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions!

[DavidBilly]

check Orbitz or Tripadvisor, you can find a clean hotel w/nice pool for $50/night, make a vacation out of it.