Complexes or Neighborhood recommendations? (Phoenix, Tucson: fit in, apartment complexes, rental homes)

[BikeFriendly]

Greetings all,

I'm a 40 something single woman who works from home in the IT profession. I currently live in Cincinnati and am sick of winters. Since biking is one of my few hobbies, I checked online for bike friendly cities and noted Phoenix and Tucson were both highly rated. Unfortunately I know nothing about either city and was wondering if you all could recommend places to live in the 600-1000$ a month range. I'd prefer an apartment with no yard maintenance and ideally hookups for a washer or dryer. Beyond that the only requirements is it have two bedrooms and access to high speed internet. I normally love living in downtown areas and I never eat at chains.

Any suggestions?

[swbell6]

I live in the north-central area, and I can bike pretty much anywhere without having to battle scary traffic. I'm close to the Rillito bike path, which runs east-west, and several north-south routes like Treat Avenue. The neighborhoods here are pretty mixed, but I've noticed some very nice townhome-style apartment complexes in my area run by Hazen Enterprises. (No, I don't work for them.)

Tucson Rental Homes | Tucson Rental Properties and Homes for Rent in Tucson AZ | Rentals Tucson

Good luck in your search.

[ellbeecee]

I rented from Hazen for 3 years while I was in Tucson, and I'd say they're one of the best property management companies I've ever dealt with in terms of maintenance when needed (I don't work for them either )

Their townhouses do have yards that need some maintenance - not a huge amount, but during the monsoon and such there can be weeds that need dealing with. I just bought a cheap weed eater and that did the trick for my yard - but they're small yards and not expensive to have someone come out and deal with either.

Originally Posted by swbell6

I live in the north-central area, and I can bike pretty much anywhere without having to battle scary traffic. I'm close to the Rillito bike path, which runs east-west, and several north-south routes like Treat Avenue. The neighborhoods here are pretty mixed, but I've noticed some very nice townhome-style apartment complexes in my area run by Hazen Enterprises. (No, I don't work for them.)

Tucson Rental Homes | Tucson Rental Properties and Homes for Rent in Tucson AZ | Rentals Tucson

Good luck in your search.

[coatimundi]

I don't know how Phoenix could get on a list for bike-friendly cities. It's about as bike-friendly as LA.

There was an article in the local daily yesterday that talked about "bike boulevards" that are planned. 4th Avenue (mentioned in the article) is just one. 3rd Street, running east from the university, has been a bike boulevard for quite a while. And then there's Mountain Avenue, the Rillito Trail, the Santa Cruz Trail, and, of course, the bike lanes on countless streets around town. I biked quite a bit there as we lived very near the intersection of the Rillito Trail and Mountain Avenue, so 4th, UA and Downtown were all relatively quick and painless to reach.

If you don't like chains, then you'll fit in well in central Tucson. We would never eat at chains and never ran out of new restaurants to try. There's a very good restaurant and bar scene in town.

Hazens are nice places but tend to be overpriced. The issue is that, when the rental market crashed with the housing market, Hazen's prices stayed about the same because they have a good reputation. We had friends that lived in the Hazen on Fort Lowell near Campbell (they've since moved) and we were paying the same as them, but living in a better location, in a house larger by about 500sf and one bedroom, with tile (they had carpet) and a working fireplace. We also only had one shared wall while they had two. This was an owner-rented place so the maintenance was sometimes an issue, but it was generally a nice place.

Check Craig's List's apartments section and check MLS for rentals. This is where the independent, owner-rented places go, in general.

The most important thing with locating yourself in Tucson though is that you shouldn't be too far from your work. Realistically, with biking, 8 miles is about my max, but you may be different. I would also try to position yourself on a convenient bus route from work, for those days when you, for whatever reason, don't want to bike. All buses in the city have bike racks too.

[v5200]

Tucson is a great winter biking destination, I go there every winter and I'm also currently looking for a winter retreat. Since biking is also a passion for me, I've been looking for something in the northern foothills... from here you can get good access to riding on the east side, mount lemon, and not too far from other rides where you might throw the bike in the car to get there. Plus there's the Rialto bike path close to that area, for easy spins. If you look on a zip code map, 85715 seems like a good location, or 85718 which is further north. For more of a city vibe, that's tougher to get in Tucson from my experience... I think the 4th Av area near the university might be the closest you'll get, but locals may have other recommendations.