Arizona and house rentals

[Royal Rooters]

My wife and I are excited about the prospect of moving to Arizona for podiatry school. I'm applying for Fall 2010, so there's no big rush here, but it's never too early to start planning.

We're going to rent a house for sure, but we're not so sure as to the location. We've thought about areas like Surprise, Tolleson, Peoria, El Mirage, Cave Creek, and of course, Glendale. If necessary, 20-30 minute commute would be okay if the right house was that far away.

I was curious as to where other students attending AZPod who rent houses are also living. We'd like to make sure that we don't live too far away, because we wouldn't want to be isolated from everybody else at school. We're sort of in that situation now since we rented our place not knowing where other graduate students lived. We'd like to avoid a similar situation if possible.

Any advice is helpful. Thanks!

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[ldsrmdude]

Hi there! I like to see your confidence in looking for your house before you apply! As far as housing, most of the students in my class that rent houses are in either Glendale or Peoria. Most try to live fairly close by (within 10 minutes). I think that Dr. Gangrene (asst. mod on this forum) used to live in Avondale, but has since moved closer. We have one student who lives in Avondale in our class, but I think that he lived there before school. We have one student who commutes from Mesa, but he has a large family and lived there before school started. Most of us who moved here for school live close by. It is tempting to move further away because houses are quite a bit less expensive further away from the school, but I am told that traffic can be rough in the morning. From Surprise, I think the only way in is on Bell Road and that can be miserable to drive on when it is busy. The 101 Freeway is how you would get to school from most other places that aren't close, but I hear about delays all the time on the traffic report. If you have any more specific questions, PM me and I can try to help. My wife and I are looking to move from our apartment into a house in the next month or two, so we know some of the challenges.

 

[biomechanicsrox]

I currently live in a house out in Cave Creek which is about 15-20 minutes away. I like the easy access to a wide variety of things to do in North Scottsdale. I also like it because I never hit traffic driving to school, and never hit traffic driving towards Phoenix or the east valley which will be nice for rotations third and fourth year. The only downside is that there aren't many poeple who live out in this direction. But you can find some great deals on rentals out here (there are 2 houses for rent on my street right now). Good luck!

 

[Royal Rooters]

Okay, so it seems like most students tend to live in the greater Glendale or Peoria area. And Cave Creek could be an option too - especially with proximity to rotations in the later years. I'm happy to hear this much at least, that way there is less of a chance of living out in the middle of nowhere with no other students around.

ldsrmdude, I'd be interested in hearing about the challenges your wife and you encounter during your house search in these next few months.

Also, do either of you know of a reputable source to find houses to rent online? I live in Indiana, so getting out to look at houses in person may or may no actually happen. We've been browsing what's available with www.desertwide.com.

 

[ldsrmdude]

I will let you know how things go with the house search. We have tried and are trying several different methods, and I will let you know what I found works the best. As far as a reputable source for finding a rental, most of the places can get you a list of all the homes for rent on the MLS (Century 21 for example http://www.c21northwest.com). I wouldn't worry too much about specific houses yet, in fact, most realtors that we have met won't even talk to you about specific houses until you are less than a month from moving in. But the site you listed and this one will give you a general idea about what there is for rent, and how much you can look forward to paying. You can find some on here on SDN (there is a forum for this down at the bottom of the list of forums) and Craigslist has some for rent too. When you start getting really serious about finding a place, you might either have to take a weekend trip out here to find a house, or have someone here check things out because pictures don't always tell the whole truth!

 

[Creflo]

Live as close to campus as you can for the first two years.

 

[Dr. Gangrene]

I live in Peoria 5 miles away. Amazing.

 

[dtrack22]

I'm sure I'll find out in the next month or two during interviews but how popular is the apt complex thats basically on campus? Is it competitive (hard to get into), cheap, expensive, bad or great location, etc?

 

[ldsrmdude]

I'm sure I'll find out in the next month or two during interviews but how popular is the apt complex thats basically on campus? Is it competitive (hard to get into), cheap, expensive, bad or great location, etc?

Right now I live in one of the apartment complexes right across the street from campus. There are quite a few students here, so there are openings pretty often as people move in and out. They give Midwestern students a pretty good deal by waiving the non-refundable deposits and giving you 5% off, but it is still pretty expensive. It has worked for me since we only have 1 car and I can walk to school, but we are looking to move and will probably rent a house with almost twice the square footage and only 1-2 miles away for slightly more than our 2-bedroom. If you get a roommate and share a 2-bedroom, it isn't too bad I would think. You can't beat living so close to campus for convenience, but the area around campus is pretty expensive in general.

 

[Dr. Gangrene]

Live as close to campus as you can for the first two years.

i agree with creflo. I live 25 miles away 1st year, 5 miles now.

Live close.