TempeApartmentFilter

April 7, 2007 1:29 PM

When and where should I rent an apartment in Tempe, AZ as a new ASU PhD student? Teach me about the Tempe rental market!

I need to be living in Tempe by August of this year and I need to find an apartment. I'm currently on the east coast and I don't really have the travel budget to fly out, rent a car, visit apartments, etc.

My priorities are affordability (looks like 1br apts can be had for ~$500-$650/month, I'd like to stay in that range) and location (I'd like to be in walking distance or easy bus-ride from the western part of the ASU campus). I'd prefer a quieter neighborhood to one with a lot of undergrad partying.

Looking at Google Maps, I probably want to be living in the block between S Mill Ave and S Priest Dr, to the immediate west of the ASU campus, but I have no idea how realistic that is. I've been checking Craigslist Phoenix, TheBackPage's Phoenix section, and ASU's Web Devil classifieds.

So, my question to current or former Tempe/ASU-ites: Is the Mill Ave/Priest Dr/University Ave area where I should be looking? If so, can I expect there to be more leases opening up as summer approaches, or has the big boom in lease-opportunities for next academic year already passed? Is my price expectation unreasonable? Is there anywhere else I should be looking, either location-wise or apartment-listing-wise?

posted by Alterscape to home & garden (5 comments total)

Some quick points:

First, yes, the immediate west side of campus is better than the immediate east side if you don't want to be surrounded by undergrads. And yeah, your price range is reasonable for the area.

Second, don't count on the Tempe bus system to get anywhere, as it's still widely considered to be very slow and unreliable. This is a car culture, and if you don't want to participate in it, you'll end up biking a lot, which is fine in the winter, but less pleasant in the summers. Keep that in mind when you choose your location.

Third, I've observed that if you want quiet, then you don't want to be within walking distance of the university.

Finally, if you haven't seen it yet, the grad. students in the history department put together a good survival guide for incoming grad. students -- thorough enough that it's been picked up by the GPSA, our university-wide grad.student association. Check that out. It might help you with some basic questions.
posted by .kobayashi. at 2:19 PM on April 7, 2007

Check the university web page to see if the grad student association has a housing list.
posted by k8t at 6:16 PM on April 7, 2007

Yeah, the area just west of campus is where you want to look. The area to the immediate west (say, the area defined by Mill Ave on the east, Roosevelt on the west, University on the north and 13th St on the South) is a pretty nice historical neighborhood. There area a few cheap one-bedroom/one or two-story apartment complexes in there. My brother has a cheap one bedroom apartment in that area (9th Ave & Farmer apartments) and it has served him perfectly. The neighborhood, despite being close to campus, doesn't have a lot of noisy undergrads relative to some other areas within walking/biking distance. It does have a noisy train though.

In that neighborhood, there is a very active community of home owners that take the historical nature of the neighborhood very seriously. That helps keep the undergrads that live there under control. Which brings me to my main suggestion--many historical houses in the neighborhood have small one-bedroom guesthouses. The owners love to rent these to quiet grad students. They can be had pretty cheap. Check Craigslist and the classifieds/ads in ASU's State Press. Rentals Tempe used to be another decent source, but it seems to be down.

There is another nice area of older homes just to the south of campus--say, between Apache on the North, Mill on the West, McAllister on the East and 15th St/train-tracks on the South. Again, an area full of nice older homes that have mostly been kept up and a handful of guesthouses available to rent. The east end of that area does butt up against student housing, but there are some big hedges and other insulating factors.

When you start heading further West and South of the areas I described, you will see larger, newer and cheaper homes. Much less charming neighborhoods. And undergrads tend to rent the big houses and pack in 4-5 roommates, thus creating a noisy party environment.

Good luck. Feel free to email me if you find something and want a second opinion on the location.
posted by mullacc at 9:18 PM on April 7, 2007

wow, a mefi question I know something about.
The thing about the area is rent is all still pretty cheap. The buses are near useless, although a lightrail is coming in supposedly but not for a while. I think you want something as close to campus as possible. There will be undergrad partying but it really shouldn't bother you. More than anything the bars will be making the most noise. Good luck and I am also open to any questions you might have.
posted by ihope at 11:05 PM on April 7, 2007

DO NOT RENT FROM RENTALS TEMPE!

That guy, Tim Wright, is infamous around these parts. Here's more info about him: http://www.arizonatenants.com/company_rankc.php?id=551.

If he's shut down then the community is better for it.

Mullacc is right, of course... that's the best student neighborhood there is. You'll be within easy walking/biking distance and there's tons going on around there.

I used to live at 11th and Farmer in a guest house/one bedroom cottage, so there's all kinds of neat stuff tucked away back there. The train helps you feel like you're really living in The West.

As for me, I also live in Tempe, just north of our big ass artificial lake. It gets a little quieter up in my neck of the woods, but I dunno... I love it.

Seeya at Casey Moore's!
posted by ph00dz at 10:08 AM on April 8, 2007