East Hemet, CA

72 Apartments for Rent

"Tomorrow when you leave you'll take my heart / To Southern California / But just remember I'll be here" - "Southern California," Tammy Wynette

Home is where the heart is, and your heart will be embedded in the warm surroundings of Southern California's East Hemet. The first thing that comes to mind regarding East Hemet is it's an out-of-the-way town with scorching temperatures that get close to 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and below freezing at night. Take another look, and you will see that the town is a wonder of nature. This 5.2-square-mile town has beautiful sunsets, wide-open spaces, hiking trails, wildlife, wildflowers and is just a hop, skip and a jump away from the gorgeous Diamond Lake for boating and other water activities. You get all of this and all the stores and entertainment you need close by. Sounds pretty good when you take a look, doesn't it?

Moving to East Hemet

Places to live in East Hemet are pretty easy to find, since the city has a 14.77 percent vacancy rate. Take a look at online and print classifieds on any day, and you are sure to find a bunch of places to take a look at. The average home price is close to 50 percent less than the average home sales price in California. If you are looking for a rental property, you won't have a hard time. Approximately 33.7 percent of homes here are rentals, and the rental prices are 30 percent lower than the California average,

What You Need

Landlords in East Hemet are looking for tenants who will pay on time, every time. This means that you should expect to undergo a pretty thorough screening, including credit checks, past landlords' references and employment checks. Pull all of your information together ahead of time to streamline the process. If your credit, rental history or employment history isn't looking all that pretty, don't worry too much; you can still find places to rent. The trick is to offer an extra-large down payment. Translation: landlords will often turn a blind eye to an undesirable past at the thought of extra green.

Neighborhoods in East Hemet

East Hemet is filled with mostly custom homes on large tracts of land. However, there are some apartments and condos here as well. Don't count on finding an all-bills-paid deal in East Hemet because the landlords here tend to shy away from paying for the utilities to cover air conditioning and heating. The neighborhoods are divided into two main sections: Valley Vista and The Hill.

Valley Vista: Look in this area if you want to be close to the town center, where all the stores are, and want to be near California State Route 74, which is the route you will travel to get to Los Angeles. If you need a rental apartment, house, duplex or condo, this is where you should look. Make sure your new place has air conditioning and maybe even a swimming pool because Valley Vista gets crazy hot in the summer.

The Hill: The locals call the neighborhoods up in the mountain The Hill. This area is actually comprised of three neighborhoods: Mountain Center, Pine Cove and Idyllwild. It is difficult to differentiate one neighborhood from another, which is probably why the locals simply group all the neighborhoods into one name, The Hill. You won't find apartments or condos here, but you will find plenty of houses and perhaps a duplex or two. The homes are spread out far from each other, giving you plenty of privacy, which is seen as a good thing by the locals. After all, why would you move to this area if you didn't want a little privacy and peace? If you love horses or have always wanted to plant a garden, you will be as happy as pie because you will have the room for your own ranch or mini-farm. One thing to remember, though, is to make sure you have plenty of warm clothes and blankets because The Hill gets plenty cold and snowy in the winter. Air conditioning will be useful in the summer, but you may be able to get by without it, although probably not happily. The Hill does get some breezes, although not enough to bring the temperatures down to easily breathable.

Daily Life in East Hemet

You will definitely need a car when living here, unless you live in the city center and never want to leave East Hemet. There isn't any local public transit, the nearest international airport, Palm Springs International, is 49 miles away and the nearest bus system, Amtrak, is a few miles off in West Hemet. In the town center, you will find Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market as well as other grocery stores, and all the main big-name retail outlets, such as Lowe's Home Improvement and Macy's. You will also find plenty of mom-and-pop shops, like Floral Expressions and IE Comics and Games. Really, everything you need is in East Hemet, and when you want a change of scenery, you are only an hour from Palm Springs and less than two hours from Los Angeles.