Ofcourse the Hotel Area is the expensive part of the island when it comes down to Houses and Apartments... the further u go away from the hotel area the lower the prices untill u reach the Southeast part of the island where i got Friends and Relatives living and acctually renting away homes... if they have propperties for sale at the moment i'm not to sure about that, but you could try and look up the southeast part in the realestate websites.. (area called either "lago heights" or "Seroe Colorado") these used to be the homes for the US personell of the Refinery... some homes are beeing sold next to nothing.. and ur minutes walking away from Baby Beach & Rodgers Beach i know alot of people like the NW part of the island with the beaches but look at the size of Aruba... 32 KM wide.... that's it....
My opinion it's worth living in the quiet part of the island i know you got disadvantage of the ugly view of the refinery but why look at it and u can look at the beach?
try this website:
www.aruba-rental-house.com