Apartment hunting is both an exciting and frustrating endevour...but mostly time consuming. We've been fortunate enough to find almost all of our apartments by either word of mouth or via Craigslist (load*refresh*read*repeat x 100), but remember how tough it can be finding the right one.
[photo: mgoldstein via Flickr]
Is the place within your price range? Is there enough room for your needs? Located in a neighborhood you like, pets allowed, garage, and a myriad of other variables often makes searching for an apartment a test of diligent searching and a process of cross-elimination. Fortunately, a number of sites now offer free services that provide the information of craiglist with better filtering options that simplify housing searches with integrated mapping systems:
MapsKrieg (shown above) is a mashup of Craigslist and Google Maps, providing a largely visual view of housing options available. It's a bit slow to load, thanks to the browser-wide interface.
Available in 33 cities, HousingMaps is simple to use, quick loading and easy to navigate, with information both available as a list on the right or by clicking by location. Our favourite.
About halfway inbetween in speed compared to MapsKrieg and HousingMaps, CribQ Rental Search is only available in Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston and Pittsburgh. We give the site points for integrating a WalkScore tab.
Serving NYC and Jersey residents, StreetEasy not only serves up rental listings, but also open houses, sales and opening developments for those of you looking to move from renter to owner status.
MyNewPlace offers searches in 20 major cities, but was our least favourite because of the slow load times and the mostly large management operated listings.
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westside rentals has never steered me wrong.
view jcoll's profile
Thanks for these references!!! I've been tiring of going back and forth between Craiglist and Gmaps.
view CharlesandHudson's profile
I use a combination of Westside Rentals and Craigslist. It's such a pain (I HATE
view Laura's profile
oops.. I hate when they dont include photos.
But it's worth the extra time to find a place that you'll enjoy and feel safe in.
view Laura's profile
also www.4rentinla.com has very good listings. i found that a lot of listings are for culver city (where im thinkign to move or buy dunno yet so confusing argggg) which westsiderentals is lacking of. Lots of atp for still under $1000 a mo. not bad.
i need hardwood floor or im gonna shave the boyz puddle style..
view troz's profile
I wish we had something like this for Canada. I'm looking for an apartment in Ottawa and it's so frustrating!
view adorninc.wordpress.com's profile
The "Image Preview Extension" for Firefox changed my Craigslist life. I really can't recommend it enough. You don't have to click on the listing anymore just to find out the pictures are terrible.
http://www.craigstoolbox.com/
view sswany's profile
The MLS, westside rentals, CalTech's housing site.
view Palmetto's profile
Anyone that lives on the east coast have any tips other than craigslist?
view TheCount's profile
I recommend checking out university's off-campus housing websites. Landlords can post available properties, plus the school usually provides useful information like a checklist of things to do before you sign a lease and housing code information. The Tufts Off-Campus Housing website (http://ase.tufts.edu/och/) was really helpful when I was looking around Boston.
view gquaker's profile