Apartment Searching: Resources to Help You Find a Rental

Since graduating college in 2004, I’ve lived in 8 different apartments in 3 distinctive states. This proves one of two things: a. I’m on the run from the law or b. I thrive on change. I’ll let you use your imagination, but just know this isn’t my first rental rodeo. Apartment searching used to be fun, but in the past couple years the market has become so flooded with renters that finding a place has become a part time job. Below are websites and methods to utilize to stay ahead of the renter bandits:

Oodle: Set up is similar to craigslist, but is linked to sellers facebook accounts. Good sorting options, lots of photos and you can pinpoint a more exact location.

Trovit: Site includes homes for sale and for rent. Listings pull from a wealth of sources, including real estate agencies that have homes for rent. Not the cleanest design for results, but that’s just me being picky.

Trulia: Also features homes for sale alongside rentals. The nice thing about this site is that you can view results by a brief summarized listing, or pinpoints on a map.

PadMapper: My personal favorite. Instead of having to scroll through loads of listings you’ve already seen, you can set up a free account and adjust the settings so that you only see current rentals from the past 24 hours. You can also get email alerts.

HotPads: Similar to the others and really, a lot of these post listings from each other, but some listings are found on only one site.

Deep Research: google property management companies in your area. I found multiple listings via the property management website that were not on any of the major rental sites.

Network: ask friends. This is how we found our current rental. A friend had a condo he needed to rent and we needed a place to live. Case closed.

Venture into the real world: actually go to the neighborhood and look for rent signs – they are out there, trust me. Not every listing is online.


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