Top 10 Web 2.0 Tools For Apartment Hunting

It's almost the weekend, which means a lot of people will be apartment hunting. If you just started your apartment search, you are probably overwhelmed by the shear amount of listing services and tools available to renters. We decided to put together a list of a few of our favorite services to try and help with your search. Let us know what you think of the list. If we missed any - be sure to mention them in the comments section!

1. Craigslist: This service is like ol' Faithful - you can be sure that most properties that are available in a given city will be posted to this site. However, because of the shear amount of apartments listed through Craigslist, it can take time to weed through the results. Our tip - if you find an apartment that you like, but it doesn't exactly fit your needs, contact the property management company and see if they have other units that would be a better fit for you. Other top services for searching for available apartments include Apartments.com, Rent.com, MyNewPlace.com, ApartmentGuide.com (they even have an iPhone app!) and ForRent.com.


2. Twitter : Instead of weeding through all the Craigslist advertisements, why not Twitter the type of apartment you are looking for in a given city? The truly savvy property management companies, like Lightner Group, monitor for these types of tweets, and will be able to connect with you and provide listings that fit your needs. Ahh, the power of the Web.


3. Facebook: Facebook is a great service to use because if a property management group has a Facebook fan page, it can give you an idea of the company culture and a company's way of doing business. Ultimately, you will be able to get a good sense about the company that you will be renting your home from, making it a pretty valuable tool. Additionally, many companies like Lightner Group post new apartments available. If you become a fan, you can get these updates in your newsfeed in real-time.


4. Rentometer: This service allows you to type in an address and rent rate, and see how it compares with other apartments in the neighborhood. It's important to take this information with a grain of salt, as the market is changing on a daily basis.


5. Zilpy: This is another service you can use to get the average rent in a particular neighborhood. Zilpy provides city information "at a glance," which includes information such as vacancy rate, average median income, crime rate, monthly rent affordability and more. Again, keep in mind that the market is constantly changing.


6. Walkscore : This service is fabulous, especially if you are looking for an apartment in a large city. Essentially, this service will calculate your "walkability" score, which is a great way to gauge the apartment's walking distance to restaurants, shops, bars, etc. As we all know, it's all about location, location, location. The service showcases local businesses in the area, including grocery stores, movie theaters, restaurants, schools, parks, libraries and more, which is a great feature, especially if you are new to the area.


7. Rentwiki: If you are new to a particular city, this tool is great for identifying the neighborhood that best fits your needs and lifestyle. Essentially, it is a site that features user-generated reviews of neighborhoods in a given city. You can connect with locals, and get advice about where to live. You can also find apartments for rent.


8. Yelp: We have mentioned Yelp before when discussing tools that you should use to determine a particular company's reputation. Yelp is great because it is full of user-generated reviews. You can look at a property management company's reviews, and also check out local businesses in the vicinity of your apartment. Since Yelp was founded in San Francisco, it has a plethora of reviews for the Bay area in particular.


9. Animoto: Many property management companies, including Lightner Group use this service to give people a visual idea of apartments for rent. Videos include brief descriptions of the units and photos. You can really get an idea of the space and character of a particular apartment through this service.


10. People With Pets: This site is dedicated to providing a directory of apartments, homes and hotels that accept pets. You can also check out your local SPCA for information around additional pet-friendly housing.

Comments

[Jason Hertenstein]

You should really give us a look-see. Cazoodle Apartment Search is a one-stop search service that integrates apartments for rent from thousands of online sources. You can search by different conditions such as rent, number of bedroom, bathroom, and city. The results include links back to original websites for more information.