Any tips on finding an apartment?

[cleo27]

We have sold our house and need a place to live for about 6 months until the new one is ready. I have been googling apartments and it is so depressing. Any tips on websites to go to?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Cleo

[JTsMom]

Try For Rent, Apartment Guide and Apartment Finder. Another option is to try to rent a house.

[TwinFoxes]

I don't know where you are (USA's a big place!) but there's a site called Military by Owner which rents houses near military bases. You don't have to be in the military to use it. Some of the landlords are military.

There's always craigslist of course. Lots of listings, but like anything else on CL be careful!

A lot of other sites seem to be just one step above a scam...like they'll have 30 rentals listed in the same crappy building.

Hey, congrats on selling your house! That's awesome.

[daisyd]

You could try rent.com or check out local newspapers for listings. Realtors also have rental property advertised with them, you could specifically look for no-fee ones. Congrats on selling the house!

[BillK]

I just secured a new tenant for my 2 bedroom apartment via Craigslist and it went beautifully.

I posted the apartment for rent on Thursday - had 5 replies by Friday morning - one came on Friday to see it - the second came on Saturday (twice!) - and she brought back an application with her the second time - she was my new tenant on Tuesday. So far she's been great (fingers crossed).

[cleo27]

Thanks everyone! We are in the Baltimore area. There are lots of complexes - unfortunately Google finds at least a few bad reviews for all of them... :(

I think I need to focus on the positive that the house is sold, instead of freaking about renting.

Thanks!!

Cleo

[MontrealMum]

Using Craigslist for this sort of thing has really started to pick up around here, but the old tried and true of reading the classifieds is also still the main method. Not just of your main city paper, but local neighborhood ones as well, arts papers (ie - What's On-type publications). Also, pinpoint a few neighborhoods you're interested in and check out the bulletin boards at grocery stores. And then there's the trusty drive around w/ a pad and pencil looking for signs (this is generally a two-person activity!). You can also try realtors, but up here at least this will turn up much more expensive places.

Mind you, QC has the same turnover day (June 30) for all leases, so it's pretty predictable here when ads and signs will go up; this might not be the case elsewhere.

[kijip]

I think you are limited a bit because you can't take out a year lease. I would assume that most houses and many of the nicest places would want a years lease upfront. Here the best place to look is def. Craigslist but don't respond to anything that looks too good to be true and make sure they will do month to month or a 6 month lease.

[SnuggleBuggles]

We used a real estate agent once and it was great. She found all sorts of properties that weren't coming up through other means. We did a 6m lease with no trouble.

Beth

[cmo]

The realtor who sold your house might be able to help. I know someone in a similiar situation who got a rental this way. She ended up renting a house that had been for sale for over a year, with no offers in sight. The realtor asked the sellers if they'd be willing to take it off the market for a while in exchange for fair market rent, and they agreed.

I've also had good luck finding tenants for a rental property on craigslist.