Sweet! Now that you’ve officially served your one-year sentence in the dorms, you’re ready to move off-campus somewhere. Or, maybe you just scored that coveted job or internship you’ve been pursuing for what seems like forever. Only problem now is you have no place to live! Many students face this dilemma every semester as they finish off another year, graduate and enter the workforce, or as they accept an internship that takes them far away from home and their campus. Luckily HC has you covered with your complete guide to finding the perfect apartment to rent that won’t bust your budget. Check out some of the tips and recommended sites (all but one of which let you create an account and browse listings for free!) below to find somewhere you’ll love to call home, be it in a major city, in the middle of nowhere, or even in a different country!
To find an apartment anywhere…
Check with your company or school first
Double-check and make sure your school or new employer doesn’t have housing options available for new transplants. If you’re in a new city for an internship, it also doesn’t hurt to check with schools in the area you’ll be living in as well. Sometimes, you can get a dorm room or other student housing for cheaper than you’d be able to rent an apartment.
If you’re a new employee looking for something more permanent, many companies also offer resources, help, and tips to those settling in a new city. Be sure to check with your boss, as well as current employees to get advice on how they found their first places, and to see if the company offers any help with making the move.
Don’t be afraid to look at Craigslist
There’s a reason this site has so many housing listings for almost anywhere in the country – it’s a fantastic resource! You can search for an apartment, a house to rent, or even look for a potential roommate. Brokers often post current listings, and the site lets you search by owner, pricing options, and other things to help you start your search.
ApartmentList.com
The name pretty much says it all. ApartmentList takes listings from other major sites and delivers some of the more affordable options to you all in one place. They also compare the listing you’re looking at to the cost of places nearby, making searching for multiple possibilities in one location hassle-free!
ForRent.com
This site is awesome, not only because you can search virtually anywhere in the country, but also because of all the perks associated with the site. You can see photos, videos, and even take virtual tours of many of the spaces on the site. Be sure to check out ForRent University as well, a portion of the site designed specifically for college students or recent grads looking for somewhere to crash.
Rent Jungle
This site should be your go-to place if you’re looking for something in particular in your next apartment. Rent Jungle lets your search for certain features in your desired neighborhood like lofted ceilings, hardwood floors, green space, a pool, or any other amenities you’d want to make sure you’re only looking at places you’re sure to love.
MyApartmentMap
The cool thing about this site is it lets you select certain types of housing right off the bat. You can look only at student or college apartments, look for pet-friendly places, check out affordable housing, and get access to expert advice and rent data to help with your search.
To find an apartment in Austin…
Small Planet Guide: Austin Edition
Perks of using this site include the ability to search by number of bathrooms or bedrooms you’d like, as well as what neighborhood you want to be in. There’s also all kinds of helpful information about the city in general to help you narrow down your search and pick the best neighborhood for your lifestyle.
Austin Apartment Store
Austin Apartment Store bills itself as the most comprehensive online search tool in the area. They offer tons of photos and videos, as well as narrated video tours to make searching from a distance a breeze.
Check in and around the University of Texas at Austin’s campus
Student housing may be your best bet, especially if you’re just looking for a place for a semester or two. The university itself offers an off-campus housing website with listings of tons of potential places.
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To find an apartment in Boston…
It’s all about the neighborhood.
Boston has a well-deserved reputation as one major college town. When searching for cheaper housing options, think about sticking to neighborhoods around major schools. Allston-Brighton and Inman Square are two of your best bets. Boston is also a great place to look into university-sponsored housing as previously mentioned as well, simply because there are so many schools to pick from.
Boston Apartments.com
With over 500 real estate agencies and landlords providing listings to the site, you’ll have plenty to choose from on Boston Apartments. You can search by price, neighborhood, number of bedrooms, and more to find your new home.
NextGen Realty
This site claims to have one of the largest selections of properties for the Boston area. Rentals are organized by neighborhood, making it easy to find your dream spot in the location you were hoping for. The site also has several other online resources to help you familiarize yourself with the city and narrow down your search.
Rental Beast
If you’re looking to “conquer the apartment jungle,” Rental Beast might be the site for you. With access to almost 500,000 apartments currently listed, you’re guaranteed to find at least a few options you just might fall in love with. In addition to a quick search feature and a neighborhood guide, the site also features a “Renting 101” section that covers topics like what signing a lease entails, how to estimate what you can afford, and other links that can be helpful in your search.
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To find an apartment in Chicago…
Know the area
Just like Boston, finding a more reasonable rental in the Windy City means you need to know where to look. On the plus side, Chicago has more reasonably priced places perfect for current students or recent graduates. A good rule of thumb? If a neighborhood is near Lake Michigan, or is considered a “hipster neighborhood,” it’s probably out of your price range. Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Hyde Park, Lincoln Square, Uptown, Rogers Park, and Pilsen are all good starting points.
Do some legwork
You can’t rely solely on website listings for this city. Simply walking around different areas and getting to know the neighborhood could even result in you finding a cute gem of an apartment that hasn’t even been listed yet! Chicago real estate brokers and landlords are notorious for leaving their properties unlisted since they’re working with such a large market. You might be better off jumping on the El or walking around in search of your dream space.
Use the Chicago Reader
If you’re looking for a site that has comprehensive listings for almost any neighborhood, the Chicago Reader’s real estate section is your best bet. You can pick a neighborhood, number of bedrooms, and a price point with just a few simple clicks and get instant results.
Chicago Apartment Finders
This site offers basic search features (price, number of rooms, pets/no pets, etc.) and lets you include other limited amenities in your hunt like parking, yard space, a workout room, and other things you might want in your place. They’ll even drive you to go check out units that spark your interest. The site also helps students just looking for summer housing.
To find an apartment in Los Angeles…
Pick your desired apartment qualities and neighborhood first
Searching in L.A. can be super overwhelming if you have no idea what it is you want to find. Decide what exactly it is you want, and what neighborhood you want to be in. Neighborhoods like Los Feliz and Silverlake are two fairly affordable neighborhoods you could begin your search in. Some parts of more well-known L.A. neighborhoods like Santa Monica or Long Beach also have rent-controlled properties, meaning rent hasn’t skyrocketed as much as it has in other parts of the city. With the right connection, one of these places could be yours!
Westside Rentals
Like most of the other sites featured, Westside Rentals lets you narrow your apartment search to a specific neighborhood, style of apartment, whether or not you can have pets, and a wide variety of other criteria.
Use one of Cali’s spectacular schools!
While it’s not quite at the level of Boston, California (and Los Angeles specifically) is home to some pretty amazing schools. Major academic powerhouses like UCLA and USC have several resources dedicated to helping many of their students find a place to live off-campus you should feel free to make good use of as well! Many of these schools list both apartments, places to sublet, or people looking for roommates to make the rent a little cheaper. Try sites like UCLA’s off-campus housing site, Go Off Campus, or USC’s off-campus resources.
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To find an apartment in Minneapolis…
Think about the greater metro area to find home sweet home
The cool thing about the Twin Cities is that there’s a lot of space. While many places in downtown or uptown Minneapolis can be pricey, there are cheaper options available in one of the many surrounding suburbs, or in Minneapolis’s twin city, St. Paul. With a decent bus service and an expanding rail service, living outside of downtown proper is definitely a feasible option. Broaden your search for more living options.
HousingLink
This is an entire site designed to provide affordable rental options for people interested in living in the Twin Cities. Check out their site for tons of property options.
Think like a student
Surprisingly enough, Minneapolis is home to a ton of schools as well. Universities like the U of M have off-campus housing sites, as do schools like St. Thomas and Macalester College. Uloop is another great source for finding cheap housing geared towards student and recent grads.
To find an apartment in New York City…
Consider bargain housing options
It may not be ultra glam, but there are a surprising number of cheaper options in the city geared towards students interning in the city or trying to get on their feet. While you save up for that Manhattan penthouse, consider staying somewhere like the 92Y Residence, which not only gives you a bed at night, but also provides access to concerts, classes, lectures, and health club facilities all under the same roof! Another great option is The Webster, an all-women’s housing option located in mid-Manhattan. All of the rooms here are reserved solely for college girls working, interning, or just getting started in NYC. The best part about the Webster? The rate you pay for your room also gets you free maid service, as well as two meals a day!
New York Habitat
Whether you’re looking for a place just for a semester or you need somewhere to stay indefinitely, New York Habitat caters to a variety of customers. With apartments at every price point, you’ll almost certainly find some viable options here.
Hit up the classifieds
It figures that the most populated city in the country also has one of the largest selections of classifieds to peruse to find your perfect pad. Any of the following have extensive real estate listings available online and in their respective print editions:
- New York Times
- New York Newsday
- New York Daily News
- New York Post
- SILive.com
- Backpage.com
- New York Magazine
- NewYorkPress
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To find an apartment in San Francisco…
Be prepared for a competitive search
San Francisco is notorious for a completive rental real estate market. If a real estate agent or broker is giving an open house, it probably won’t be for very long. Often times, open houses and showings can last as little as an hour, giving you a very small window of time to see a place. Bring any and all documentation you might need as well if it’s a promising sounding place. It wouldn’t hurt to bring things like a copy of your credit score, references from an employer or, even better, a past landlord, a recent pay stub, and other items needed when signing a lease or making a down payment on a place. Nice but affordable apartments go fast in this town!
RentInSanFrancisco.com
The URL pretty much says it all for this site. The downside? There is a fee attached to access listings. On the plus side though, $49 gets you access to member benefits like automatic notifications of any place that’s posted that has the pool, gym, and balcony you’re looking for, lets you schedule appointments online, and helps you connect direcly with reps from the site, as well as better search options. Not interested in paying just to look at possible pads? You can do minimal browsing for free to get an idea of areas you might be interested in and get a feel for prices.
Apartmenthunterz.com
“If it’s vacant, it’s listed with us,” this site claims, making it a great choice to start your SanFran search. Apartmenthunterz deals exclusively with houses and apartments for rent in California, making it a more manageable place to search for your dream Cali home. The site lets you browse rentals in a bunch of different neighborhoods and learn about the different amenities each place has to offer free of charge!
To find an apartment in Washington, D.C. …
Consider a more “up and coming” neighborhood
As always, where you look can make all the difference. Looking for a place in Georgetown or Dupont Circle? Be prepared to shell out a few more Ben Franklins than you expected to each month! Think about beginning your search in newer, still developing areas of the district like H Street, the Capitol Riverfront, and Columbia Heights. A good way to judge how pricey a neighborhood will be is its distance to the metro. Closer to transportation almost always means higher rent.
Apartment Showcase
Apartment Showcase is dedicated only to rentals in the DC, Maryland, and Virginia areas, making them your go-to experts for finding affordable housing in or around the nation’s capital. They not only offer tons of ways to search for a place that’s right for you, but also have a handy neighborhood section of their website that helps you become more familiar with the area during your search.
Urban Turf
Think about varying your search a little bit with Urban Turf. This site has tons of resources and listings for condos, a bit pricier of an option, but do-able, especially if you have a roommate or two helping split the cost and paying rent each month. If your heart is absolutely set on renting, the site does have a limited number of rentals listed, along with articles that share all sorts of tips and tricks to find the right space for your needs.
To find an apartment abroad…
Flat Share
This site is a great starting point for apartments for rent and people needing a roommate in a ton of European cities, from Paris to Berlin to Manchester and beyond. As the site expands, they’ve begun adding cities in other continents too, such as Tokyo, Sydney, and Hong Kong.
Expatriates.com
Often cited as the most comprehensive site on the web for those looking to study, work, and live abroad, Expatriates.com has job and rental listings for almost any country and/or city in the world. Choose from exotic locales like Brazil, Morocco, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, and dozens more to find your home around the world.
AsiaXpat
Does your new job or internship take you to Asia? This should be one of your first stops for finding your new home abroad. Once you select the country you’ll be living in, Asia Xpat provides detailed listings of apartments (many of which are furnished!) ready for you to turn into your new home.
Whether you’re looking near or far from your current location, the web is a great tool for any apartment search. Use a mix of national and local sites, be careful where you look, and do some exploring whenever possible. Your dream place could be just a few clicks away!