Using apartment-finding companies (Chicago: apartments, credit check, tenant)

[petiks]

Can anyone give us any tips on using apartment-finding companies or agents? We're from out of state and have never had to deal with these types of companies. Although we'll be looking for a place on our own mostly, we're also considering getting professional help, but have had no experience dealing with them in the past.

Can anyone give us some pointers? Do we have to pay for these services? I've read some of the older posts but I don't now if these are still accurate today (like avoiding certain companies, etc.)

BTW, we're hoping to find an apartment in Hyde Park, preferably near or along 55th. Thanks.

[Drover]

Looking in Hyde Park may be your biggest problem. The major apartment finding companies focus on the north and northwest sides. I don't know which if any will have the most stock of Hyde Park apartments. Anyway, using an apartment service is free to the tenant; the fees are charged to the landlord. Be prepared to shell out $50 for a credit check once you select an apartment you're interested in. And that's the apartment management company/owner charging you, not the apartment-finding company. I'm not sure if that's a standard practice anywhere else; I'd never been charged a credit check anywhere else except Chicago. But here, charging it to the prospective tenant is SOP.

[dragoro]

I used apartment guys to find my place and couldn't of done better if I did it myself. Not sure if they work in the area your looking at but I am extremely happy with them. If ya choose to try them ask for Jesse, he's absolutely great!

[jessiegirl_98]

Do a search on this forum. We have named/reviewed a ton of these services.

[reneesensei]

There's a Chicago Apartment Finders at 1504 E. 53rd Street in Hyde Park. 1-888-FINDERS.

They were helpful to me.

[Janinele]

I´m a foreigner as well and worked with apartmentfinder and apartmentpeople - both services are somehow equal. The agents are really helpful, the processing however took longer than I expected - I had to call them again and again.
Service is, as mentioned above, for free. Credit check is $ 50. A bit annoying is that you can just hold an apartment by paying the 1st month rent, but it took them almost a week to tell you if the new landlord is happy with you. Meanwhile you can´t look for an alternative, since you´ll loose the money if you step back.

[anic13]

Can anyone recommend any apt finding agency that focuses on the andersonville/uptown/lincoln square areas?